CHOOSING A BASSOON Due to the expense of buying a bassoon, most students use a school bassoon. Most bassoons already owned by schools are not in good playing condition! It is recommended that no matter what condition the instrument is in, find a good repairman and see what he/she can do as far as rendering the bassoon playable. In many cases a $1,500 repair bill can be ba good investment given that even the bottom line student bassoon models go for well over $3,000. Fox-Renard bassoons are the overwhelming choice for student line bassoons. Companies such as Schreiber and Selmer manufacture affordable student models. Takeada is a new company in Japan that sells two different student line instruments through Mmimports. Both models are made of maple. BOCALS • FOX makes good bocals. The higher the number, the longer the bocal. • The C bore bocal is $135 • CVX and the CVC are about $250 – least expensive • Most cost $500 • FOX bocals are the only sizes that don’t mesh with the rest of the bocals in the universe. It is usually a good idea to have a couple bocals for tuning purposes. Different bocals also produce different sounds. Some of the most highly recommended bocals are the Fox CVD and CVX models. The Heckel bocals are very high quality along with being quite expensive. Yamaha “super bocals” are good quality as well. WEB SITES WITH BASSOON AND BOCAL PRICING http://www.foxproducts.com/pages/boc_bass.asp The Fox web page is updated with current prices on their bocals. http://www.heckel.de/ The Heckel Bassoon page has contact information for up-to-date pricing on bocals and products. http://www.bassoon.org/makers.htm Bassoon.org has a great list of bassoon makers! Links to hundreds of companies that sell bassoons and bassoon parts. http://www.yamaha.com/ Navigating the web site is a bit time-consuming, but you can find the “super bocal” that Yamaha makes here.
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