 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2007-10-01 21:23
Haven't ever been to gatherings where oboe makers display their instruments for test playing, so I'm curious to find out how you folks like to test play new (or used) oboes
do you have a fave way of doing that, change your approach depending on the oboe, zip up and down scales, play spontaneous melodies, test play only certain notes, listen for anything in particular, find it particularly important how it looks, handles or feels, or what? Do you use just one reed on every instrument or do you try out any given instrument with more than one reed?
What hot tips, precautions would you recommend to a newbie browsing oboe display tables?
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Author: Dutchy
Date: 2007-10-01 21:42
Besides "Have a loved one hide your credit cards and checkbook"? ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
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Author: hautbois
Date: 2007-10-01 22:38
Here are a few ideas: I suggest you bring along your current oboe, and play it alternately with instruments you are trying, to retain a firm concept of what is the same or different in the available instruments. Also bring a tuner. Before you go, consciously identify what you like/don't like about your current oboe. On the test instruments, check the scales for evenness of tone and intonation, fullness in the upper range, ease of attack in piano esp. in the lower range. Try to narrow down the selection quickly, not wasting time and embouchure on instruments which probably will not suit you. If there is a repairperson available, ask to have any irregularities in adjustment attended to on the spot. If the instrument is out of regulation, you will not be able to determine what it might be like when adjusted properly. Use several reeds, comparing them on your old instrument and the others. If nothing really speaks to you, ask if there is some other instrument which is not on display, and also identify which brand of oboe tended to please you the most. (About 15 years ago I used to fly to LA for a day to try Lorees at RDG; I would usually try about 20 instruments over the course of @4 hours, and then tell Bob, the former owner, that nothing was suitable. He would then bring a few out "from the back", and they would be terrific.) Take several hours, if you can; try to arrange to take the most desirable instruments home with you for a week or two, to make reeds on them and discover their idiosyncracies, and hopefully play them in your performance venues with a colleague to listen in the hall, and/or play them while you listen.
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2007-10-02 00:14
hautbois, thanks, awesome
are you saying that play-test models aren't always properly adjusted?
In your experience would that be 5% - 95% of the time?
you'd think that being out of adjustment would defeat purpose of finding a buyer ...
Vaguely remember somebody mentioning some post else that some oboes are more forgiving of the reed than others, that might go on my wish-list, but what might that likely trade off with on the downside?
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Author: directcj
Date: 2007-10-02 04:48
bobo- sure wish i knew of this article when checking out oboes for my daughter ....
directo
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Author: hautbois
Date: 2007-10-02 12:18
I think all their oboes are put in proper adjustment by the major dealers, but, as they are for the most part new instruments or used ones which have not been played much recently, the wood and cork can shift alot with the environmental conditions and as the instrument is played in trials. My experience is that they need alot of tweeking at the beginning.
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2007-10-03 01:28
OK, that seems par for the course then, my little intermediate oboe brand new two years ago needed some tweaking within 2 months ...
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