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Re: New Oboist

Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-09-23 21:49

Sounds like the feather key head (the cluster of touches for low Bb, B and Eb) may have got bent, so the low Bb that runs on the steel is binding.

These often get bent and straightening them out isn't too difficult - take the feather keys off (undo the screw at the tenon end of the joint to remove the key cluster), and sharply (but not too heavily) tap the underside of the feather key barrel just below the join where the key touch joins the key barrel with a wooden file handle or a screwdriver handle (as that won't damage the key barrel) and that should free things up. If it doesn't work first time, try until it does. Check how freely the low B key moves within the key barrel each time.

You can find where the bend is by holding the key barrel with your index and middle fingers on one side of the key barrel, and press gently on the opposite side with your thumb. Do this all along and around the key barrel until you find the point at which the low B key moves without binding and that's the point where the bend is (on the thumb side), so tap that same spot with a wooden handle to straighten it out.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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