During the spring of 1992 I had the opportunity to visit the
Fox factory for the first time. Located in South Whitley, Indiana,
Fox manufactures about twelvehundred bassoons a year; my tour
through building after building of wood storage underscored the
very impressive size of the Fox operation. I was immediately convinced,
for example, that the machinery, drills and reamers needed for
contrabassoon production should be reclassified as lethal weapons!
Hailing from the urban jungle as I do, one of the most startling
things I saw during my visit was a place in South Whitley called
Whitley Feeds. They had flats of flowers for sale right out on
Main Street, and they did not take them in at night. I woke up
early Sunday morning and went for a walk to see if any of the
flowers were still there. Not one flower seemed to be missing.
To me, that was almost as miraculous as making twelve-hundred
bassoons a year!
In addition to Alan Fox, the personalities in this interview include
several others who are also intensely involved in bassoon production
and design: Dominic Devito, Chip Owen, and Mike Trentacosti. I
am especially grateful for the hospitality and assistance of so
many of my friends at Fox in helping to make my trip and the interview-as
well as an oboe interview which will appear in a subsequent issue-a
real pleasure for me. Spring had just arrived and, as we looked
out the windows of the Fox plant, Indiana looked so very beautiful.
We were appropriately surrounded by Indiana maple trees, and I
could not have imagined a more perfect setting for a bassoon interview.
N. Post
11 November 1992
Paris
POST: I'd like to begin by asking a few questions about the history
of the company. Is it correct that the company was started in
1949 by your father?
FOX: Yes. My dad, Hugo Fox, started the company after he retired
from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was the principal bassoonist
there for 27 years.
POST: How did your father get interested in making bassoons?
FOX: He was a very handy guy. He used to do electrical wiring,
and built a lot of things as a hobby. Having to live with the
eccentricities of his instrument as a player, he naturally became
involved with the instrument. He just liked to tinker, and figured
he could build a better bassoon than what he was playing.
POST: How did he come to South Whitley?
FOX: He was born near here. The building you are in at the moment
is situated on the family farm.
POST: Earlier today I toured the famous chicken coop where this
business began. How big is the chicken coop?
FOX: It's about 1,500 square feet today. But it was maybe forty
percent of that size when the business started. When I joined
the business in 1960, we put the tuning room extension on the
back of it. Then we remodeled the barn that was across the way.
The barn served as the machine shop and body shop until 1974.
The chicken coop served as the finishing department, tuning room,
and contained the offices.
POST: I understand that you had someone who painted cars for a
living doing the painting of bassoon bodies. Was he also in South
Whitley?
FOX: Yes. He was in what is now our two story loft in town.
POST: From what I saw this morning, you have wood storage facilities
all over town. I imagine that will never change.
FOX: That's true.
POST: Is it also true that the oboes were originally made in a
converted grocery store in South Whitley?
FOX: Yes. That came about because we didn't have enough room in
the chicken coop and the barn. We moved into the converted grocery
store prior to the fire of 1974. Then, when we finished this building
after the fire, we brought the oboe manufacturing out here. You
see, with the bassoon, a lot of the key-making is done in people's
homes in the community. We started out making oboes that way but,
for two reasons, we couldn't get the quality control we wanted.
First, we couldn't get precise enough parts, and second, we didn't
have adequate control over teaching the key-mounters. So we put
all the key-mounting here when we consolidated everything. Then
in 1988, we doubled the size of the existing plant-we're sitting
in the new section.
POST: You said you began working here in 1960.
FOX: Right. My background was in chemical engineering. I fought
music in general as a kidsuccessfully, I might add! Because of
that, I'm the only non-musical member of my family. My strengths
are really in my thinking processes.
POST: In Europe, manufacturers argue about whether you have to
be a player to make a decent instrument. Most say absolutely notwith
the exception of the very last finishing stages when the instrument
is actually played. Would you agree with that?
FOX: Yes.
POST: To backtrack for just one moment, how did you actually get
started in the bassoon business?
FOX: I was with a firm that was building oil refineries and chemical
plants. I had just finished my third year when my dad's health
failed. The family finances were all tied up with the bassoon
business, and something had to be done. So I gave up my career
and took it over.
POST: Have you ever regretted it?
FOX: Oh, about once a week!
