Hi All

Been a while since I've posted, but I've got myself a bassoon and very happy! It needed a bit of tweaking and keys realigning but seems to work okay. The big question I have is, what's the point in the whisper key?! I have a whisper key lock, and my tutor book says to hold the key down, but it makes no difference in the tone. The hole in the side of the crook is tiny and it is very difficult to suck air through it, is this normal? I'm afraid I don't know much about bassoons and am picking stuff up as I go along, but hoped somebody could tell me what I was missing!

Many thanks

it does need to be closed for the low notes, and open for notes above G# (top space of bass clef), but it's really to help the higher notes speak, rather than changing the tone or the pitch. You'll probably find that down to about A (bottom space of bass clef) you can get the notes to speak ok whether it's closed or not, but below there it needs to be closed. However, the E plate also closes it, so for E and below it should be closed anyway.

Chris

It plays fine all the way down to bottom Bb without the crook key closed because the mech on the E key doesn't sufficiently move the crook key to cover the hole! The other thing is that the pad on the whisper key has worn away, so it doesn't cover the hole anyway! (I do have another pad but haven't fitted it yet).
I'm just wondering if I've really missed something or if it's just a peculiar bassoon which allows me to play regardless of the whisper key! I was told it was a Louis (?) but it doesn't have a make on it.

It could be that the hole in the crook needs cleaning out, but if that's the case then it also sounds like you'll need a new pad and some repairs to the keywork too. If it is blocked it's probably making the higher register more difficult. Of course it's hard to be sure without actually playing the instrument.

Chris