I resently puchased a new patricola Pt.SB1 student model oboe. I absolutly love it. It gives me a nice, dark, centered tone. The options on this oboe compare with the oboes of twice the price. I purchased it through www.music123.com amy one else with one please tell me what you think of them and if you have input onthem about tone quality or any thing else let me know.
Oboe rules!
Let get Patricola out there!

I play on a Patricola Professional S6 Oboe. I must say it`s the best oboe I`ve ever played on! It feels much better than the Loree that I used to play on. The keywork is fantastic and the tone is dark and centred. Works fantastic for me! I also play on the Patricola professional EH. Great!

Patricolas are very popular in Italy. Many players in the top italian orchestras play with them.
I remember that In Venezuela also there was a time when good players were using patricolas.
I alomost bought a rosewood one in the IDRS conference in Chicago backin 1997, but they did not have a perfect instrument then. I ended up buying a Loreé. I have a friend in Argentina who plays principal for the Buenos Aires Philarmonic and he bought a rosewood patricola in the conference in Florida back in 1996. He was happy with the instrument for quite a few years. He sold it later.

Check out the new "Evoluzione" model. I heard it`s great and much easier to play compared to the "easy-to-play" S6 professional models!

i`ve heard Patricola oboes are very nice, but how easy was it to buy from Music123? Shipping, and did you have a trial period?
thanks, and good luck with the new oboe!

It was easy getting one from music 123. It includes tracking. I strongly recommend that you be home when the insturment is to arrive. It has a 45-day full refund guarantee. If for some reason it`s not what you want you will recieve a full-refund, minus shipping of course. This is the same with any company that lets you try an insturment. They also have a repacking charge. Unless the insturment hasn`t been opened.

Try Muncy Winds Music (www.muncywinds.com). Their Patricolas cost less then at Music 123. They are easy to deal with and will answer any questions. They have more oboes available then what appears on their website.Call and talk to them.

We just bought Patricola Evoluzione for our daughter (a sophomore in high school). She already loves this oboe. Her teacher told her at her last lesson that she may have teachers in the future that will not teach her on this oboe. Any comments?

Many of the professionals do not like patricola oboes. They won`t carry them or even work on them. They say Italian oboes are inferior. They will only usually work with french made oboes. A few other brands, like Laubin, are accepted. The oboe world is a very demanding treck. They have a very little path of acceptance. Patricola is not one of the brand on this list.

So what do we do? We have it for another month or so before we have to keep it. Do we send it back and get something else?

I wouldn`t worry about it right now. You can always sell it later. The value don`t decrease much on an oboe. If you keep it nice looking and in great shape there is a good chance you can get almost what you payed for it. I would just purchase a new one before attending college. Some colleges will even work with you about supplying insturments. Many universities have a lare quanity of these insturments and will more than likly supply an insturment. You can always buy one later. I will be attending college in a few years, about two and a half. France has just implimented new labor laws. These laws affect the oboe companies. The result, they raised their prices. Right now is not a good time to buy a frech oboe. I believe a loree is about $5,500.00 and an english horn is about $6,500.00. The price of the oboe increased sixhundred dollars in the last six or seven months. Laubin currently has an exreamly long waiting list. Last I heard oboes were five years and english horns were about ten years. Don`t rush out and buy an oboe right away. The current oboe should be good enough for the first one or two years of college. Hope everything works out!

AWESOME!!! I have played for 35 years and had a Loree for 2 years and a Laubin for about 33. I was lucky enough to actually GO to WWBW and tried about 10 professional level oboes. I kept going back to the Patricola, over Loree and Yamaha professional (and my own much-loved Laubin). The tone is superb with easy low-note production. THe horn is physically lighter, which is important when you play enough that overuse injuries become an issue. FURTHERMORE the right hand layout is a fraction of a millimeter different in key location, and fits my hands (average-to large for female) MUCH better than the larger Loree, Laubin, and everything else.

In short I am ECSTATIC about this horn.

I adore my Patricola. I have a rosewood oboe made in 1996 and it`s been wonderful! I have played on it several hours a day for the past almost ten years and it`s had no problems, not even minor ones! Resale value is down only fractionally and they sound wonderful.