In my last post, I discussed some of the various brands of bassoons that are currently available (although I most certainly did not review all of them). With that in mind, I think I’ll continue with that theme before I wander onto other related topics.

In searching through things on the ‘net, I’ve come across several other makers including (but not limited to): Amati (Czech), Bell (Canada), Jupiter (US), Leitzinger (Germany), Nobel, Schweizer (Brazil), and Walter (Germany).

In my review of some of these makers, several seem to stand out. Bell bassoons receive high marks, Lexinger are made by a former Heckel employee and are constructed from Sycamore (very unusual as wood bassoons are nearly always made from maple), and Walter. Amati appears to have carved out a niche in the low-end market. I know nothing about Schweizer bassoons (although I’m not impressed with their photos). Nobels are rubber (!) bassoons that are manufactured in China – apparently, they’re fairly decent low-end horns; some have a very UGLY key guard on the boot joint (over the Bb mechanism) with their brand name filigreed on it.

Then there are the huge number of “mystery” bassoons coming out of China for which many of their actual makers cannot be determined (or at least I cann’t seem to find them) including: Hadyn, Lark, K-Knight, Laurel (found on Amazon.com), Rex, Hunter, and Xinghai (found on eBay and elsewhere). As expected, there appears to be very little information on all of these with the exception of Laurel and Xinghai (which are available from a variety of sources).

Moving on to other types of bassoons (excluding contras as those are worthy of their own posts on this blog), I came across something called “mini-bassoons” – instruments made specifically for little kids. While the bassoon has historically appeared in different sizes (e.g., the tenoroon), others are now making them for kids whose hands are far too small for the real thing. Specifically, the “mini-bassoon” manufactured by Howarth’s of London. These bassoons are pitched either a fourth or a fifth higher (in F or G, respectively)  and are designed for kids between 6 and 9 years of age. They are surprisingly expensive – between $3,700 and $4,000 USD (Heck, that’s almost as much as a low-end Fox)! Why would anyone spend that kind of money for an instrument to put in the hands of children so young? Furthermore, what are they going to play? As these are not pitched in C (as are real bassoons), there is simply no music (in an ensemble setting) which can accommodate these instruments. Of course, that doesn’t apply to the use of these as practice instruments in which case regular etudes and other study materials could still be used (although these will, of course, be played at a higher pitch than real bassoons). Just the same, an adult player might have some fun with these – they might make a great instrument to take on a hike!  🙂

One last thing – I just found a few sound clips featuring “mini-bassoons”on Howarth’s web site. You’ll want to click on the link to hear them – kinda fun, really!