I have been delightfully pleased by the 081 since taking it home. My early impression is of a well made, extremely light oboe with excellent intonation throughout the range. I have been playing it on a medium strength reed and have been very impressed with the stability it exhibits. Far better than most student oboes I've had the (dis)pleasure of playing.

After a few minutes of playing I was able to pop out three octaves of chromatic scale from B to B. The tuning was spot on, and my only criticism so far is the propensity of the octave boxes to fill up with water almost instantly. That could be caused by the weather, however!

As a quick litmus test I recorded the same study on both the 081 and my own oboe, a 10-year old Marixgaux 901. It has served me well and has been all over the world, playing in everything from classical concerts to rock bands.

I recorded the same study on the same reed but different oboes, recording each once. The only editing which was done was a level normalisation and splicing of the two performances together, one after the other. I then encoded this as an MP3 and posted up on my personal website, along with a plea to fellow musicians and friends alike to listen and see if they could tell the difference.

Of those who have commented publicly and privately, two oboists thought that the 081 was the marigaux. Two thought I was actually pulling the wool over their eyes and had recorded the piece twice on the same instrument. The rest, about ten people thus far, could spot the more expensive marigaux but conceded that the quality of tone from the 081 was far superior to anything they had heard from a student oboe for a very long time.

I'll continue to play it daily and hope that in a few weeks I'll be able to give it a thorough review. So far I love it! I'll certainly be showing it to all my colleagues and clients alike, including Kevin Murphy. I hope he likes it as much as he liked the Baritone Saxophone he recently purchased for Wells.