[SOTSDO]

I would add that, for 99% of the musicians out there who are only "interested in playing" a double reed, the only way to go is with an economical oboe. Even a student bassoon runs into real money, and tossing that much off for something that is only "an interest" is just not a rational way of answering this question.

That said, I have more affection for the bassoon, stupid tenor clef and all, and (if I had to choose between the two instrument families), I would go for the ***gotte each and every time. Having a bassoon that I picked up for a song (or, more accurately, $333.33, the amount that the guy would have gotten off of his taxes for donating it), and usually playing the parts in shows that end up with the bassoon stacked with baritone and bass clarinet, it makes it all the more obvious.

Then too, there are many more tonal colors on the bassoon than every you would find with the oboe. It goes from rich at the low end, through lyric in the middle, and to other worldly once you get up high.

 

[SOTSDO]

How the @#$%! did you get a bassoon for $333.33? That's like half the price of the cheapest chinese ebay bassoon.

My friend had just purchased (at near list) a new Fox bassoon, and therefore had no need for the one he had been playing for twenty odd years. He was going to donate it to a school (and take the nominal value of $1,000 as a tax deduction in the 33% bracket). I offered to buy it from him for the tax value, hence $333.33.

I put about six hundred into a comprehensive overhaul, and - presto - I had a more than good enough horn for less than a grand total.

 

[SOTSDO]

Another thing to consider (and it was in the original posting so I just overlooked it) is that, if the school/organization/whatever is going to furnish the instrument, then that makes the bassoon all the more attractive. It is a argument that more than mitigates my advice given above.

Thinking back to my education days (college and high school, just under forty years ago), I cannot remember a single bassoon player (including me) that owned his own bassoon. All were furnished by the school. Only one student (who was very good indeed, but who ended up teaching in Alaska post college) actually bought one before graduation from college.

I sometimes wonder about the cost of bassoon, considering that they are no more complicated than a typical saxophone, and that polypropylene works so well for their tubes. It would seem to me that a good part of the price difference of a professional clarinet over a student one lies in the body material (with all other costs being present in both horns; adjustment, undercutting and so on).

If that is the case, then you would expect to see less cost for a cast and reamed bassoon body than you would for a wooden one, the moreso since the surface treatment of a bassoon is a bit more involved as well.

In any event, I have always loved (even while cursing it) the bassoon, something I cannot say about either the oboe or the English horn. Particularly in the upper register, you can create some awesome sounds that are not available through any other instrument. Too bad about the tenor clef, though...