Hi, I am buying my second oboe in the next month or so, and have the choice of buying it in violetwood or grenadilla. I was wondering what the major differences are. Do any of you own a violetwood(also called kingswood) oboe? If so, how does it play? Thanks

tyler

This is from Midwests site:

Oboes can be made of several types of dense wood. Grenadilla is the standard. Also called blackwood, it comes from Mozambique and is the most dense of the woods used to make oboes. Grenadilla oboes project very well and are less prone to cracking. These oboes change dimensions more slowly over time often taking longer to "blow out". Cocabola wood, from Mexico, is less dense than grenadilla. It keeps the beneficial traits of grenadilla while having a slightly warmer sound. Violetwood (also called kingwood), from South America, is less dense than cocabola, and thus has a characteristic warm, sweet sound. Rosewood is the least dense of the standard woods used to make oboes. It has the sweetest sound but doesn`t always project as well (it is well-suited for chamber music). Some points to keep in mind: denser woods generally project better, are less prone to cracking, and don`t change as much with time. Less dense woods generally produce a warmer, sweeter sound with less of an edge.

Hope this helps!

CHRIS