Yamaha YOB-241 Student Oboe

Beautiful oboe! My daughter was absolutely thrilled when she opened her gift. The oboe purchased was used/ like new condition. The seller told me that oboe was never used and was only shown at trade shows. Everything looked pristine.I was very happy with the purchase, and would highly recommend this item and seller.

After a shoulder injury sidelined my ability to play flute, I decided that I still wanted to play with the local ensembles, but needed to switch instruments. In high school, borrowing a school-owned horn, I'd taught myself oboe as a second instrument and had been pretty good at it. I'd have kept with it if the cost of an oboe hadn't been completely prohibitive. It took many years of searching and keeping my eye open for a reasonably priced used oboe to come my way when my Yamaha 241 fell into my life.Purchased at a pawn shop for $35.00, the clerks glad to have finally sold their "weird clarinet," I left with a huge smile on my face. Normally, you can't find one of these for under a grand, but the shop's loss is my gain. I adore my weird clarinet. It's allowed me to get back into an instrument by providing me a model that's forgiving, due to its plastic body, easy to play, and retains its value on the second-hand market.While the 241 lacks in some of the features that make life easier (low B key, left-hand F key being the big ones) it's easier to play and sounds a heck of a lot better than any of the fancier Selmer/Linton/Elkhart, Indiana oboes I've played, and that makes a bigger difference to me than the missing keywork at this point. The only other real con I can come up with about this horn is that the factory case is terrible. There's not enough room for all of the "oboe crud" you've got to drag around, the hinges are weak, it weighs a ton, and the velvet-flocked plastic insert that actually holds the horn has warped and pulled up around the edges.My experience with this oboe has led me to playtest the 441 intermediate model. I didn't expect to like the Yamaha this much, especially since I've not had good experiences with their flutes and piccolos, but as far as the oboe world goes, I've started saving my pennies to upgrade to the 441.I would very much recommend this oboe to beginners. It's friendly and hardy. It's also worth the price in comparison to the other student model oboes I've played.