I have had a great time with this Ocarina so far, and seeing that this is my first I thought a 12 hole would be difficult, but it plays very well. I myself have been able to play every song I have tried to learn, mainly the whole Zelda medley, and it sounds great. I didn’t even notice the slot for string making the ocarina able to wear around the neck; I wear it all the time:D I’m really pleased with it and have played with it everyday since I got it:P

Hey all,

I received some extra spending money for the holidays this year, and decided to finally purchase a ceramic Zelda replica ocarina for myself. A friend said that he had just placed an order for this particular ocarina, so I decided to go with this one as well. As soon as it arrived, I regretted that decision. I feel like I should mention that both my friend and I have been practicing the ocarina for several years now, so we have a little experience with playing them.

Anyways, the first thing I noticed upon taking this ocarina out of the box was that the silver band containing the Triforce was sloppily adhered to the ocarina. It didn’t even line up right and looked trashy, which is frustrating since the Triforce is pretty much the visual focal point of the ocarina, and one of the big things you’re paying for if you’re getting a Zelda replica ocarina.

The most frustrating thing, however, was that when I went to play a scale on the ocarina, the top three notes (the D, E, and F played by removing your left thumb, right thumb, and finally left pinky from the instrument) were completely unplayable. It wasn’t a case of needing to increase your airflow to play the highest notes, which is common. They simply would not sound, no matter what I did. The ocarina wasn’t capable of playing them.

So, I went and talked to my friend to see what he thought of his ocarina. Turns out that his had similar problems, although not exactly the same. The silver band with the Triforce was sloppily slapped on his ocarina, just like mine. His also couldn’t play all the notes it was supposed to be able to play, except that his couldn’t play the bottom two notes (the A and B played by using the subholes).

Our conclusion? These ocarinas are cheaply made, both in terms of sound production and exterior finishes. I spent some more time looking around at what’s available on Amazon, and it turns out that there are really good ceramic Zelda replica ocarinas that you can get from another seller for pretty much the exact same price. So I decided to try out one of those, and I couldn’t be happier. Don’t waste your time and money with this product, when there’s way better options available out there.

Hope this helps!

II bought this for my daughter and she loves it. She reads the books and plays the games. This instrument made her feel special.