Author: mschmidt
Date: 2018-03-22 02:08
I wouldn't be too hard on the repair shop. It is rather standard practice to do a "periodic servicing" of an oboe regardless of how it's playing. I alternate taking my oboe and English horn in every year so they're never more than 2 years from a service. Isolating a problem can often be as expensive as doing the once-over for everything, and other potential problems get taken care of before they manifest themselves. You may not notice it, but your oboe is probably in better condition than when you took it to them. I say probably, because maybe your repair people aren't good. But I often can tell little difference when I got my oboe back from John Peterson at RDG (one of the best of the best) after its biennial service, but I don't have things failing on me for the next two years, either.
Pros, of course, get these servicings done annually or even more frequently. There's a lot of mechanism on an oboe, with a lot of adjustments, touch-corks, pads, and springs. They need to be looked after.
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
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