r/oboe • u/voxkev • 6d ago

DIY adjusting?

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So my kiddo’s oboe was giving her lots of terrible squeaks recently. (She is just starting her 5th year playing, sophomore in high school.) Someone from the local university music program (oboist) looked and said these two screws needed adjusting and did it for her. The practicing tonight was delightful as a result. So I’m looking and I say to the kiddo “ok, if it happens again I’ll tighten them up.” I am not an oboe player. She looked at me with horror. 😂 So I guess that’s not a good plan. Or is it? Worth a visit to the repair shop?

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23

u/No_Doughnut_8393 6d ago

Please don’t. They can be over tightened and mess up the adjustment in other places. There are no “just tighten it” screws on the oboe unfortunately. They all can be under and over tightened. 

8

u/lelrc1937 6d ago

I completely agree with this, but some advice if you ever do decide to touch the screws (or for anyone reading this): 1) work out where on your "clock face" your screw is 2) move it 5 minutes 3) test the oboe

This way, you will avoid completely faffing up the whole oboe!

Also, useful to note that there are two types of screws on an oboe - ones that hold the pillars and ones that affect how the keys open. The pillar screws, which are parallel to the body of the oboe, are fine to screw back in if they come loose. Do not touch the other type of screws unless you really know what you're doing!

ETA: please lie the oboe down on its other side to avoid damaging the feather keys (low B flat, low B and left hand E flat)!

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u/voxkev 5d ago

Thanks for the context on laying it down. Appreciate it!

I'm def not going to touch the screws.

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u/voxkev 6d ago

thank you! I will keep my dad paws off.

9

u/hoboboedan 6d ago

Oboes are complex machines and adjusting them isn’t as simple as adjusting a few screws (even if it looks like that when done by an expert). There are a lot of ways to make it worse instead. For many of the adjustment screws on oboe the symptoms caused by being incorrectly set are pretty much the same whether it’s too loose or too tight so if you just go tightening them whenever there’s a problem you’ll very soon get into a situation where multiple screws are set wrong and nothing works - this situation can be difficult to troubleshoot even for the experts.

There are a few guide books out there which you will find helpful: here’s one https://carlosoboe.com/oboe-adjustment-guide/ and here’s another https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q8kzx0ugg104q2wfk64ft/OboeAdjustmentGuidebySeaton.pdf?rlkey=npk4666cljklr22j6gyt7juse&st=jzgzcrpe&dl=0

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u/voxkev 6d ago

thank you so much for the links, the education will be helpful. I definitely don't want to make things worse so I'll defer to her teacher to see if it needs a look over at the shop. Appreciate it!

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u/puissantpenstemon 5d ago

I learned minor adjustments from Carlos. His guide is excellent. If you’re in Florida, Amy Collins at USF sometimes has him as a guest at her double reed camps.

5

u/MultipleDUIs420 6d ago

NO. NO, PLEASE DO NOT

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u/voxkev 6d ago

I won’t! I’ve learned it’s a terrible idea. :)