Howarth of London (T W Howarth & Co. Ltd) have been the leading UK maker of oboes for over 50 years and the quality of their engineering is probably the best in the world.
The ‘B’ model is an Italian made oboe by the Orsi company of Milan. Orsi made instruments for many companies who stamped them with their own brand name. Howarth went a bit further and collaborated with Orsi to produce this version of the ‘B’ Model. Not only was there the Howarth input into the design, but the final bore, tuning and finishing was done in the Howarth factory in Worthing making it very close to a Howarth made oboe.