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Re: Adjustments for Wonky F

Author: Wes
Date: 2009-06-10 20:53

Yes, Wonky is an excellent word to describe these unstable notes on the oboe and the English horn. I believe that the cause of unstability of certain second register notes is a fundamental acoustical situation that can be very difficult to change.

They appear to be the result of the resonance of the bottom part of the oboe below the affected note trying to pull the note off pitch or else amplify the note to be louder. Since the tone holes in the bottom section are open, the resonance is not as sharp as if those holes were closed, and it could be called a low Q resonance. These flakey notes do not appear on the saxophone as the lower section open holes are so large and the parisitic resonance is hardly there.

There are three notes on my Loree EH that have these kind of problems and I've essentially given up on changing the instrument to fix it. For that instrument, I change the fingering of those notes by adding fingers over lower open holes.

For your fine Covey oboe, I'd guess that it would be worthwhile to try different bells or to add some material inside the bell or the bell vent hole
Try a bit of Playdoh in there for example. Good luck!

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