As an oboe Reed maker, I am acutely aware of the instrument that I play. I just spent some time taking apart the top joint because there was something going on with the A key. It was getting a bit sticky, so I pulled everything off of the instrument and cleaned it up and re-oiled it. And now, it is just fine and it works great.
I work on the instruments of my students to get them to play properly. Many times, I take a look and see what the problems are on their instruments and a few days ago, one of my students had a spring that was not correctly attached. Consequently, a note was not working properly. I say all of this to try to get you as an oboist to be keenly aware of what your oboe really looks like. You need to be able to look at your instrument and see if everything is properly in place. This is especially true if you are having instrument problems. Everyone has instrument problems at one time or another, but if you let your instrument fall into disrepair, your life is just made much more difficult.
If you have an oboe teacher, hopefully they will be able to take a look at your instrument and tell you if it is correctly working. If they are not sure about the instrument as to fixing it, then do find a person that can work on your instrument and get it to proper playing condition. Even if I gave you the best oboe reed in the entire world, it would not work if your instrument was not properly adjusted. And an improperly adjusted oboe causes other problems — like causing you to put too much pressure on your fingers to get notes to sound. I remember doing this when I was a young player which just creates many problems. Our fingers need to be low and very light so we can play passages correctly.
So I would suggest this: That we be keenly aware of our instrument and take it to someone who is capable of fixing it if there are problems. Your oboe will not fix itself! And the more you play an oboe that is NOT right, the worse it is going to get, and the worse your own playing will be!
Have a Great day, and play pretty!
Kerry