i`m actually looking in to buying a howarth. would you not suggest one?

Well, if i were you and you are playing and Plastic oboe now. i would defentally move up to the wood oboe. Beucase the english horn in harderd to play.Last year i was on a plastic oboe and then This year i got a 2004 Brand new F loree (best company Alive) It like a dream come true. your will not beliove the differce in sound. Loree might be expensive but once your hear your sound will will be in good shape.

Hey, i just found about this 8notes thing so i might be a little late in giving you advice, but i`ll give it anyway.

I`ve been playing oboe for about 7 years and english horn for about 3. Right now I`m using a loree royal standard bore grenadilla wood and a fox model 500 english horn (grenadilla). My advice is to upgrade your oboe first. In my opinion, if your a band player and even if you play in an orchestra, english horn would be like a secondary instrument. Oboe is your primary instrument and sounding real good on the oboe first should be your priority.
Howarth, Fox, Loree, Marigaux, Buffet, Laubin, fossati, and Yamaha are considered the top brands. however, i personally dont like the howarth, buffet, and fossati.
Howarth and Buffet in my opinion are at least 1000 bucks more expensive than they should be. They price almost as high as loree but they just dont compare to it in sound and stability. Fossati also get out of adjustment easily. Their high Ds also are hard to get
Fox and Yamaha are both good if you dont have the money to buy loree. If you get a Yamaha though I`d say get the top model ( I think its the 811 not sure though). Most of the Foxs I tried are really good for their price.
If you have the money, buy a loree or marigaux. Loree is easier to find and most of the time better. I`ve also tried a few laubins and they are jsut amazing, but of course you have to wait like 4 years after you order it to get it. Loree and mariguax are more practical and almost just as good. Also, when you try to get one, standard bore is not necesarily worse than ak bore. its just a diff sound. royal model is also not necesarily better than standard.
Basically, if you plan on playing the oboe for years to come then my advice is to get a loree. I`d also say get a new instrument because you can just trust that it will usually be in perfect condition (no cracks, clean, etc), but of course that depends on how much money you have.

However, whatever oboe you get, make sure you try it first. When I got my loree, I got it from Woodwind and Brasswind www.wwbw.com and they had a great policy where they send you three oboes of your choice and you can pick the one you want. Each oboe, even if they are from the same manufactuer, is a different instrument. You have to try it. Once in while you might find a Howarth that you like better than a Loree, you never know. Don`t just walk into a store and buy an oboe, make sure you try it first for about a week. I really recommend you find a place where you can try at least 2 diff oboes. Also, I strongly urge you to have a profesional oboist try the oboe out. Professional oboists will know what to look for in the instrument. If you can try more than one, then he can help pick which one to keep. If you dont have a private teacher, get one. Especially for oboe, working with a profesional teacher is jsut so incredibly good for your playing.
Also, I`m not saying not to get the howarth. If you found a howarth at a good price that you want, then try it out. But its just my opinions that howarths are overrated.
also, always get grenadilla wood. if you play in a band or orchestra, that is the way to go. It`s durable and it projects. the others arre really for chamber music. and make sure the oboe you get has the full conservatory system. left f, low b flat, trill keys, etc. Also, i highly recomment third octave key. it just helps so much when you get above high e flat. also, silver plated or nickel silverkeys. Dotn get gold plated, its just a waste.

finally, once you get the oboe. make sure u take care of it. the last thing you want is for your brand new oboe to crack. thats annoying.

ok im done, i know thats really unoorganized writing there but hopefully you`ll be able to glean some advice from it.

- Dave

I`m going to add one other brand to the list, that being the Rigoutat. I`m of course biased being that I play it, but it really matches the loree and marigaux quality-wise (depending on the oboe) and offers a few things that others don`t. For one, the second octave of loree and fox oboes tends to sag a bit, the rigoutat has a higher pitched second octave to avoid that problem, this being good for people that tend to play flat up there. Also, rigoutat has recently redone the surfaces and shapes of the keywork to make it feel better and fit the hands better, just one more brand you might want to consider.

The wood oboe is a wonderful instrument. The MCW is less expensive than a Loree and has a wonderful sound. Check out Mark Chudnow`s product. I am so pleased with my oboe.

I started on a wooden oboe. I asked my band director if I could play part time E-Horn. He later told my mom that she might as well get me an E-Horn.

This is in response to several of the post concerning this subject and especially to the long post by Eric.
I would suggest that you join the International Double Reed Society which has an online discussion board consisting of double reeders from beginners to professionals in every major Orchestra. They can help you with most all needs and questions.
How ever, I strongly disagree about Howarth Instruments being only for the British. I own a Laubin, Low A violetwood Loree ( AK bore) and Loree English horn and Marigaux English horn. The 5SL solo cocobolo instruments from Howarth are some of the best I have ever played and I have been playing for over 30 years. I am watching the exchange rate and as soon as it inproves I intend on purchasing a comlete set (oboe, Eh and d`amore of cocobolo from Howarth).
Also, Rosewood is the least dense not violetwood and violetwood projects quite well.
I will end here since I`m really not much of a "chatter" on message boards. Also, Fox instruments are some of the best you can buy for a student, especially if they are still in grade or high school. Selmer instruments are JUNK!!!!!