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Re: Selmer Paris oboe

Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-12-07 22:13

Blu-Tack is the putty used for sticking posters on walls with - not sure of it's trade name in the US, though I think it might be Pritt-tack or similar. Good for testing joints for leaks before fitting keywork, or isolating a leaky pad.

http://www.blutack.com/

The hard black wax used for tuning is the same stuff used by cobblers for polishing shoes using a buffing machine - it smells a bit like bitumen when melted (and has a much higher melting point than paraffin wax). It sticks well when melted onto the insides of toneholes (much better than shellac), and can be shaped and removed easily. It's named after an American county or city whose name escapes me, but it comes in a triangular prism-shaped block.

With tonehole bedplaces, the diameter of the crown is usually much larger so several tonehole sizes can be used within the crown so one bedplace cutter can be used in several different places (and also there's plenty of room to enlarge the tonehole if needed), and also covering a small tonehole (eg. 3.5mm) with a large pad in a fingerplate (eg. 10.5mm) makes sure a greater diameter of the pad is employed rather than a small crown making contact right in the middle which may cut into the pad under finger pressure.

On Howarth oboes, a No.1 bedplace cutter is used for the top joint trills, C, Bb and G# bedplaces, and the toneholes through the middle have plenty of room around them should they need enlarging (on conservatoire system the top joint Bb and C toneholes are larger in diameter than those on a thumbplate system to compensate for RH finger 1 being closed on conservatoire when playing Bb and C, but the larger toneholes for these notes on conservatoire oboes are still well within the limits of the diameter of the bedplace crown) - though the G# bedplace is at the limit for it's tonehole.

I've only tried a few Kreul oboes and they weren't for me, though I do know some players that find Kreuls to be the right oboes for them. I don't know how different the Gordets are considering they may have been built to a different spec from the standard Mirafone/Kreuls.

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

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