Following Your Ear - What to Look For When Choosing a Bassoon Crook

A good rule of thumb when choosing a bassoon crook is to follow your ear and choose one that helps you to play in tune and to produce a sound that you are happy with.

Here are some crook characteristics which an awareness of will help you choose a crook you like:

1.     It is best to buy a crook that is in good shape. A dent or bend in the crook due to damage can change the shape of the bore and affect the air flow through the instrument. This can have a strangling effect on your sound and may affect your tuning. It is worth getting a good quality crook repaired, especially an old Heckel, but it is often preferable to replace a crook if it gets damaged

2.     Different makers produce crooks that have different types of sound. It is sometimes said that Puchner crooks produce a dark sound, for example, and Heckel crooks are said to be some of the best all round crooks. Heckel crooks made pre-1945 are well known for making a beautiful sound and are consequently highly sought after. Crooks by other makers are also good – Puchner, Fox, Adler, Schreiber, Monnig, Yamaha, Leitzinger and so on

3.     The type of metal the crook is made from affects the overall sound, so you may wish to try different types. Crooks are usually made from a copper alloy, often referred to as German silver, which is made up of a mixture of copper, nickel and zinc. Crooks can also be made in brass, gold, sterling silver, palladium and even wood

4.     The length of the crook – most crooks use a number one, two or three. These numbers refer to the length of the crook, 1 being short and thus raising the pitch slightly, 3 being longer and lowering the pitch slightly. If you bassoon plays flat or sharp a shorter or longer crook may help

Heckel bassoon crook for sale at Double Reed Ltd.

Because at Double Reed Ltd. we recognise that choosing the right crook is important, we have launched a bassoon Crooks for Sale page on our web site. The selection of crooks will grow steadily over time, so keep an eye out. If you have a crook you would like to sell then please get in touch with us, as we buy crooks and also sell them on commission. You can view our Crooks for Sale page, and our current selection of crooks, here:

http://www.doublereed.co.uk/Crooks_For_Sale.htm

The Importance of the Bassoon Crook

http://www.doublereed.co.uk/Crooks_For_Sale.htm

One of the most distinctive looking features of a bassoon is the crook. The crook is the curved piece of metal that extends from the bassoon to the reed, which goes into the mouth. So far so good – this sounds like a simple piece of equipment!

In actual fact, though, which crook you use on your bassoon can have a dramatic effect on the overall sound and playability of your instrument. A good quality crook can make a poor quality bassoon sound good, and can make a good quality bassoon sound even better. A poor quality crook, or a wrongly matched crook to your particular instrument, can have the opposite effect.

The reason for this is that any air flowing through the instrument must first go through the crook, and because the crook has such a narrow bore diameter, even the slightest adjustment to crook shape or material can affect the rest of the instruments tuning, intonation, sound quality and projection.

For this reason bassoonists sometimes spend a lot of time in search of the right crook for their instrument.

Because we understand how important the right crook is in allowing you to get the most out of your bassoon, at Double Reed Ltd. we have just started a bassoon Crooks For Sale page. We will be listing more and more crooks on there in the near future. You can take a look here:

http://www.doublereed.co.uk/Crooks_For_Sale.htm

The Bassoon Band First Meeting

The first meeting of The Bassoon Band takes place in Newport on Wednesday 27th June 2012. Come along if you live reasonably locally.

For more information see: http://www.doublereed.co.uk/bassoonband/index.htm

We now sell crooks / bocals

As from today, we sell bassoon crooks (or bocals as they are also known). We have a selection on our web site of mostly secondhand, but some new, crooks. All are in very good condition.

If you buy one and return it in 14 days you get your money back - ensuring that your selected crook is the right one for you and your bassoon. Our initial selection includes crooks made by Fox, Heckel, Puchner and Yamaha.

See http://www.doublereed.co.uk/Crooks_For_Sale.htm for more information on the crooks we have for sale and how to buy them.

Schreiber 5071 "Artist" bassoon now available

Continuing our theme of Schreiber bassoons, alongside our Schreiber 5020 student bassoon, and our almost-new top-of-the-range professional Schreiber 5091, we are now offering a Schreiber 5071 "Artist" to fit between them in our range of bassoons for sale. This bassoon is in top condition, and has been very carefully looked after throughout its life. It is currently awaiting a service.

