The Oboe BBoard

The Oboe BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Re: weird oboe

Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-03-03 00:23

As I mentioned, I can only give a rough guess as to when it was made, but I reckon it's from the '70s (possibly the later half) going by the general appearance - though it does have a forked F vent so you don't need to open the Eb key every time you play F with the xxx|xox fingering - unlike the earlier ones.

The earliest ones were silver plated and lacked the forked F vent. Then they were nickel plated and had the forked F vent mechanism added.

From the early '80s they had a narrower crown and a covered plate for RH 2 to help with the tuning in the lower altissimo register when the C key is closed, a raised bush with a fixed metal ring surrounding it for LH 3 to make it feel like a fingerplate (but it didn't move - it has the tonehole hole through the middle), and the logo was now the oval shaped one Howarth still use, and a low B-C connection was added (which allows low Bb and B to be played without holdong the low c key closed) to help get around the bottom notes, and also to facilitate a low B-C# trill, and made intervals such as Bb-Eb and B-D# easier.

In the late '80s the bell logo was still oval, but said 'Made by Prof. Romeo Orsi Milan' and had the 'B' in ther centre of the oval. They were also available with covered keys, and the ring key ones were discontinued.

Mid '90s, and the keys were again silver plated and the bells lost the metal bell ring, and the most recent ones have a wide crown (the decorative turning at the top where the reed fits) and the keywork is much chunkier - more like 'real' Howarth oboes.

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

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics