Post 53: What does “My oboe keeps going out of adjustment!” mean?

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We hear clients say this statement all the time, “My oboe keeps going out of adjustment!”  Oboes are extremely finicky, but one thing is certain, they do not go out of adjustment “just because” or “on their own.”  There is always a reason why an oboe might go out of adjustment!  We wanted to share a few of those reasons with you so you can be better equipped to resolve an issue, or at least diagnose an issue, in the future.

  • Extremely loose mechanism, key wobbles on rod or pivot screws
  • Loose adjustment screw in screw housing
  • Worn out adjustment cork, either broken or deep indention
  • Adjustment corks that are too thick and “squishy”
  • Pads not covering properly
  • Pads with deep indentions
  • Wobbly tenon connections

As you can see from this list there are many things that can make adjustments on an oboe become unstable, i.e. keep going out of adjustment.  There is one word that can tie all of these items together, solid.  Oboe mechanisms are complicated and oboe mechanisms have a lot of moving parts.  Because of this, oboe mechanisms have to be solid in order to give you the performance you demand.

One of the first things many oboe players think of is expansion and contraction of the oboe material.  All oboes, whether they are made out of wood or a synthetic material, expand and contract.  This material movement can cause oboe mechanisms to change, making the oboe go out of adjustment.  Typically this change is very minor and subtle, sometimes noticeable and sometimes not.  Sometimes this change results in keys binding, which is very noticeable due to the fact that the keys stop working properly.

In our experience, MOST of the time when someone says “My oboe keeps going out of adjustment!” it is a culmination of all the possibilities listed above.  All of the possibilities above happen slowly over time as you play your oboe.  We call this ‘normal wear and tear’.

The metal that oboe keys and rods are made from do wear out over time.  When this happens, keys become less accurate which causes them to wobble in place instead of pivot in place.  The wobbling movement will cause pads to not cover properly and make adjusting with other keys nearly impossible.  Loose, wobbly keys will cause the adjustments on your oboe to be unstable.

Adjustment screws have to be secure in their adjustment screw housings. If they’re not, they will move!  Over time, screws can become loose on your oboe and when they do, they can turn by themselves from the vibrations and movements of playing the oboe.  They can also turn from assembly, disassembly and by being carried around in its case.  If the adjustment screws on your oboe are not secure, your adjustments will be unstable.

Pads and tone holes need to be flat!  Once a pad starts to show wear, it can become warped and/or take on a deep impression of the tone hole.  Anytime these changes occur, the regulation or adjustments between two or more keys becomes unstable.

On most oboes, there’s material under the adjustment screws that is glued to the key beneath the adjustment screw.  This material is typically called the adjustment cork.  This material could be cork, leather or synthetic.  No matter what the material is, it has to be thin and solid.  This cork cannot be squishy, it cannot have a deep indention, and it cannot be broken.  If these corks are not solid, your adjustments will be unstable.

When you assemble your oboe the tenon joints have to be secure.  If the joints of your oboe wobble after being assembled, this can have a drastic effect on the stability of the bridge key connections.  If the bridge key connections are not accurate, the adjustments between the two joints will be unstable.

“My oboe keeps going out of adjustment!” is a simple, general statement of truth when you are having trouble playing your oboe.  The solution to this frustration is also simple in principle.  Pads, corks, tenons and keys have to be solid in their mechanical function.  Just like players have to maintain a consistent practice regimen to become a solid oboist, the oboe itself has to have consistent maintenance to remain mechanically solid.

If you have concerns about your oboe “going out of adjustment,” call or email the solidly unstable staff at Onks Woodwind.  We would be honored to serve you!

615-223-9015

office@onksws.com

Blessings, Jason Onks

Post 52: Why your cracked oboe or clarinet doesn’t leak.

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During the course of a year, we get many cracked oboes and clarinets that come through our shop.  Sometimes the cracks are microscopic and sometimes they are huge!  Either way, seeing a crack on your instrument can be terrifying and they never appear at a convenient time.

When our clients contact us to send in their instrument, this is one of the most common comments we hear, “I just found a crack on my instrument, I tested the suction of the joint and there isn’t any suction!”  Although this is a valid thought and very understandable, many times the fact that your instrument has cracked and the fact that there isn’t much suction are completely coincidental.  There are many contributing factors that cause an instrument to leak and, if not maintained regularly, these factors can compound and show themselves at the wrong time, i.e. when your instrument cracks and you try a suction test.

Some of the things that can cause your instrument to leak besides cracks include: warped pads, pads with super deep indentions, torn or cracked pads, large wood grains on the tone hole surface, loose metal tenon ferrules, loose reed well, loose register tubes, leaking octave vents, loose mechanisms which cause keys/pads to not accurately cover tone holes and adjustment screw materials compressing/breaking causing key adjustments to not be stable, just to name a few.

