Author: mschmidt
Date: 2006-04-05 00:22
I have been waiting for an opportunity to mention my latest oboe adventure--getting my old Prestini back from Seattle (Lynnwood, actually). I've had people tinkering with that old instrument for years, trying to get it to seal better by means of adjustments here and there. The low register was often a challenge with this instrument.
Finally, with a new (used) Marigaux in hand, I sent the Prestini to Paul Woltz of Kennelly Keys in Seattle, who came with high recommendations from Paul Hurd. He did a complete overhaul, and got the thing to seal up better than ever. He said that he not only replaced some pads, but did some filling/repair on the toneholes themselves to allow the cork pads to seal better. I took the top joint out of the case first thing when I got the instrument back and took a trial suck--after 25 seconds the vacuum was as strong as ever. My new Marigaux, recently from Nora Post's shop, ain't that good.
Of course, the bill for this wasn't small, but it included swaging the key-work to reduce lateral play, replacing all the adjustment screws with nylon-tipped screws and removing the cork underneath the adjustment screws, and cleaning and adjusting the whole thing (including, it appears, vaccuuming the case). Altogether, it was less than $500.
I don't want to discourage kelloboe by suggesting that all that is necessary to get the oboe working, but do want to point out that there is sometimes more to a leak problem than just adjusting the usual screws. And to give a bit of advertisement to Paul Woltz, who did a tremendous job.
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
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