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 need help identifying
Author: Hephaestion 
Date:   2024-07-20 01:12
Attachment:  PXL_20240719_211006956.jpg (408k)
Attachment:  PXL_20240719_211034822.MP.jpg (372k)

I was recently given an older oboe in pretty rough condition but I can't for the life of me find any information about it. The key system is definitely atypical (the closest match I can find are in oboes produced by Hermann Sauerhering) and everything I can find attached to the manufacturer is about flutes.

The manufacturer is Moritz Max Mönnig in Leipzig.

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 Re: need help identifying
Author: oboist2 
Date:   2024-07-20 01:47

This I believe is typical of the system that was produced by Moenig at that time, most likely high pitch too, so unless you make reeds and use longer staples, you will have a struggle to get it down to current pitch if you wanted to play with anyone. It looks great though and I would love to hear it played.

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 Re: need help identifying
Author: mschmidt 
Date:   2024-07-20 09:10

Very interesting keywork! It looks like a left F closest to the center of the instrument, low B on top, and a left Eb furthest out. Missing some of our modern vents on the upper joint; I would imagine that Bb and C are fingered as for baroque oboe. (Something I didn't anticipate was that learning baroque oboe gave me all sorts of ideas for alternate fingerings that still work--sometimes, and not always very well--on modern oboe.)

Mike

Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore



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 Re: need help identifying
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2024-07-21 21:29

Definitely the old German style oboe with fully automatic 8ves and articulated G#.

I've got a very similar one (but with a more decoratively turned bell) which is unmarked and I suspect was made by Mollenhauer as I've seen a near identical one (without the articulated G#) on eBay.

The automatic 8ve mechanism works in the same way as the one used by Loree with that long sprung lever, only they configure their one in a slightly different manner.

The low C key should be held closed by the RH ring keys until either RH finger 2 or 3 is held down which will release it.

The top joint side keys are for Bb (lower) and C (upper) although in the upper register you can use cross fingerings for those notes. Plus the extra thumb touch for Bb to make some trills easier.

The ones I've worked on played relatively easily at 440Hz and were built to around 435-439Hz, although you'd need to either taper the staple cork or use a wax threaded staple that fits the taper of the reed socket. Use a European short U or V scrape reed with it as opposed to an American (long W) scrape reed.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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 Re: need help identifying
Author: oboist2 
Date:   2024-07-22 00:35

Thanks Chris for your insight. I was interested in what you said about pitch. I had an 1891 Loree that was built to the Barret system, and it was thus built to high pitch so I had to work a lot to get the pitch down. It was also an automatic. I gave it to Nicholas Daniel in the end in the hope that he might find a use for it. It played quite nicely, but it was easy to go out of adjustment, as the adjusting screws were, I suspect, original and protruded quite a long way, and almost breathing on them would make them shift.

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 Re: need help identifying
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2024-07-22 22:45

I've also had some older wooden German flutes (a Conrad Mollenhauer Boehm system with open G# and a conical Meyer-style simple system to low B with ivory headjoint) which played on the flat side (c.435-439) by today's standards. At least instruments built a smidge below 440 can still be used alongside instruments built to 440, unlike HP instruments built to 452/453Hz which is a shame as some of those HP instruments can be found in remarkable condition.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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