Determining the real reason why your instrument is leaking can be tricky and is not always what you think.  In this blog post, we wanted to take a little time to show you different types of cracks and why they might or might not make your instrument leak.

When your instrument doesn’t leak because of a crack:

In picture #1 below, you can see an oboe that cracked on the back side of the upper joint which is marked by the pencil hashmarks.  This crack doesn’t go through any tone holes and it doesn’t go all the way through into the bore.  In an example like this one, the oboe will not leak just because of the crack.

When your instrument will leak because of a crack:

In picture #2 below, you can see a clarinet that cracked through the top side trill tone hole on the top joint.  When you have instruments like this one that cracks through a tone hole, your instrument will leak.  Another way a crack can potentially cause your instrument to leak is when the crack goes through a post hole.  You can see an example of this in picture #3 below.

When to monitor a crack:

If you feel your instrument has cracked but are not totally unsure, then this would be a time to monitor the situation, i.e. keep an eye on it.  If the supposed crack looks like a grain in the wood, keep an eye on it.  Feel free to mark the alleged crack with pencil hashmarks on each end of the alleged crack.  If you see evidence of the crack getting longer or opening wider, then that is when you should contact your favorite repair specialist.

Here at Onks Woodwind, we are happy to evaluate cracked instruments at no charge.  Many times we can evaluate the instrument via email with high-quality pictures.  Modern smartphones have amazing cameras so use those cameras to your advantage and send us some pictures if you feel your instrument has developed a crack.   Email the pictures to office@onksws.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Bottom line, just because your instrument has cracked, doesn’t necessarily mean it is causing a leak.  If it’s minor, you may be able to keep an eye on it.  If it’s a major crack going though tone holes or into the bore, you should send it to a professional repair person right away.  If your instrument is leaking, whether from cracks or normal wear and tear, the team at Onks Woodwind would be honored to serve you.

Blessings, Jason Onks

Post 51: What is your favorite brand of oboe out there today?

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I recently had a conversation with an oboist friend of mine from graduate school regarding the tuning of a particular note on her oboe.  During our conversation, my friend asked me, “What is your favorite brand of oboe out there today?”  I would like to say that this is an easy question to answer, and maybe it is for a career oboist who’s only played one brand.  For those of us in the sales and/or repair industry, we see many brands and models of each brand which makes this question very difficult to answer.  Another factor that makes it hard to answer has to do with our human biases.  If you’re in sales, your favorite oboe brand will be the one that you sell.  You can be the most ethical salesperson on the planet, but 99% of the time you’re going to recommend the oboes you sell.  There isn’t anything wrong with this, it’s just the way it is.

Here at Onks Woodwind we are in a unique position when it comes to this question because we’re not in sales.  As I am writing this, Onks Woodwind is strictly a repair shop.  We don’t sell instruments or accessories, so from a business standpoint we can remain objective and provide insight that will truly benefit our clients.  As professional players, we do have personal biases to contend with, but I feel we bypass those tendencies when advising our clients.

Undoubtedly by now you’re asking, “So what was the answer to the question?”  Well, my answer doesn’t really involve a brand name.  We live in a modern, high tech world which is vastly different than the days when Alfred Laubin made his first oboe (1931).  Due to computerized machinery, oboe makers have extremely precise tooling.  Some of the oboe makers not only have precise tools, but they use computer-guided machines to manufacture the oboe bodies, which leaves you with an amazingly precise product.  So in light of these modern advancements there are many amazing oboe brands available.  This is not only true for the top of the line professional models, but student models as well.  The days of plastic oboes being manufactured only for students are gone!  There are many different materials out there today being made into oboes that professional and students alike are utilizing to their advantage.

So my answer to the question is, “An oboe that is mechanically sound and is easily played.”  Ok, so maybe my biases are showing.  As an oboe repair specialist, I’ve seen very expensive oboes in disrepair and nonfunctional, mostly due to a lack of expert maintenance.  It doesn’t matter how expensive an oboe is if it isn’t functional.  At that point it’s just a paperweight!  In today’s world, if you purchase a reputable brand and maintain the oboe annually, you will have an excellent oboe, period!  For most students through high school and even into college, all reputable brands will give you excellent tuning, response, and overall sound.  The rest will be up to you as a player and the reeds you choose.

So you may ask, “What are the reputable brands?”  This question can easily be answered using, once again, modern technology.  Google!  If there is a brand you are interested in, can you google the name and easily find a manufacturer’s website?  Even if you cannot purchase directly from the manufacturer, you should be able to find them and see company history, instruments they manufacture, model descriptions, dealers, pictures and contact information.  If you google a name and you can’t find a manufacturer’s website and it’s only available on Ebay, stay away!!  Purchasing a reputable brand will insure availability of parts, repair of catastrophic damage by the manufacturer, local or regional dealer support and resale value in the future.  (Hiniker Oboes is one exception to the manufacturer website rule.  Tom Hiniker is a small boutique oboe maker in Minnesota.  His oboes are fantastic.  There is a 10+ year waiting list and he does not have a website at this time.)

