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Re: Exotic Woods

Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-08-07 22:12

Making oboes out of plastic is more costly for the company than making them in wood - the main problems with plastic oboes is the amount of thermal expansion and contraction that happens so keys need a lot more lateral movement so they don't bind up solid when cold, as well as the tenons being weak - especially the top joint tenon as plastic doesn't have the tensile strength that wood has, and plastic is more brittle when it's cold. Plastic is also heavier than wood, especially high density plastics such as Delrin. Even PVC oboes feel heavier than wooden ones.

Another problem is fitting the pillars tightly, in plastic there's more chance of the threads stripping in the pillar holes. And also cutting toneholes, bed places, turning the joints, drilling and reaming the bore without the plastic melting is a major issue - plastic doesn't clear in the way wood does when turning, milling or drilling. And there's also the risk of melting the surface when seating pads with a flame.

I've had trouble with is the joints being bendy when cutting the bedplaces - especially on cor anglais joints due to their length, so they need support from underneath while mounted between centres in order to cut decent bedplaces (the top of the toneholes where the pads seat onto). And trying to stamp the logo on plastic joints is more difficult, and more of a headache to put right if it didn't go too well the first time.

One player I know has an all plastic Loree, and as the plastic they used isn't anti-UV treated, it gets a white bloom on the exposed surface, just like the seatbelt loops in cars.

But one good thing with plastic oboes is that they're much easier to get completely airtight than wooden ones. Though I can get wooden oboes airtight as well - they take more time spent getting the bedplaces blemish free, whereas plastic will cut cleanly leaving the perfect bedplace for pads to seat onto, but plastic does need more care taken when cutting them.

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

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