Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2020-08-05 04:16
I'd like to add on to Jdbassplayer's comments. Generally I agree with what he wrote above, but sometimes circumstances cause us to have to go out on a limb.
My personal example: Earlier this year I decided to buy an English horn (cor anglais to the purists) for doubling, since I've become a thoroughly rotten 2nd 'oboist' in one of the local orchestras. Well, guess what? Just try to find ANY half-decent English horn, new or used, for less than, say $3000. Believe me, I tried. The average price I saw for a used one was around $5K, with new ones about double that. I spent several months looking.
One day I saw a Chinese, new-manufacture English horn on That Internet Auction Site Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned (TIASWNSNBM), for all of $750. Plastic body, silver-plated full keywork. I decided to take a chance on the Chinese instrument.
As a woodwind technician without fear of any mechanical device, I figured I could fix anything that might be wrong with the instrument. And that's how it worked out. Several issues out of the box rendered it barely playable, but after working on it for a couple of easy days, I got it to play quite respectably (well enough for my low skill level, anyway). Had hoped to try it out in public, but then COVID hit, so will have to defer any comments about how it sounds in a hall. All in all I'm pleased with the purchase, but couldn't recommend the instrument to a real oboist or a non-technician amateur player. The keywork is adequately stiff for playing purposes, but hopefully none of the metal will break because I suspect the previous poster is correct about the keywork being cast and probably unrepairable.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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