If you are in the market to purchase an oboe, below are a few suggestions and questions for you to ponder during the process:

  • Create an oboe “Board of Directors”.  These are people you can consult during the buying process.  By the way, this also goes for professional oboists, too.  Making these decisions can be daunting and tiresome, there is no shame in getting help and the opinions of others.
  • Don’t choose the cheapest.
  • Choose from reputable brands for ease of repairability, warranties, future resale value, etc.
  • If there’s a brand you’re curious about but haven’t heard of, ask your board and/or try to find manufacturer information.
  • Keep in mind, an oboe purchase is not for life.  If you ultimately decide after a period of time that the oboe you purchased isn’t for you, make a plan to sell it and purchase your next oboe.
  • What is your budget?  Do not blow your budget or stop funding retirement to purchase a $12,000.00 oboe for a beginner oboist (or any oboist for that matter) if you cannot afford it.
  • Ongoing Expenses:  Once an oboe is purchased, you should plan to set aside 8-10% of your purchase price to go towards annual maintenance.
  • How old is the player?  Again, it is not necessary to purchase a $12,000.00 oboe for a beginner, but it could be more reasonable for an upper college student pursuing oboe performance.
  • What are your goals?  Are you going to play for fun into adulthood?  Are you going to play solos in your small church?  Are you going to play in community band/orchestra?  Professional orchestra or collegiate professor?
  • Do you want to deal with cracking?  If you simply don’t want to worry about the wood of your oboe cracking, there are oboes being made out of many different materials and oboes with bore liners which eliminate cracking.
  • Where are you mostly going to be playing?  Huge drafty symphonic stage? Cold drafty opera/musical pit?  Outside?  Small band hall?  Church? Answering these questions can help you decide what type of material you should consider for your oboe.
  • New or used?  This can usually be answered by referring to your budget and where you are in your life stage of oboe playing.  Used oboes can be just as awesome as new ones, assuming they have been maintained well and do not have bore damage.

There are many factors that go into the oboe purchase decision.  Get advice, use your budget, consider where you are going with your playing and consider the environment you will be playing in.  If you answer all of these questions, do lots of research and take your time, you will undoubtedly make a good decision.  Oboe playing should be fun and, with help, there isn’t any reason purchasing an oboe shouldn’t be fun also.  Information and time are always your friends!

If there are any questions Onks Woodwind can help you with regarding anything oboe, don’t hesitate to contact us!

 

Blessings,

Jason Onks

Post 50: How to win a major oboe and/or clarinet audition!

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There was a guy that I heard about a while back that was known for his ultimate care and maintenance of his automobiles.  This guy loved cars more than anything.  He worked his whole career being very frugal and never owned a flashy, awesome, eye-popping, supercar-like most people until he retired.  He saved up his whole life so that when he retired, he could “live the dream!”  So now in his retirement, he has fulfilled one of his life passions, buying and maintaining his dream cars. This guy spends his days cleaning under the hood, hand polishing the exterior to a high gloss shine. His cars are cars of fantasy, cars you would see on the cover of Automobile magazine, cars that make everyone’s heads turn.  Matter of fact, his cars do make people’s heads turn because when he frequents the local car show, there is always a crowd around his car, no matter which car he brings!  But then one day after all the preparation of cleaning and polishing, he was in route to the next show and he ran out of gas.  Can you imagine?  After all the hours of love and care, in preparing his beautiful car for the next show, he forgot one crucial thing and he fell short.

Have you ever tried so hard to do something and no matter what you do, you just simply fall short?  As a professional musician or aspiring professional musician, there are countless things that you must do to prepare yourself for that lifestyle.  If you are aspiring to be a professional symphony musician, collegiate professor or even a member of a smaller group like a professional quintet, at some point you will have to audition.  You will have to show up and be the best that you have ever been in that one moment in time.  Not only must you be the best that you have ever been, you must be the best out of all candidates that are applying for this same position.

To be the best of the best, you will have a daily practice routine, which usually includes some type of warm-up, scales, musical excerpts or simply playing your favorite tune to remind yourself why you are doing all this in the first place.  Most of you have spent hours with your teachers and/or professors doing these very things.  You have worked all of your scales and excerpts and even completed harmonic analysis’s of the music so that you can learn how to make an appropriate musical phrase.  You all have probably heard this one too, “If you can’t make music while playing your scales, how can you expect to make music playing, well anything?”

