Thread: oboe players

Here's a message for oboe players. What instrument do you have? I played oboe for several years as a child, and even got to orchestra level. Unfortunately, I outgrew the instrument the school was lending, and it was too expensive at the time to upgrade to a decent instrument. I am told that you need to pay out a minimum of £1,300 pounds to get a "decent" instrument. Is this so? There are several well known makers in France ( Paris to be more exact) but the prices are astronomical. I look foward to hearing from you.

I have no doubt that 1'300 pounds is a minimum. Intermediate level trumpets are 1'300$ (850 pounds) and that's far from professional level, when trumpet is a very cheap instrument relatively.

Yes, a new oboe will set you back at least £1300 though something suitable for an accomplished/potentially accomplished player will cost a lot more. Howarth's in London do a range of used instruments that might be worth looking at. Here's their new list. http://www.howarth.uk.com/products.a...=17&filter=179

So I made my high school teacher buy me an oboe sophomore year...was extremely excited when it came in so i took it home...few days later, i bring it back...couple days after that, feeling bad, i assumed the role of lead snare drum and really didn't say much about it...luckily, the lead clarinet player took it up and played it beautifully...much respect for anyone that can master this wonderful instrument

I guess you could try to find a used instrument. There's some urban myth circulating that oboes only last for a decade and then "lose their juice" (whatever that means), so you might find very undervalued specimen. Also you might find a cheap instrument that just needs a little-bit of repairs, but don't bother with cracked instruments, it's usually not worth it. Consider yourself especially lucky if you find a Lorée from the early 1900's
But finding an oboe/reed combination which is actually in tune can be very difficult though, so have at least 3 reeds on very different staples before you start trying the instruments out.

I am not sure what you mean by orchestra level. Do you mean that you played in the school orchestra, or that you played in a youth orchestra or an adult amateur orchestra? It is possible to buy a used oboe suitable for playing in an adult amateur orchestra, for around 1000 pounds, I know this because I have done it twice. It just requires waiting for the right instrument to come up. If you don't mind playing on an instrument with open holes, you will have more choice.

I think a used student oboe in decent condition should be a bit less than £1000 even. A couple of years ago I got lucky and bought a plastic Buescher (IIRC) that the local music school had deemed "too poor to service" for less than £30. Being a saxophonist, I never quite got on speaking terms with the double reed, but I let a professional oboist have a look at the instrument. He agreed that one or two pads might need replacement, perhaps a rod would need straightening but for being a beginner instrument I could have fared much worse and mentioned a friend of his who got a £300 oboe that was in much worse condition than mine.

Long story short, the local music school got a load of new oboe students, more than they had instruments to rent so I sold back the same instrument that they previously had discarded. They fixed it up and now some lucky kid likely has an instrument to play. I realize £30 oboes in any condition is like winning a lottery, but surely £500 should set you up with a second hand student instrument to see if it still is anything for you. Like most wind instruments, they should retain their value quite well if taken care of so you should be able to get most of that in return if you upgrade or resell it.