POST: Interesting comparisons come to mind about some of the French
oboe makers which are also family owned businesses-Fossati, Loree
and Rigoutat, for example. What do you think the advantages or
disadvantages of being a family business are? Also, do you think
that bigger companies-like Yamaha or Boosey & Hawkes-have
any advantages over you?
FOX: The whole business is full of advantages and disadvantages.
The long term strength of a company is usually reflected in the
strength of its personnel. We've been very fortunate and we have
a number of people with strong technical capabilities. The larger
companies generally have stronger marketing capabilities, but
they also have a greater burden to coordinate and finance dealers.
As competitors, Boosey & Hawkes, Yamaha, Puchner and Heckel
all have advantages that contribute to their being successful
businesses, as do we. Fortunately, the market has been large enough
and receptive enough that we can all coexist, along with the smaller
firms.
POST: How many bassoon makers are there in the world right now?
FOX: I count twenty-one. The Germans have most of the known makers,
and the Italians have at least one. There are two in China, one
in Japan, at least one in Czechoslovakia, and one in Russia.
POST: Which ones are the closest to you in terms of size and production
capabilities?
FOX: In size of the facilities, Schreiber is the closest to us,
though I don't actually know how many instruments they are making.
In terms of quality level, I think Heckel is probably the closest
to us, although several others are quite respectable.
POST: You mentioned that you are making about twelve-hundred bassoons
a year. Can you give me the breakdown of models?
FOX: We make a maximum of one-hundred-fifty to two-hundred professional
instruments a year; the rest are the Renard models. Of course,
remember that our definition of a mid-priced instrument like the
Renard is a very sophisticated animal. You saw the tuning processes;
there is 100% quality control in everything that goes out of here.
POST: I wanted to ask you about a comment by Bernard Garfield
in the Philadelphia Orchestra. He says that Fox will become the
dominant bassoon in the world because more and more young bassoonists
are dissatisfied with German instruments. He thinks this will
happen within twenty years. Do you you agree or disagree with
his comment and his timetable?
FOX: Well, it's a very flattering remark. Twenty years can be
a long time, but there are some trends that are favoring us right
now, and I hope they continue. On the other hand, we have some
competitors who may have some influence on the situation, so we
will have to wait and see.
POST: I'd like to ask you some questions about materials. Let's
start with your writings on the subject, in which you describe
five different types of maple. We've seen a lot of wood today.
Are all five types in current use here?
FOX: Yes.
POST: I wonder if you have any personal favorites. If you were
giving a bassoon to a nephew or a daughter, what would you want
to give them? I don't necessarily mean what is the very best or
the most expensive, but is there any wood with which you have
a special affinity?
FOX: I like the sound of the black maple the best. It has an enchanting
quality when it projects through the audience. The Yugoslavian
mountain maple is by far the most versatile of the woods we use.
If someone were to ask me what they should make their instrument
out of today, I would lean in the direction of the
Yugoslavian mountain maple. But the black maple has a special
charm-with the Yugoslavian mountain maple, it depends more on
the player. In the last year or two, we've made the Renard Model
220 in the black maple. We've had an overwhelming response. However,
I don't think the black maple is so suitable for the the professional
instrument because of its weightit's too heavy. Also, I think
flexibility is the single most important factor for the professional
instruments, and the mountain maple and the red maple are both
more flexible than the black maple.
POST:
Now, a word about our visit to the paint shop. Can you explain
a bit about the different kinds of finishes you use? Are they
similar for most instruments?
FOX: We do two distinctly different kinds of finishes. The first
is acrylic enamel, which we've used for over twenty years; it
is a very durable, high gloss finish. The other finish we use
is the natural oil varnish. For professional instruments, the
oil varnish is superior. It's a better looking finish and it also
contributes to the resistance-and therefore the tone qualityof
the instrument.
POST: What would happen if you played a bassoon with no finish
at all?
FOX: Well, it would depend on what kind of wood you made it out
of, but it probably wouldn't make an enormous difference.
POST: Can you tell me about the plastics you use for the Renard
bassoons?
FOX: We've used polypropylene plastics for the bassoon since 1961.
It has the weakness of being a little too heavy, but it does produce
a flexible bassoon. The biggest problem we've had with the plastic
bassoons is the psychological, not the playing aspect of it. For
some people but not everybody-the plastic bassoon will deliver
at a very high artistic level. There are a number of players over
the years who have used plastic bassoons primarily for outdoor
concerts and summer work, and they've used them successfully.
