Fratellli Patricola

Fratelli Patricola: Centuries-old wood engineering and the millimeter excellence of the concert reed

In the global landscape of woodwind instruments, the Fratelli Patricola workshop operates as an atelier of high acoustic surgery. Founded by Francesco, Pietro, and Biagino, who were later joined and succeeded by other family members: Angelo, Claudio, Salvatore, Nicholas, Erica, and finally Mattia.

The company has codified a hybrid construction flow: while having mechanized and digitized a minimal portion of the initial geometric processing to increase the precision of the internal bores, almost the entire production process is carried out strictly by hand. To understand the engineering magnitude of this brand, consider that handling a single file correctly on the curves of an oboe requires at least four years of practical training, and every single instrument demands from 40 to 80 hours of focused human labor.

A block of raw wood crossing the threshold of the Alessandria facility today will face a slow metamorphosis, being transformed into a finished clarinet or oboe only after many years. This rigor has allowed their models (from the Concerto and Virtuoso series up to the Artista) to establish themselves among professionals and in the most prestigious orchestras on the planet, offering soloists instruments characterized by intact tuning stability, register flexibility, and a harmonious fusion of tonal sweetness and acoustic projection.

The collection

Patricola’s production is focused on the maximum specialization of two families of concert woodwinds, available in specific variants and platings to shape the voice of the instrument according to the musician’s acoustic needs:

The Clarinet Family: The line ranges from the brilliant Eb Concerto to the standard CL2 Bb Virtuoso and CL3 A Virtuoso platforms. Alongside these are the orchestral pit models CL2 Bb Concerto and CL3 A Concerto, the extended CL4 Bb Concerto Full Boehm configuration, and the sought-after CL7 C Artista.
The Oboe Family: A range structured to cover the entire frequency spectrum of the double reed, including the Student Oboe, the Semi-professional, the Concerto Oboe, and the Artista Oboe, extending to special variants like the English Horn and the Oboe d’Amore.

Construction philosophy, techniques, and materials

The organological advantage of Fratelli Patricola rests on two scientific pillars: the biological stabilization of centuries-old woods and the zeroing of mechanical coupling tolerances:

Dynamic Micro-Removal and Twenty-Year Seasoning: The historical limitation of woodwind instruments is their susceptibility to cracking caused by sudden changes in humidity and temperature (the musician’s warm, vapor-saturated breath clashing with the cold outside temperature). The Patricolas solve this problem by entirely excluding any artificial drying kilns. The wood — primarily Grenadilla (Dalbergia melanoxylon) imported from Tanzania and Mozambique, and the precious Bubinga (Guibourtia) or Bois de Rose from Central Africa and Brazil — is naturally air-seasoned for over 20 years in the Castelnuovo Scrivia warehouse. During these two decades, the pieces undergo cyclical and minimal internal and external processing: artisans remove tiny portions of material at long time intervals, allowing the fibers to “release” latent tensions and adapt to climate changes year after year. This treatment guarantees stabilized wood, capable of playing identically in Iceland, Chile, or India without suffering structural deformations or cracking.
The Energetic Inertia of the Bore: Acoustically, the progressive stabilization of the fibers allows for perfectly smooth and dense inner bore walls. This causes the body of the instrument to behave as an ultra-low-loss acoustic waveguide: the wood does not absorb the energy of the harmonic spectrum but reflects it, projecting the air column with a polyphonic purity and dynamics that reduce the player’s lung effort, allowing fluid performances even for older musicians.
Nickel Silver Mechanics and High-Thickness Plating: The keywork of a professional oboe is a highly complex kinematic system, which can feature up to 400 independent keys, bridges, and levers, entirely machined, drilled, and soldered by hand. Patricola uses exclusively the best Nickel Silver alloy (Copper-Nickel-Zinc), selected for its mechanical rigidity and lack of elastic memory. To prevent oxidation caused by the acidity of palm sweat and to refine the acoustic response of the instrument, the entire mechanical sector undergoes high-thickness electrochemical galvanization, depositing 20 grams of 24K pure gold or 925 pure silver. Gold, in particular, introduces a microscopic surface density that darkens and sweetens the instrument’s high frequencies.

Collaborations

The prestige of the Patricola brand is sustained by fifty years of exclusive word-of-mouth among the first chairs of symphony orchestras and opera houses worldwide. The soloists of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan have relied on the Alessandria workshop for the calibration and supply of their professional instruments, followed by the first three permanent clarinets of the Arena di Verona lyric foundation. The brand’s reach touches the highest peaks of national opera (with the first clarinets of the Teatro Massimo and the Politeama in Palermo signed Patricola) and international ones, establishing the company as a true institution of reference for professors in European and American conservatories.

Direct experience

In perfect coherence with its history, Patricola stands alongside musicians and professionals to offer the best of oboe and clarinet production.

The staff travels personally to attend major international trade fairs, meeting musicians and allowing them to test and choose their instrument only after a hands-on trial. The bond with the customer is so exclusive that it drives concert artists to undertake journeys of hundreds of miles from Zurich or Los Angeles to Castelnuovo Scrivia just to entrust the maintenance of their instrument to the hands of the Patricola family.