Author: jhoyla
Date: 2010-08-14 20:00
Old oboes do not "lose their tune[ing]" - that almost never happens to an oboe, unless the bore warps over time, or cracks.
Far more likely is that an older instrument will go "out of adjustment" - oboes are very fickle in this. They need to seal perfectly, and old pads, old bed-places, old buffer-corks - all of these can conspire to prevent an older instrument from achieving that elusive, perfect seal. Microscopic cracks can make it hard, sometimes impossible to regulate.
That said, new instruments are not a guarantee of perfect seal, either! In fact, a new instrument is bound to settle in and require adjustment, possibly more than a refurbished, old instrument.
Peter Hurd on his website makes mincemeat of the argument that old instruments get "blown out" (read his "buying an oboe" section). This is very rare. More often than not, an overhaul will return an old instrument to full-throated, easy-playing glory. So don't reject an old instrument just because of its age! I have a 35-year-old Strasser-Marigaux that sounds better today than it did new.
Plastic instruments are often recommended for younger children because they are, after all, more robust. They survive ill-treatment better than their wooden counterparts. In addition, if there is any chance the instrument will be played outdoors then plastic is an absolute requirement.
The other myth that needs shooting down is that plastic instruments are somehow inferior to wooden. I am firmly of the opinion that a plastic instrument should sound at least as good as a wooden one - except that none of the makers seem to invest the same care, attention and refinement to the manufacture of plastic instruments.
Buffet make a full-pro instrument called the "greenline" - it is made of composite material and should be acoustically identical to plastic in every way. Some of the finest soloists today play the greenline. Marigaux make a clear plastic pro-instrument called the "altu-glas", but I've only ever seen jazz oboists play them. We Oboists buy wood because oboists have always bought wood and we smirk just a little when plastic instruments are suggested. "Good for beginners", we say.
There are valid, aesthetic reasons for preferring wooden oboes - they look beautiful! But acoustically, plastic instruments should be on a par.
Composite decking can be shown to be superior to wooden decking in every way with rigorous, scientific testing, yet people still buy wooden decking and shellac it religiously year after year.
Go figure.
J.
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