There are instances where our plastic bassoons have outperformed
some very expensive wooden bassoons in comparison tests.
POST: Were you the first person to make a plastic bassoon?
FOX: I don't think so. I heard a story-I don't know if it's true-that
Heckel made one during World War 11 for Rommel's band in Africa.
Linton also had a plastic bassoon on the market before we marketed
ours. My dad played a concert on a Fox lucite prototype bassoon
in 1956. But it wasn't until 1961 that we were ready to market
a plastic bassoon.
POST: What did it take to convince people to play a bassoon that
wasn't wood, as well as to create a demand for that instrument?
FOX: It was a major challenge but, at the time, the European makers
weren't satisfying the needs of the American market. We were able
to produce the plastic bassoon at moderate prices. That alone
attracted a great deal of interest, especially among educators.
There's been a broad base of acceptance of plastic for school
use, but a very narrow base of acceptance among serious players.
In Europe, there has been absolutely no acceptance by professional
players, and a very narrow acceptance by schools. In Australia
and in the Far East, there is wider acceptance of plastic instruments
than in Europe. Europe is very closely tied to the older traditions
of instrument making, and plastic is certainly not that tradition!
POST: Yes. I remember in the panel discussion we did with oboe
manufacturers at the 1991 IDRS, Dominic Devito from Fox and I
brought up the subject of plastic oboes. I asked the European
makers what they thought since, with the exception of Loree, no
one has made a plastic oboe. Philippe Rigoutat said there will
never be a plastic oboe in Europe. It's just too far from what
a European player would find acceptable.
FOX: I think the Europeans are the most conservative in terms
of materials.
POST: Comparing plastic to wood, how stable do you find the plastic
to be?
FOX: The plastic is very stable, though it expands and contracts
with temperature changes more than wood; wood expands and contracts
more with humidity changes. Depending on where you are playing,
you usually have more control over temperature than over humidity.
From that point of view, plastic is very stable. On the other
hand, if you leave a plastic bassoon sitting overnight in a car
in Minneapolis during the winter, you're going to have a tough
time using it until it warms up to room temperature!
POST: In terms of problems you've had with materials, are there
certain kinds of problems that you associate with wood, and others
associated with plastic?
FOX: Yes. The biggest problem with plastic is the machinability
of the material. You have to have tools that will handle the plastic
you've chosen. Some plastics are easier than others, and each
is a special case. Repair is also a problem because, in the case
of polypropylene, you can't bond anything to it. Generally, if
a part is broken, you have to replace it instead of repair it.
There are exceptions, of course.
POST: So, in that sense, you have more options with wood.
FOX: That's true.
POST: One person who has researched wall material and its effect
on tone quality was Arthur Benade. He said that wall material-i.e.
what an instrument is made of-makes less than a two percent detectable
difference to professional musicians. Do you agree or disagree
with him?
FOX: I disagree. In our testing over the years, we have found
noticeable differences in the behavior of the material contributing
to tone quality and flexibility. If that were not true, we wouldn't
need five different types of maple! I think that what it comes
down to is Benade ' s idea of two percent. Two percent to a performing
musician is a lot; two percent to a theoretical physicist is not
very much! Art and I used to have a lot of friendly arguments
over things like this....
POST:
Going back to wood for a minute.... I have seen so much wood this
morning. Most of it is maple, and it's simply amazing. Could you
comment a bit on how you age your wood? I remember reading something
about kiln drying your wood at 140 degrees.
FOX: The 222 that we make for the domestic market is the only
model left where the wood is kiln dried. The kiln drying of the
wood tends to stabilize it, though at the expense of resonance;
222 is designed primarily to serve school markets. Durability,
stability and ruggedness are major criteria for school use. When
you get into more sophisticated uses of the instrument, then you
need more sophisticated materials. One of the first things you
want to do then is to get rid of the inflexibility of sugar maple.
POST: Could you describe the different buildings for wood storage?
FOX: The first building is the open air storage, which is where
the wet wood arrives. Once the moisture content drops to fifteen
percent we move it into one of four locations at ground level
storage. We store it there until the moisture content reaches
twelve to thirteen percent. Then we move it into a loft and dry
it down as close to six percent as we can get it. Some years we
can't get it to six percent. During those wet years, we use the
kiln at one-hundred degrees to take that last one or two percent
out.