Just like the gentleman with his awesome car, you will spend hours polishing and cleaning your technique.  You will be extremely proud of your work and the results you have gotten from the hours of polishing.  You possibly have even played mock auditions in front of family and friends, colleagues and teachers as one more layer of preparation for the big day, Audition Day!  But, just like the car guy, have you forgotten to fill up with gas?  Without enough gas, you will not make it to the audition or through the audition.

The other day we had one of our professional oboist clients come in for a quick adjustment.  He said he was about to fly across the country for one of the top principle oboe positions in the United States.  Knowing this client I can say, I know he has polished and cleaned his technique and the music he plays!  He is easily one of the top players in the country, even at his young age.  This particular day, this client wasn’t cleaning and polishing, he was filling up with gas!

One of the most overlooked aspects of preparing for major auditions is not having routine maintenance.  Oboes and clarinets are comprised of many pieces and parts and these parts do wear out.  These are a few examples of common maintenance issues that can keep you from reaching your career goals:

 

  • Pads change and stop covering tone holes.  When this happens note response goes out the window, especially as you play lower notes.  Note resonance is less than ideal which can effect tuning and overall timbre of your oboe.
  • Keys become loose on the instrument which makes the pad accuracy less than reliable.
  • Tone holes become clogged from the constant cycle of playing and swabbing.  This can lead to water build up in tone holes and tuning issues.
  • Corks wear out and the mechanism becomes noisy and/or the joints become loose.

 

When you do not maintain your instrument, all of the hours of practice, cleaning and polishing can leave you stranded, literally without a job.  So if you are playing the audition circuit and haven’t considered maintenance as part of your audition plan, I would highly recommend a visit to the repair shop.  If you are planning on auditioning soon, make plans to visit the repair shop sooner than later.  And as you go through your musical life, instrument maintenance should be part of your regular practice routine.  How can you be the best of the best when your equipment is not the best it should be?

Many blessings to you as you pursue your life to the fullest.

 

Jason Onks

Post 49: Dr. Dan Ross

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Recently Arkansas State University produced the video below about my former oboe professor Dr. Dan Ross.  This video reminded me of what a huge impact Dr. Ross has had on my life and has prompted me to share a few thoughts with you.

Sometimes in your life you get to encounter some extremely unique and inspirational people.  For me one of those people happened to be my first collegiate oboe teacher, Dr. Dan Ross.  When I entered college at Arkansas State University as an oboe performance major, I had only been playing oboe for approximately 2 years, some would say “holding an oboe” for 2 years.  Most oboists that declare oboe performance as their major have been playing 6, 7 or more years by the time they get to college.  Most oboists have had significant playing experience through oboe lessons, school band/orchestra, county honors, all-state, summer music camps, etc., but not me!  I was raw!  Although I did have very supportive parents that signed me up for oboe lessons right away during my junior year of high school, I ultimately didn’t have any experience playing oboe compared to my freshman counterparts.  So needless to say, my abilities as an oboist auditioning for college were not spectacular.  My options for college with regards to oboe were limited.  But just as my parents and high school band director supported me and thought I had promise pursuing the oboe, so did Dr. Ross!

The rest is history!  Not only did Dr. Ross sculpt me into an oboist by playing G. Parès Scales and Barrett Method with a metronome for 2 years solid, Dr. Ross was the catalyst for what I do today as an oboe repair specialist.  Dr. Ross is not only an oboe professor but the inventor/designer/builder of the Ross gouging machine.  The gouging machine is an integral part of an oboists life when it comes to making their own reeds.  The gouging machine in concept is fairly simple.  However, the gouging machine in conceptualization is a whole different beast!  Dr. Ross loves the oboe!  Dr. Ross loves playing the oboe, and Dr. Ross loves making oboe playing easier for whomever he can help. Through Dr. Ross’s love of the oboe and his passion for excellence, I was inspired over and over while studying with him and continue to be all these years later.

There are so many things that I learned from Dr. Ross like how to play with a metronome, how to drink my coffee black, how to be diligent in my day to day studies/practice and the KISS principle, Keep It Simple Stupid!  One of the most important things I learned, although I didn’t think so at the time, was how to shut up and do something without actually knowing how to do it, aka, figure things out on your own!  Now as an oboe repair specialist, I have to figure things out every day.  No repair is exactly alike, and you cannot read a manual to help you figure it out!

During the video, Dr. Ross described the conversation when his oncologist told him he had only 1-2 years left to live.  Dr. Ross says, “Boy, it’s been a quick trip!  But my next thought was ‘that’s OK I’m still the luckiest person in the world ’cause I’ve got to do in life exactly what I love to do the most.’  Not many people can say that.”

I have to say that I am also the luckiest person in the world to have had the opportunity to study with and come to know Dr. Dan Ross.  He is always upbeat and the passion that he exudes is hard to shake off.  If you don’t know Dr. Ross or if you have had the same honor that I have, I know you will be inspired as you watch and listen to him in the video below.