Author: Dutchy
Date: 2007-07-20 13:32
Carrie, I'm using a Fox 333 and am very happy with it. It's considered an "intermediate" oboe, and only cost $2,000 new, which is a bit cheaper than their 300 model. It has "modified conservatory", which means it has Left-Hand F (very handy to have) and the F resonance key--it just doesn't have all (ALLLLL) the trill keys. Which I, as an amateur player, don't really need anyway.
I wouldn't worry too much about buying your son a (quote unquote) "Professional" oboe just yet. If the Gordet's price is right, and of course it's got sentimental value for you, that's one thing, but I wouldn't rush around trying to find him a pro oboe. IMO it puts pressure on him in order to make use of his (quote unquote) "professional" oboe. What if he decides in six months that he doesn't really like the oboe and wants to go back to clarinet? Then he'll feel guilty that you spent all this money on a (quote unquote) "professional" oboe that he never uses.
If he gets to high school and is still seriously playing the oboe, that's when I'd start looking around for a pro oboe. Until then, just find him a good-quality student or intermediate model. Personally I wouldn't spend more than $2,000 at this stage of the proceedings, for a 12-year-old who is just starting oboe.
Selmer has a big selection of oboes; the 104 isn't "all she wrote". Just make sure it has the Low Bb key, which their biggest-selling student oboe, the 1492, (widely available on the Online Auction Site That Must Not Be Named for peanuts), does not. And it's a major pain in the butt, too--my first oboe was a rent-to-own Selmer 1492 from the local music store (the only one they had in stock at the time), and I got it home and compared it with the fingering chart in my new book, and I called the store back.
"Um, this doesn't have a key there? Where the book says it should?"
"Right. They come like that."
[long silence]
"Um, okay, thanks, byeeeeee..." And six months later, after I'd invested $390 worth of rental in the 1492 (or about as much as I'd have been able to get for it, used, online), I took it back to them with a relieved sigh, and was able to report triumphantly, "I bought a real oboe."
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