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Re: Old Howarth Open Hole

Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-07-28 17:54

This one's probably from the '60s or early '70s at a guess. If you don't mind pure thumbplate fingerings, then this should be a decent 'knock-about' oboe without having to worry too much if anything happens to it. You will have to physically vent the forked Fs by holding the Eb key open on this oboe as they'll be stuffy.

But the good thing with basic thumbplate system oboes as opposed to basic conservatoire systems is they're usually built to low Bb whereas the most basic Yamaha, Bundy and other American beginner oboes are only built to low B. But they do have semi automatic 8ves, RH C-D trill and LH B-C# trill which the most basic thumbplates lack as they only have the LH C-D trill key on the top joint and simple 8ve keys.

Oboes made by Howarth will have either 'British Made' or 'Made in England' stamped on them (either on the top joint, on the back of the lower joint socket or on the bell) as opposed to the imports that won't have that stamped anywhere on them.

Later Italian Howarth B models had the forked F vent and low B-C link, so a low B-C# trill could be done by holding down the LH low B key and trilling with the RH C# key which can't be done on oboes that don't have a low B-C link or articulated C# (by holding the C# key down and trilling the low B key as on your S55c+TP).

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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