 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2015-07-28 08:17
At the moment there is an old Howarth open hole Thumbplate Oboe for sale here in Australia on e-bay for $Aus 169 with ongoing bidding. It looks like the old favourite S1 or S2 but the left hand 3rd finger is a simple naked tone hole without the metal bush insert. Anyone here that could give me information as to the model type of this old Howarth Oboe ?
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-07-28 09:12
That's an Italian B model made either by Prestini or Orsi, but has the bore reamed to Howarth spec. whereas the other identical Italian stencil models (eg. Selmer Sterling, etc.) won't have that done. It's a basic beginner model thumbplate system with simple 8ve keys, LH C-D trill and no forked F vent.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2015-07-28 11:07
Thanks for the information Chris. In one of the photos you can clearly see on the bell the fancy B and then below it it's stamped T.W. and below that Howarth and below that London. There's some marks between the Howarth & London which I can't make out. The bidding has now sent it to $Aus202.50 I'm thinking of bidding for it to use as a 'knock-about' instrument. Do you think it's worth it ? Would you know approximately how old it is ? I'm a Thumb Plate Oboists from way back. My good Oboe is a Howarth S55c Dual System.
Skyfacer
Post Edited (2015-07-28 11:15)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-07-28 17:54
This one's probably from the '60s or early '70s at a guess. If you don't mind pure thumbplate fingerings, then this should be a decent 'knock-about' oboe without having to worry too much if anything happens to it. You will have to physically vent the forked Fs by holding the Eb key open on this oboe as they'll be stuffy.
But the good thing with basic thumbplate system oboes as opposed to basic conservatoire systems is they're usually built to low Bb whereas the most basic Yamaha, Bundy and other American beginner oboes are only built to low B. But they do have semi automatic 8ves, RH C-D trill and LH B-C# trill which the most basic thumbplates lack as they only have the LH C-D trill key on the top joint and simple 8ve keys.
Oboes made by Howarth will have either 'British Made' or 'Made in England' stamped on them (either on the top joint, on the back of the lower joint socket or on the bell) as opposed to the imports that won't have that stamped anywhere on them.
Later Italian Howarth B models had the forked F vent and low B-C link, so a low B-C# trill could be done by holding down the LH low B key and trilling with the RH C# key which can't be done on oboes that don't have a low B-C link or articulated C# (by holding the C# key down and trilling the low B key as on your S55c+TP).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-07-29 02:41
Attachment: mkvi oboe cor keywork 018.JPG (681k)
If you do feel you could do with a low B-C link, they're reasonably straightforward to fit to most oboes by any competent repairer who does keywork alterations. I recently fitted one to a Cabart oboe at the owner's request (see attachment).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2015-07-29 05:48
Chris. I'd rather that the vent mechanism for the fork F natural be fitted but of course that would involve drilling the required tone hole.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-07-30 04:41
It can be done, but it will be costly due to the new keywork that will have to be made and fitted which could be prohibitive in terms of the cost involved for the conversion - you can probably buy a used Howarth B with the forked F vent for the cost of the keywork conversion.
In the '80s they offered both ring key and covered action B models, then in the '90s it was just the covered action model that was on offer. Howarth stopped importing Orsi oboes I think around 1999-2000.
But as far as tone goes, they're definitely much lighter in tone than other Howarth oboes, but definitely far better tone quality than the Schreiber-built Buffet student oboes.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2015-07-30 19:01)
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