Author: JRC
Date: 2010-09-12 14:47
Hi Peter,
You always have wise tale to tell. I appreciate that. I recently bought a Rigoutat serial xx (1960 vintage) from Bulgarian dealer through ebay. You may remember that I was looking for open ring old oboe and tried one of your Kreul. This one is open ring top joint and padded middle. The condition of the oboe was not good. It appeared have been kept in case most of the years. Smell of mold and cigarette smoke was overwhelming. Apparently the previous owner was a smoker however old he might have been. Quick touch here and there got it playing enough to test the condition. It had good intonation and still had that Rigoutat classic bore quality; fruity sweet tone.
Some of the original shine was still evident on the wood, no cracks/chips larger than a mm or two. I made a major investment to completely overhaul it with well known oboe technician (recommended by many including you); left F key, new silver plating, new rods, new springs, and complete repadding and adjustment. He did a good job on keys but you cannot really tell plating quality for few years. But he did a terrible job on padding and adjustment. Probably it was not due to his lack of skill but he did not think I deserved his best. I had to go to a second tech to get it done right. Now I have my dream oboe. 50 years old but plays like new. It responds very differently to different reed. I can actually make my own sound. I tried a few new oboes; few Lorees and Howarth, before I bought this Rigoutat. I was very much surprised that these new oboes had its own sound and leaves little room for a player to shape his/her own sound. All my reeds (a wide range of different characters) sounded pretty much the same. They tell me that the oboes today gives you basic sound that is very tolerant to wide range of reed one might use. Even a bad reeds sound good enough to get one going. Great thing for a beginner!! I am not sure I would would be happy with manufacturer's concept of sound. Now Manufacturer is increasingly take up creating unique oboe sound than a player. I am not sure it is a good thing. A globalism is in the making... Oboe players are increasingly becoming the soldiers. OK that is another subject...
Bottom line is that "blown-in" or "blown-out" probably be a myth. It is all depending on how the wood is preserved. Loosing moisture and surface deterioration are the two dominant factors affecting the acoustic properties of the inner surface. If one sees the original shine of the oboe, it is a good indication that the wood may not have deteriorated too much. If the surface of the wood looks dry and the wood grains starts to show, it is a sure sign that characteristics of the wood may have changed, regardless of age.
I must caution you on applying sealant. I do not know any any sealant that does not leave a thin layer of film. Actually that is what you are hoping to get when you are applying the sealant. It would be a very very thin layer so you would hope it would not affect producing sound in any way. I would give you an example. The pitch goes up when the oboe is warmed up, because the dimension of the oboe changes a little due to thermal expansion. We are talking about probably 10 degree F change. Thermal expansion coefficient of the wood is very small. So we are talking about very small change in dimension. I did not run the numbers but I would dare say that it is about the similar order of magnitude as the thickness of the sealant film. It would affect the intonation mostly, especially from the top joint. But I would worry more about the acoustic property of the sealant layer. Unless it is the same as the finished surface of the wood, it would change the timbre because it would have different mechanical and acoustic properties. It would affect more in the lower joint.
Every oboe manufacturer have their own secrets of finishing the wood surface, especially the inner surface. If you change that, you changed the tone characteristics of the oboe. I do not know if any manufacturer of the oboe would offer a reconditioning service to refinish the woods surface, that would ensure maintaining and restoring the integrity of the tonal quality of the oboe while protecting it against the element. But I do not know of any manufacturer who offers such service. Probably we should encourage them.
So this is my five cents input to this thread.
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