 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: Herakles82
Date: 2009-05-06 04:23
Dear Friends,
I just wanted to thank everyone who offered advice on my previous post of a similar title earlier this year. All of you made this process a lot easier and very beneficial as I have finally found a great oboe for my needs.
About a month and a half ago I found another Malerne oboe online at the Charles Double Reed Company; however, unlike the other Malerne from another website Brian offered an acceptable trial period providing me the opportunity to give it a spin and allow my teacher to take a look as well. {Those of you who read my first post on the subject might remember that the first Malerne oboe I had considered offered no trial period (an "As Is" Sale), but assured me that I would love it. Naturally, I passed and all of you agreed with that decision.}
When the oboe arrived it was in fantastic shape (not bad at all considering it was made in 1980), the wood well taken care of and the keywork was complete and in excellent shape. Not only that but it was a joy to hold.
Unfortunately, I had trouble maintaining a stable tone on the low register E, D, and on down. In addition there was a problem with the octave key not reasealing after use. I called Brian and told him of the situation and asked for his advice. We talked about having someone here work on it and he was willing to cover reasonable repair/adjustment costs or I could return it to him for adjustment and send it back to me for further testing. I chose the latter and he had it back to me in short order.
I don't know exactly what happened, but my attempt to play it upon return met with worse results than before. Well, with that my enthusiasm for the instrument dropped off (is there such a thing as "oboe depression"?) and I ended up returning the oboe to Brian. Everyone there was very gracious and I received my check back not long after I returned the Malerne.
When I told my teacher that I returned the oboe she said that she saw some oboes on sale at Woodwind and Brasswind and at Musicians Friend with some generous markdowns. I checked both websites and found what appeared to be a "too good to be true" bargain: a Fox F300 Professional Oboe that was on a "Scratch 'n Dent sale" for about $1,900 off their regular selling price. I was leaning toward a Fox since I still had nightmares (mostly unfounded I'm sure) about spending a lot of money and cracking a wooden oboe after which I believe my wife would have cracked my skull, several times at least.
Well, I bit the bullet, ordered it and the Fox arrived last week just a few hours before my weekly lesson. I grabbed the box after getting home from work and took off for the lesson right away. I can't tell you how beautiful this instrument is and the sound is wonderful. I can hit the low register and highest register with very little effort. Although getting used to the feel and utilizing the extra keywork takes some getting used to. My teacher and I looked over the oboe to see if we could find what defect would result in such a markdown. The only thing we found were a few scratches on the back corner of the leather case.
At the moment, my new friend and I are getting used to each other and having a ball doing it!
Again my thanks to everyone here. You folks are a valuable resource and a kind source of encouragement for we doubling newbies.
Until the next post.
In kind appreciation,
Chuck
P.S. Now if I could just find the "perfect" reed. Things that make you go HMMMM!
P.S.S. For those of you searching for an oboe there are a few more of these same Fox F300 oboes with the identical markdown at Musicians' Friend.
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Oboe and climate (time to buy a new one) Part 2 |
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Herakles82 |
2009-05-06 04:23 |
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Dutchy |
2009-05-06 14:42 |
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johnt |
2009-05-06 19:07 |
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The Clarinet Pages
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