POST: How long does all this take?
FOX: You can get it down to six percent in about five years, though
six to seven years is better. We plan everything for ten years,
and hope that the end result will be somewhere between six and
ten years.
POST: I'd like to ask you some questions about all the different
models of bassoons you make. Do you still consider Heckel your
model? I realize that Heckel was certainly the model for your
early bassoon designs.
FOX: First of all, what do mean by Heckel?
POST: Good question. You had better answer that one!
FOX: Of course, Heckel bassoons have been a world standard, and
for any maker not to recognize them would be foolish. The concept
of sound that they produce is certainly desirable, although there
is a wide variety of Heckel sounds. I think there is a misconception
among players that Heckel stands for a single concept of sound.
The truth of the matter is that the Heckel bassoon has been evolving
over the span of my life-and much longer than that, of course.
So, a lot depends on what time frame you choose an instrument
from, as well as which instrument you choose.
POST: So are you are saying that to pick a so-called Heckel model
is really too abstract?
FOX: Right. It's not that simple.
POST: Have there been other manufacturers who have also had a
positive influence on your own ideas?
FOX: Some of the early Mollenhauer instruments were commendable.
POST: Anyone specifically for the contrabassoon?
FOX: Heckel and Mollenhauer again.
POST: Bassoon mavens and bassoon repair people tell me that your
Model 201 tends to please the people who are looking for the sound
of a pre-war Heckel.
FOX: Well, pre-war Heckels go back to 1831.
POST: So you mean which war!
FOX: My father preferred the five thousand series Heckels; our
oldest designs were the long bore instruments my father designed.
Our long bore models, which are Models I and 11 and all of the
Renard models, are based on the five-thousand series. We started
making short bore bassoons in 1967. The 201, its counterpart the
101, and the 201D (which is popular in Europe) are based essentially
on a short bore seven thousand series Heckel design which we modified.
At first, the long bore players thought that the short bore instruments
were controversial, but they became the standard. Right now we're
going through the same type of evolution in players' tastes. The
short bore instruments have been the standard, but now they are
being supplanted by the thick wall models.
But none of these instruments are pure copies, because we have
tried to understand the products we are designing, as well as
to add minor modifications that make them more comfortable for
modern American use. In fact, when we build instruments for Europe,
we have to modify them back in the original Heckel direction and
change their performance characteristics a little bit.
POST: What's the philosophy behind that the thick walled design?
FOX: By making the wall section thicker it lengthens the tone
holes. That would make a flatter horn, but then the tone holes
are opened up to bring the horn back to pitch. All of this increases
the resonance and power, though at the expense of sweetness in
the tone. This would be an instrument for big orchestras, but
I wouldn't use projection as the sole definition because it is
possible to make other designs project using different reeds and
bocals. But the natural tendencies of the 601 and 660 are to be
very powerful instruments. The 660 fits the higher pitch played
in Germany, in Vienna, as well as some of the higher orchestras
in Japan.
POST: Are all the Renards long bore?
FOX: All of the Renards made for sale! in the North American market
are long bore; we build a short bore Renard for the European market.
POST: Why are the Renards for the American market all long bore?
FOX: Pitch is lower in the United States, and the long bore design
fits that market.
POST: Incidentally, what percentage of your production stays in
North America?
FOX: Probably about seventy to seventy-five percent. Over the
years it has ranged anywhere from sixty-five to seventyfive percent.
POST: Is Europe your second best customer?
FOX: If you are talking about individual countries, Japan takes
quite a few of our instruments. If you are talking markets, Europe
would be the second largest market.
POST: Continuing to introduce new models presents challenges as
well as problems. Let's say you bought an instrument and it turned
out that five years later everyone decided it was a dog, you weren't
happy with it, and you couldn't resell it. On the flip side, often
a new model is even better and you want to buy one. If you introduce
a new model, players are ready to shoot themselves because they've
finally bought a new bassoon and then they're told three years
later that there's a 601 or there's a 660-something even better
than what they bought. What's your reaction?
FOX: The introduction of new models and design changes is met
with both acclaim and derision. I think that in our case the number
of models has stayed relatively constant and most of what we've
done is to improve them. There is a case for not changing a design,
but that would destroy the purpose for which we're here. So we
have no alternative but to go ahead and improve if we can.
