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The Covey oboe is designed in response to the needs expressed by professional oboists. The bore shape, tone hole shapes and locations are a result of Mr. Covey's research and close working relationship with a number of highly respected oboists. The result is an instrument with dark centered tone, excellent projection, flexible nuance, even scale and sensitive linkage.


Tone Color

The tone of the Covey oboe is warm, resonant, solid, and centered with a dense texture. These qualities give depth and character to short notes as well as long notes. They also give excellent sound projection in all performance situations. Players can use a wider range of reeds than on brighter oboes to achieve the sound and handling characteristics they want. This, and our oboes' flexibility, aid in the bending of color and pitch to create the musical line.


Linkage

The Covey oboe has a key mechanism that feels smooth, small and comfortable to the hands. Key shape, key placement, and spring tensions are designed to help the oboist's technique. Each instrument is hand-assembled in our small shop, from installation of posts to soldering and fitting of keys and springs. In assembling the keys on their rods and between their posts, great care is taken to make them an exact fit, thus preventing poor pad seating and lost motion. This attention to detail makes slurs smooth, permits light finger pressure and allows true full note production in fast technical passages.


Scale

The scale on the Covey oboe was developed as a result of intense research and discussion with oboists; as a result, particular care is taken in these areas:

• The low register notes are in tune with the rest of the oboe.
• The low register C# is one half step above the C natural and one half step below the D natural. It is not flat as on many other oboes.
• The left hand notes on both registers are dark, having sufficient resistance and color to match notes in the right hand.
• The middle D natural is warm, resonant and not sharp in pitch or low in color.
• The middle register E natural is stable, in tune and resonates with a full tone.
• The middle F natural is not flat in pitch and color.
• The middle F# and G natural are up in pitch and color. They do not require special reed scraping or pinching the reed.
• Slurs to the upper C# and D natural are made easier by tuning them slightly lower.
• The extreme high register is in tune and easy to slur to or articulate.
• Lock screws are put on all pivot screw posts and all posts near the end of a joint to prevent the posts from turning.
• Delrin inserts line all top and bottom joint tone holes to keep the instrument working even if it cracks, improve pad seating and ease pad maintenance.

All Covey Oboes

• All Grenadilla wood body, professional model instrument.
• Handcrafted, silver-plated, nickel silver keys.
• Impeccable scale, individually hand-tuned  
• Full conservatory system key-work, including left F, split E, F  resonance, articulated G#, Eb and C#, and, on the Traditional model, 3rd octave key and low B-flat resonance key on bell
• Fully inserted tone holes in the top and bottom joints for better sealing, reduction of maintenance costs, and protection in the event of a crack.
• Solid walnut case or black leather over wood case, with case cover, Starrett screwdriver and, of course, a cork grease holder.
• Third octave key - standard on our Traditional oboes 
• Philadelphia high D key - standard on our oboes

Introduced in the Fall of 2000, the Classic Covey oboe was designed to be a revival of earlier-design oboes, reminiscent of instruments of famous oboists who founded and developed the American school of oboe playing. The Classic features bore modifications to enhance control in the low register, and raised tones holes in the left hand to enrich the sound of upper notes. The result is an oboe with a full, sweet sound which handles well and resonates in all registers. The key mechanism, for acoustical reasons, intentionally omits the 3^rd octave and bell resonance keys, but does include an F resonance key which can be adjusted closed. 

New Oboe Setup