To all bassoonists.............

Have any of you played on a Takeda bassoon?
I have been offered one at a really good price, but cannot make up my mind.........should I save up and buy a Schreiber? (about 3 times the price of the Takeda)

Petite Joueuse

This is something you need to decide for yourself.

Have you played on a Schreiber bassoon before? Have you played on a Takeda bassoon before?

Some people are suited to different bassoons, and you really need to try them before you decide which one is worth it.

One professional bassoonist I know swears by Adler & Sonora, I can't connect with either of them.

My teacher swears by Fox-Renard, can't connect with them either.

I'm a Schreiber person, myself. I think it's merely a matter of their bassoons "suit" me (or I suit them).

Or it could be that the reeds that suit my mouth cavity only work well on Schreibers.

This forum includes discussion on choosing instruments and other things that may be of interest.

http://8notes.com/f/forum28.asp

When choosing a bassoon, play several and see which one you prefere. If can have a go at playing this Takeda bassoon, play it and compare it to other bassoon makes. What suits someone else, might not suit you- it is up to personal choice but there is no point in paying money out for a bassoon which you don't like ect if it is cheaper, might aswell save up.

I am another schreiber person. Some adlers are OK. One day I would like to play a mossman but the reach is too big .

Zauberfagott, what bassoon do you have?

Many thanks for the replies!

I currently play a Schreiber and do like it, though it doesn,t have a crook lock or a high D...........but it is on loan to me and is costing me next to nothing.

Apparently Takeda sold 30 of his bassoons in Germany last year and the Germans see his instruments as serious contenders to the more traditional bassoon makes.


As my current instrument is on loan, I have plenty of time to decide and I will try to play as many different types of bassoon as I can before buying my own.


And on a similar theme..............do any of you make your own reeds? If not, where do you buy your reeds? Britannia?

I have tried making my own reed but was not successful but it is more economical if you can make them work. I use Oxford Britannia reeds and Sus MAce reeds, I have use some other reeds, forgotten the make. I but them from local music shops

Mine is a Schreiber, made in 1999! And I'm the first "owner" (I'm actually renting it from my local youth orchestra, but they only got it because I needed it and it's effectively brand new).

It's only a student bassoon, and has some shocking intonation issues in the tenor register (middle A is temperamental, middle B-flat is extremely sharp, middle B is extremely flat, middle C is good, middle C#.....we won't go there!).

But, it has a really beautiful tone, intonation in the rest of the range is no worse than any other bassoon (there's got to be something bassoon makers can do about that) and low D is not as sharp as it is on most other bassoons (that's got to be something!). It's got a crook lock and a high D key, that's as far as it goes but when (apart from Ravel and Jolivet) do we play a high E? Plus I can reach all of the keys (I couldn't on my first bassoon - also a Schreiber - the keywork for RH4 were set too far away and I could only reach low F key comforably, and I can reach all the LH thumb keys now too - I have short fingers!).

It's a really lovely instrument. Her name is Helga

I buy my reeds handmade by my teacher until I can gather enough equipment to make my own.

I fix my own reeds, however.

Mine is a 5016, i was going to get an older 5031 but the reach was too big. I really enjoy playing it- tone is beautiful. But, I find the tuning can be a problem on middle C and above. I am now glad that I took up bassoon. My bassoon is called Ivor (don't ask)*embrassed simely*

What crook are you using??

I use a Schreiber "handmade in Germany" crook.

I play with a number 2, but I have a number 1 as well.

What do you use?

I play with the ones which come with teh bassoon, mainly number 2.

Nice to see that there are some other bassoonists online.....!!

i am a moosmann man, from this march, they seriously are great bassoons, intonation is as solid as a rock, and they sing like anything. they also have a bottom range to rival heckels. I have heard bad things about shreibers, they tend to be very very sharp instruments apparently. When i got my new moosmann, i tried a shreiber, and it was a good intsrument, a solid instrument, however, it just didnt have that special feel that my moosmann had, the first time that i picked it up.

some adlers are pretty good, however, in recent years they have gone down quite a lot, and new ones are not a patch on the ones brooke and camden played on.

So my advice, go for moosmann

regards

bb

I think that when you figure out how to solve intonation problems, Schreibers are a dream. They sound gorgeous.

But all bassoons have intonation problems. Come on, this is probably the most poorly designed instrument in the orchestra!

And of course they're sharp....they're German, their A is obviously going to be higher.

This is why we don't use #1 crooks