[Chris Peryagh]

I bought an Orsi bassoon at a Christie's auction in London for £50. When I got it home and bunged a reed on it, low Bb popped out dead easily, and it plays much easier than the (ancient and beaten-up Amati) one I played at school!

It's not the best bassoon in the world by any means, but for £50 I could hardly refuse!

Incidentally, I'm just about to buy an Amati contra! Yeah, I must be going ga-ga in my neither-young-nor-old age!

 

[Chris Peryagh]

I do like the gritty rasping sound bassoons make at loud volume levels, especially in the low register (and how this gravelly sound develops through a crescendo) - it's pretty unique, and cuts through well.

Although bass clarinets get reedy in the low register when played loud they're not a patch on the sounds bassoons can make.

 

[Chris Peryagh]

The reason why double reed instruments are more expensive than their other woodwind counterparts is the fewer comapnies specialising in their making and supply and demand - both being less popular than flutes, clarinets and saxes which are turned out in large numbers as everyone wants them.

Although you can buy a cheap but well equipped Chinese oboe or bassoon for considerably less than a relatively basic model from a reputable company, it will only be a matter of time before you realise the shortcomings of the cheaper instrument and then need to upgrade to a better one.

I just compared the weight of my Buffet (French system) bassoon with my old Orsi (German), and the Buffet weighs a fair bit more as it's in rosewood. Plastic bassoons, especially the old plastic Bundys weigh a ton in comparison to a maple one - but some maple bassoons if not well maintained can have problems with rotting timber, either in the timber by the U-tube or around the fingerhole linings in the wing joint if water gets absorbed. And it's a costly and lengthy repair should it happen.