 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2014-06-20 01:48
That's a Howarth S10B which isn't to be confused with the cheaper Italian B models. This was an interim model made in between the ceasing production of the original S10 and the current S10 and were made from the late '90s to the early 2000s. The early S10 oboes had fewer adjusting screws and no low B-C link, but the S10B and later S10 have more adjustments and the low B-C link so a low B-C# trill is possible on an oboe without an articulated low C# key.
They're made from the same grenadilla (African blackwood) as all other Howarth oboes and the keywork was rationalised to keep the cost down, hence the chunky key arms similar to Rigoutat Riec and Fossati Tiery models. The pointed key arms were reinstated with the delivery of a new automatic machining process as they were previously were hand filed which kept the production cost on the high side.
When I started working at Howarth back in late 1998 I was given the position of finishing these oboes and used synthetic pads for a while until a batch was delivered that were far too porous for any use, so they went back to using cork pads as on all other models.
The current equivalent oboe to the S10B is the S10 which is a basic thumbplate system oboe with simple 8ve keys, forked F vent, LH3 C-D trill key and low B-C link:
http://www.howarth.uk.com/pic.aspx?pic=./wo/HowarthS10.jpg&pid=35101
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2014-06-20 01:54)
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