POST: Along those lines, I'd like to ask you about bassoon players
as personalities. If you look at the flute world, when someone
comes out with a new head joint, for example, two thousand people
at the flute convention descend like locusts to try it. Oboe players
are terribly conservative and I'm wondering how you find bassoon
players to be.
TRENTACOSTI: Oh heavens, they're always running to try something
new, especially new bocals and shaper tips.
POST: Do you find a big difference between oboe players and bassoon
players?
FOX: Yes. For example, if I go to a city and call three bassoon
players and say let's try some instruments and get together and
have a little beer and have a good time, within four or five hours
twenty bassoonists will show up. If I do the same thing with a
group of oboe players, I'm lucky to get the two people I called
on the telephone.
POST: Comparing yourself to other bassoon makers in the world,
what do you see as unique to the Fox bassoon?
FOX: What we've done the most successfully is to combine production
with quality control.
TRENTACOSTI: We also listen to what people want-thus we have a
number of different models. Some of the European makers have one
view in mind. That's what they make and that's what you get-take
it or leave it. It's very hard to listen to everyone and come
up with something that satisfies all, but I think we do that more
than anyone else.
POST: How would you compare yourself to other makers in terms
of the mechanics of the bassoon?
FOX: We've been going through a thirty year evolution and, at
the moment, our mechanics are at the strongest level they have
ever been. I think our oboes had a stronger starting point than
the bassoon. Not the first dozen prototypes, but once we got into
production.
POST:
Why?
FOX: Dominic Devito is one of our strongest mechanics, and he
started building the oboe. The bassoons were initially built by
inexperienced people, and it was not until the oboe was in production
that we could spare Dominic and others to help with the bassoons.
TRENTACOSTI: We continually strive to improve our product. You
saw some of our computerized equipment; it makes better parts
which allow us to make better keys and so forth.
You've seen a lot of our other equipment; we make our own tools
and therefore we have control over our equipment.
POST: Let's talk about bocals for a moment.
DEVITO: We currently make bocals in four bore designs using either
brass or nickel silver metals. We also offer each design in five
lengths and can plate any bocal with silver or nickel. The C,
CV, and CVX bocals represent our traditional designs, while the
CVC contains our latest efforts-a slightly flatter third register
and a little more control resistance. Although the CVC is designed
for the 601 and 660 models, it also produces good results on the
other bassoons. In general, the CVX and CVC bocals play well on
the professional instruments, and the C and CV bocals are used
on the student models.
TRENTACOSTI: Among a broad base of bassoonists, the CVX has gained
a reputation as a high note bocal-with only about a third of the
players using it as we originally intended, which was to play
well in all ranges.
FOX: The people who use it as a high note bocal want to see it
preserved as that-so we plan to continue to develop the CVX and
preserve the present CVX as a high note bocal, using a different
designation for it.
POST: How much does national style effect the player's preference
for bocals?
FOX: I think that personal style has a bigger effect than the
national style. However, the national style drastically effects
the bend of the bocal which, in turn, effects the way it plays.
Generally speaking, European players prefer to play standing with
a neckstrap, and American players prefer to play sitting with
a seatstrap. This changes the bend, as well as the playing characteristics
of the crook.
The ultimate challenge for a maker is to build an instrument with
good intonation, high resonance and a beautiful tone quality all
at once. In the early history of the Fox instrument, we had a
reputation for a nice tone quality, but inadequate resonance.
As we increased the resonance level, the tone quality became more
difficult to achieve. In the last year or two, we've done more
to strengthen the tone quality and also preserve the high resonance.
The thick-walled models are an extension of this concept.
POST: Does that concept compare to anything else any other makers
are doing right now?
FOX: There's a long-term trend towards more power demanded by
large concert halls and large orchestras. We are responding to
that, although to get power plus tone quality at the same time
is a high state of the art. Right now, a lot of those things are
coming together for us. One of the reasons we are exciting the
bassoon world right now is because we're learning how to do this.
POST: There is so much custom work on a bassoon. It's amazing.
Sticking out of the top of every bassoon here is a computerized
list of what it is going to have on it. The instrument goes through
so many processes, but it's all so customized and specific at
the same time. With your oboes, you've got a couple of models
you just keep knocking out, but your bassoons are so different.
