Author: PlatinumPisces
Date: 2015-07-06 22:35
I think it depends on your attention to your instrument.
I have a DM Loree that I broke in in San Diego, CA but traveled/lived in Boston, Chicago, and Las Vegas with it and never had a problem. Played with it outdoors and indoors, heat and AC. I bought a Howarth XM last year and broke it in here in Vegas, no problem. You have to really be diligent about swabbing. You're sitting for a minute while another section is working, swab. You finished warming up, swab. You just swabbed 5 minutes ago and rehearsal ended, swab. In my experience, I feel it mops up the extra moisture but distributes it more evenly throughout the bore rather than having it seep into weak spots. When breaking it in, I always prop open the trill keys either with the cardboard inserts from a razor blade or a cut up Q-Tip.
I also feel if an instrument cracks, it was destined to. I always try to look for "strong points" in the grain of the instrument. It is hard to describe. I look for these in the top joint only, especially around the trill keys. I sorted the instruments (about 20) just by grain when I was at RDG picking out my Howarth and sure enough (for me) the top three were the ones I felt had good grain. The one I eventually picked out, the owner tried it and said "I can see why you picked this one...".
Your fears of cracking aren't overblown. It is a scary thing to think of, I still do think of it. Just remember, if you completely dry out your oboe or as you said you don't play often, try to play it for five minutes and put it back in your case. I do this in my down time. It introduces moisture back into the bore and doesn't completely dry out the bore. I like to do this so next time I play for a while, the wood just doesn't soak up the moisture like a dried out sponge and expands unevenly. Too much or too little moisture, neither is a good thing IMHO.
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