Author: cjwright
Date: 2007-03-14 06:25
Feathers are not for swabbing out moisture, but rather accomplish one major thing, which has two major advantages.
1. They evenly distribute the moisture within the bore.
a. The first advantage of this is if you have an oboe which has a regular water path, it frequently causes water to splash up and hence, get in the tone holes, thus creating gurgling. Sometimes oboists are known for dribbling a bit of water out of their mouth straight down the oboe to reset this water path.
b. The second advantage of this that feather particles are more visible and easily removeable than silk swab threads, which can get in octave vents and clog stuff up.
I used to play and while continuing to play, I would use a feather. At the end of my practice session or whatever, while putting the oboe away, I'd swab it. Now, I've gotten an Aqua-Nix bowl and can no longer swab my top joint, so it's feather only for me.
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The Oboe BBoard
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