what kind of howarth do you have?

nothing fancy... just the graduate model, S40C with a 3rd octave key installed by Howarth itself.

I have owned three laubin oboes and one laubin english horn in my lifetime. My first one was AL800. I was a student of Ralph Gomberg for several years and when attending NEC in Boston I became an usher at Symphony Hall. I would always see Mr. Gomberg there warming up etc. It was a Friday afternoon and I had received my first laubin the day before. I brought it to Symphony Hall on that Friday to have Mr. Gomberg try it out. He inserted his reed and began to play and play and play and play and so on. He asked me if I wanted to sell it. I then knew that I had a prize winner. I often would play his laubin during lessons and drooled over it. My former oboe teacher Mr. John Holmes owned one Laubin and two Lorees. The Laubin was AL17. It was a beautiful sounding oboe and he had let me use it my last year of high school while in the GYBSO. I also used the Lorees as well and like them but I definately had a affinity for the Laubin. Having met Mr. Alfred Laubin many times I would come in for a visit on occasion and try a newly completed oboe or two. My AL 800 is also one that Mr. Laubin loved and said that it was one of the finer sounding of the collection he had ever made. Just because it is a Laubin doesn`t mean that every single oboe is the same. Mine just happened to be one of the best he ever produced and I was one lucky man. My other two laubins were equally nice but somehow my 800 was the cat pajamas especially where both Gomberg and Laubin loved them. BTW, my laubin Eng. Horn was one of the instruments that Al made in his Scarsdale home basement and was an outstnading instrument. All that played it offered to purchase it immedialtely. I purchased it from Wayne Rapier of the BSO sometime in the middle 70`s.

Just my comments.
CC

You still have it? AL 800?
How much do you want

I sold that oboe some time ago and have no clue as to who may own it now. I was and still am sorry that I sold it as well as the others. It would now be in the $4000 range I would imagine. I paid somewhere around $1000 back in 1968 if my memory serves me right.

I have Laubin 932. Thinking of selling it,great horn...
I am in a list for new one.Currently I play on Greenline oboe and it`s so different!I like the concept but noone in quality comes close to Laubins

Hello:
I read your note and would like asking you a few questions. Are you the original owner and if not, how many owners prior? Also what condition is it in? Is is played out or still a lot of life left. I could call Paul Laubin and find out the original owner and year made. Keys in good condidion, nickel silver?
I may be interested in it if you like. Please let me know by emailing me....... mario_lanza4@yahoo.com

Thank you

I am selling this oboe on e bay now

First, I`m surprised at the question about `being played out`. The famous Leon Goossens played the same Loree that he received as a small boy, for 70 years, to the end of his career!
I bought a Buffet, a very slender, thin-walled `Pierlot model` in 1958 and played it until I retired. It had all the keywork, incl. fully automatic. Wonderfully responsive and easy to play softly. It had some unusual features, e.g. no need to `roll` the left hand first finger on the plate, and unusually simple fingerings in the third octave with the special 3rd octave key. Required a very light reed and a relaxed embouchure, which suited me well. Laubin-players who tried it could hardly make it sound :-) I think they used too hard reeds...

I sold my Laubin just recently on ebay.I hope it`s in good hands.

In response to an oboe being played out, yes that definately
happens to oboes that have been played a lot for many years.
They become excellent student instruments but any major symphony principal oboist will own several oboes during his career and not play one particular oboe consistantly year after year. That`s the norm. Jack Holmes a personal friend of mine alternated between three: 2 Loree and 1 Laubin which I mistated in an earlier post as being AL 17 when it should have been AL 19. He would paly one for one season and put it to rest for two years. Ralph Gomberg also a dear friend had several and always carried two to concerts in his double case. Unlike violins which age magnificiently, playing does not seem to have any of the effects that woodwinds are subjected to. Oboes get played out even though they may still sound nice. Human saliva does have an effect on wood just like it does reeds. The fibers begin to break down just as if you took a beautiful piece of hardwood and subjected to moisture, let it dry out and repeat the process over and over for years. You will see the effect plainly. I am a furniture maker and have seen this change take place. Remember that anything organic will eventually breakdown and start to decompose in time when subjected to normal living conditions. That is why museums keep some precious articles contained in a vaccum to prevent deteriation.

As for comparing the sound of Leon Goossens to that of American oboists, the French style of reed making is far different than that of the American style. I knew Lewis Speyer of the BSO and his reeds were much softer to play than mine. He could not play my reeds at all..........too hard for him. I am sure that most folks here know the differences that I am talking about so I need not go on.
All in all, the French sound can be nasal sounding and bright requiring soft reeds and light embouchure. The American sound is dark, requiring harder reeds and a stronger embouchure. My preference of sound is the Ralph Gomberg style.......dark but not too, very centered and fat. He could cut through the orchestra any time it was needed no matter how loud the orchestra was playing. Like a hot knife through butter. I am not saying that any one sound is the only one. There are other great sounds out there.
Just my opinion.
Cheers

I bought a Laubin oboe in 1969 - maple impregnated with plastic - very light weight - I`m an amateur, but LOVE this oboe - there are few like it - he made a couple-dozen of this type.

Does anyone have the e-mail address for Laubin oboes? I need this one overhauled...it`s been many years.

Laubin does not have a website. Their phone is 914-737-3778. There you will either talk with Dave or Alex. Paul usually does not answer the phone. Great folks. Give them my regards. C. Campione, Boston.

I have played Laubin oboes since 1973, and still find them to be the best. I have had a couple Lorees but will always gravitate back to my original Laubin. I also have a rosewood, and one of the Laubin English horns. Beautiful!!!
My friend just bought a Laubin on Ebay for 5000. It is great.

Have been playing only Laubin instruments professionally for 40 years, from symphonic positions through opera, ballet, and Broadway pits to chamber music and commercial situations. I have never encountered a situation in which the instrument presented an obstacle. These horns have only gotten better, the newer ones always seem to be nicer than the one I had 5 years ago. They have good scales, are VERY easy to play in extreme high or low passages, and are generally a very agreeable partner to have with you. I have not found them to be any more or less resistant to cracking than anything else. I, personally, am fond of the rosewood horns, but have played excellent examples in grenadilla also. As others have stated, demand for these instruments is so high that the worst case scenario would be that you can`t make friends with your instrument and have to sell it at a profit to someone else who would rather not wait 12 years and pay still more for his own order. As proof of this, just try to find a good used one on the market. When one does break loose it is snapped up immediately, usually by word of mouth with no ad ever appearing anywhere.

Not the least advantage to a Laubin is the kind of attention and service you get from Paul and Dave, both consummate craftsmen and fine people. I can think of absolutely no reason why you wouldn`t enthusiastically take your new Laubin as soon as it is available.

Good luck with your new horn, I suspect it will be a friend for life.