Can anyone tell me the differences between the types of wood oboes are made of? Kingwood - Violetwood - Rosewood - Grenadilla - Cocobolo etc.

Density. Propensity to Crack. Timbre of Sound.

From Midwest Musical Imports:

Descriptions of types of wood:
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

Would anybody know any thing a bout a German made oboe. "Hans Kruel Tubinger wood conservatory. I am looking at buying and would like more info before I purchase
thanks Manny

it`s tubingen.. small and nice town.
Great german oboe

You mentioned the Oboe being great. it is in great condition and they want $825.00 for it, is that a good buy. it comes with the hard case, several reeds, it has no cracks and sounds great.