Hey Reader,

Last week I hosted an oboe repair workshop with Sean Gumin, a local San Jose oboe repair technician. I met Sean when I first moved to the area when I was having a terrible time getting my top joint in adjustment myself. Since then, he’s my go-to guy for last minute repairs and my student’s instruments. I like to think that I know a lot about oboe care and maintenance, but there are some things that he spoke about that were totally new to me, so this newsletter shares that information in the hopes that you too will learn something new today.

The 3 types of pads and why they’re used in the places they’re used

There are 3 kinds of pads that you’ll see on an oboe: synthetic, cork, and “fish skin” pads.

Synthetic pads are made of a foam and are technically the superior pad because they seal the hole the best, especially for a wood oboe. Most oboes don’t utilize synthetic pads, though, because if they’re setup improperly they can feel mushy when closing the keys - in other words they’re difficult to install properly to avoid delayed reaction to tone holes closing.

Cork pads are most commonly used on oboes, though not necessarily on each tone hole on the oboe. They are easier to install and adjust for a good seal than synthetic pads. My Howarth XL has synthetic pads on the low C, B, and Bb tone holes, but my old Loree Royal oboe has cork pads on those same tone holes.

“Fish skin” pads have a really thin membrane over a more squishy part of the pad. In the olden days fish skin would be used for the pad material, but now they’re actually made of some kind of very thin plastic. They’re really commonly used on flutes. It’s unclear to me just by looking at them whether the pads on my low note tone holes are these type or the standard synthetic type, and I forgot to ask.

Oiling your keys

This was completely new information to me: you’re supposed to oil your keys every 1-2 months when you’re playing regularly. If you find that your keys have gotten really clicky-clacky, chances are your keys need to be oiled.

How to safely oil your keys:

1. Put one drop of oil on the metal-metal contact points on the rod: this is anywhere there’s a post to rod connection or two rods next to each other.
2. Press and release the keys a bunch of times to help the oil work its way into the rod.
3. Wipe any drips off the body of the oboe with a soft cotton cloth.

This blew my mind. No one (not even my long-time repair technicians) has ever told me to oil my keys, but this explains why one of my main complaints every year when I take my oboe to be serviced is that it’s really noisy to play!

What to do when you see a crack

We know that cracks happen despite our best efforts to prevent them, so I really appreciated Sean going into what to do about a crack. It was a good refresher and I had forgotten part of his instructions!

1. Using a pencil, draw a line down the crack, and mark a perpendicular line at the start and end of the crack. Often by the time the oboe gets to a repair tech the crack has closed on its own. The pencil lines helps them know where to start and saves a bunch of time.
2. Stop playing the oboe ASAP.

These days most repair technicians aren’t pinning oboes, they’re using glue to seal the cracks.

Do bores need to be oiled?*

No more than once a year. Typically this will be done as part of a clean-oil-adjust service by your repair technician. Sean says if you swab the oboe regularly, the bore shouldn’t need to be oiled more often. When you leave water in the bore (or don’t swab regularly), it sucks moisture out of the wood. The oil is a protective layer that prevents the moisture in the wood from being removed.

*This applies only to wood oboes, and only to the joints which are not lined with synthetic material.

I didn’t ask this question, but this seems to imply to me that oboists who exclusively use a feather as a swab may need to oil their oboe’s bore more often since the feather doesn’t remove the moisture, just moves it around.

Do you have any repair or maintenance questions? Let me know and I’ll follow up with Sean to provide some more answers.

Until next week,

Alli

Hey, Reader, Do you have any burning questions about playing oboe? Reply to this email and ask, and you might see the answer in the next newsletter!

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