The Schreiber 5071 "Artist" is a professional level instrument and, despite its outstanding condition, we are offering it at a very competitive £4,950. Please contact us if you would like to be the first to try it.

For more information, see our web page: http://www.doublereed.co.uk/Bassoon_Schreiber_30040_For_Sale.htm

Ever wondered what makes bassoon keys shiny?

One of the most obvious cosmetic differences between secondhand bassoons is the shininess of the keys. Some have very shiny keys; some do not. So what are they made of and what makes them shiny?

Generally bassoon keys, like most woodwind instrument keys, are made of nickel silver. Nickel silver doesn't actually contain any silver, though - it's a copper alloy, containing copper, nickel and zinc. Nickel silver has a naturally shiny appearance very similar to silver; hence the name. In fact, it is rather shinier than silver (this is one of the ways you can tell if a key is silver coated or not).

Nickel silver is quite a tough and corrosion-resistant material; however, it can tarnish over time and can become pitted in extreme situations. Tarnish is a problem which can be remedied; pitting isn't so easy to fix.

Many bassoons have their nickel silver keys plated with silver. Silver tarnishes easily, first becoming dull and then showing black deposits. This black substance is silver sulfide, which can be hard to remove.

Silver tarnishes more quickly if it comes into sustained contact with the oily salts left on it by fingers, so it is important to wipe keys clean on a regular basis - especially if you store your bassoon for any length of time. It is always better to clean keys with appropriate materials and methods regularly, rather than letting the tarnishing go too far, making it a major job to deal with.

Please bear in mind, though, that silver plated keys should not be cleaned with materials designated for cleaning nickel silver, so make sure you know whether your bassoon has silver plated keys before cleaning. And be very careful when using any liquid or similar cleaners not to get them onto the pads, as they can ruin the pads' effectiveness, necessitating a trip to your repairer. A proper clean really requires removal of the keys from the bassoon and the pads from the keys, which is something only a repairer should ever attempt.

The worst cases of tarnished keys which we see are on bassoons that have been put away uncleaned and left untouched for a long period. It is a problem we have seen even on bassoons only a few years old (on professional bassoons as well as student models), whereas a bassoon regularly played and cleaned can last for decades without appearing tarnished at all.

 Schreiber 5091 key guard

While dull keys don't affect playability, dull or tarnished keys will affect the value of your instrument, because everyone likes to buy a shiny bassoon, so it is best to keep tarnish at bay by regular cleaning, and by giving your bassoon keys a quick wipe over every time you play it.

A Contrabassoon Concert to Remember

The contrabassoon is one of the lowest instruments in the orchestra. Reaching down to the lowest notes on a piano it produces a uniquely rich, thundering sound which can be beautiful or fearsome, depending on how it is played, and sometimes even humorous! Although this a very low frequency instrument, it is capable of great agility and can be played very quickly - the fourth movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, for example, has a well known fast and demanding contrabassoon part.

If you'd like to see the contrabassoon in all its glory then take a look at this video of a contrabassoon band. Here you will experience the joyful sound of twelve contrabassoons thundering away together!

This recording is of The Contraband at the International Double Reed Society in 2010.

At Double Reed Ltd. we currently have a lovely old Heckel contrabassoon for sale which you can see below.

You can find this contrabassoon for sale on our website here:

http://www.doublereed.co.uk/Bassoon_Heckel_Contrabassoon_For_Sale.htm

Pristine condition Adler bassoon just available

We now have for sale an as-new Oscar Adler 1357 for sale. This bassoon has been completely overhauled into perfect condition. The metalwork has been re-silvered; all pads, corks and felts replaced; and the mechanism adjusted throughout. In addition, the wood is in perfect condition, and we have added a brand new Adler case to give the finishing touch.

Adler 1357s are still sold, and these bassoons retail for over £5,000 new; so this is an opportunity to buy one at a huge discount which is just as good cosmetically, will last just as long and be as easy to maintain as a new one.

Furthermore, in our opinion, this bassoon has been very little played in its life, as the woodwork doesn't show any signs of wear which virtually all bassoons show if they have been played regularly.

 

See http://www.doublereed.co.uk/Bassoon_Adler_96325_For_Sale.htm for more information on the bassoon and how to try it out.