Author: Dutchy
Date: 2008-11-09 17:02
Quote:
but I really prefer the sound that comes from the wooden models I have had the chance to hear.
Somebody did a study, reported on here. You need to read this entire article. Basically, they found that there is no difference in perceived sound between plastic and wood.
What DOES make a difference is (a) the shape of the bore, (b) the style of reed used, and (c) the expertise of the oboist.
So don't let "ewww, it's plastic" sway your judgement when picking out an oboe. What you heard when you played her Greenline, that had you salivating, was most emphatically NOT the difference between her wood and your plastic oboes, mainly because the Greenline is not, strictly speaking, a wood oboe--it's a blend of grenadilla wood powder (i.e. sawdust) with resin (i.e. glue). So you weren't hearing a "wood" oboe as such, you were just hearing an upscale professional Buffet Crampon bore, as opposed to your beginner-to-intermediate Selmer Signet bore. And yeah, plastic beginner Selmers tend to be "higher"--we say "bright". But that's a function of the shape of the bore, not the fact that it's made of plastic.
Case in point: Yamaha made plastic oboes, the 410 and 411 series, a while back that had problematic sound. They went back to the drawing board, redesigned the bore, and now the -41 series reportedly has much better intonation. It wasn't the material, which remained the same: it was the bore design.
Also bear in mind that the Luracast lining of the other BC instruments is epoxy resin--i.e. plastic. So if you're playing on an oboe that's lined with plastic, you're basically playing on...a plastic oboe.
I play a Fox 333, so I'm biased, but there are a lot of other people out there who will tell you that Fox oboes are good value for the money.
ETA: We cannot emphasize this strongly enough--you need to play the oboes yourself before you settle on one to buy; don't go simply by "my teacher sez this one is good." It's like buying a car--you wouldn't buy a car without test driving it first. Oboe specialists all have arrangements whereby they will ship you the oboe and let you try it, normally you give them a credit card number as surety and then you pay the shipping (with insurance), and then have two weeks to test drive the oboe.
Post Edited (2008-11-09 17:06)
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