DEVITO: The reason we don't have as many oboe models as bassoon
is that our oboe production is geared primarily for the United
States market. If we were trying to reach all the markets of the
world, we would need another three or four models. With the bassoon,
we are pursuing markets all over the world.
POST: Marigaux oboes are making about twelve-hundred professional
oboes a year right now-more professional oboes than anyone in
the world. They have different mechanical systems for different
markets, but the bore and tone hole design are the same on all
twelvehundred horns. Yet, you have so many designs here. Do you
think there is something inherently different about the bassoon
and its players?
DEVITO: Bassoons have a lot of options, and players like it
that way. I don't think we would need all those options for the
oboe. Since the oboe mechanism is small and compact already, where
would we put extra keywork?
POST: A few questions about repair: do you offer a lot of followup
repair on your bassoons?
FOX: We offer a lot of follow-up repair, but only a small percentage
of the players take advantage of it.
POST: How do your find the state of bassoon repair in this country?
FOX: It's much higher in the United States than it is anywhere
else in the world. I think the reason for that is that the manufacturers
do the repairs in Europe. In recent years, we've assisted a number
of bassoon repairmen in Europe with mechanical specifications.
We've also had European repairmen come here, and we've tried to
work together to raise repair standards.
POST: Would you say that's the case with oboe as well?
FOX: Probably, but since we don't market oboes abroad, I don't
come into contact with as many oboe repairmen as bassoon repairmen.
DEVITO: I have seen oboes of some very famous European players,
and I was just appalled at their condition. I know that there
are places in the US-yourself included-where they could get the
work done properly.
POST: I know of two excellent oboe repairmen in Europe. They are
apparently booked years in advance!
DEVITO: We find that hard to understand. Classical music is much
more popular in Europe than it is here.
POST: Don't you think that because the European countries are
so much smaller, it's easier for a player simply to get on a train
and go see the manufacturer in a pinch? The manufacturers are
at least there. Just a few last questions: do you find the gap
in international styles of bassoon playing widening or narrowing?
FOX: Narrowing. The top players are tending to play somewhat more
alike-though they may insist that they are not! Certainly the
traveling conductors are demanding more uniformity in bassoon
sound.
POST: Of the people who purchase one of your bassoons and go home
on Cloud Nineeven after writing a large checkwhat are the characteristics
of your instruments that they say are so terrific?
FOX: Fullness of sound, and the flexibility of the sound. Intonation
as well, though that has always been a strong suit with us.
TRENTACOSTI: Also, our newer instruments blend better with other
wind instruments than they used to.
POST: Talking about instruments that blend well, I don't want
to forget the contrabassoon. The grapevine has it that your contrabassoon
is your greatest success-a real hit. How did it come about?
OWEN: We started building them in 1970, and finished the first
one on the way to a convention! It took us another year and a
half before we had a production instrument completed. I think
part of our success with this instrument is the tone quality.
We use a harder type of maple which generates a sound that penetrates
through the orchestra effectively and maintains its own integrity.
The audience actually gets to hear the contra, whereas the German
contras typically get lost in the whole ensemble. The German instruments
are usually made out of mountain maple, which is softer than the
black maple we use.
POST: Have you ever made a contrabassoon out of plastic?
OWEN: Plastic would be a very impractical material for a contrabassoon.
It would be wildly expensive, and far more difficult to work with
than wood. Because the plastic is too flexible, you would have
a terrible problem with keywork being out of adjustment. In addition,
you would have a greater problem of dimensional stability due
to the temperature difference between the floor - where the peg
is sitting - and headheight.
FOX: The temperature gradient between the floor of a concert hall
and the area where the player is actually blowing into the instrument
has an effect on the playing characteristics of the contrabassoon.
As you well know, it can get very hot on stage. With the heat
at the top end of the contra, and the cold at the bottom end,
you can have all sorts of problems.
POST: Do you have idea now long it would take to make a contrabassoon
in terms of hours?
OWEN: About one-hundred-fifty hours per instrument. So, if one
person were making everything-which never happens here-it would
take about a month. We make thirty contrabassoons a year.
POST: How many do you think are made in the world in a year?
FOX: Less than sixty.
POST: I can't believe it! So, thirty instruments is the lion's
share of the world production!
FOX: Yes, but you should realize that it's not the most hotly
contested market-and the acoustical standards of acceptance tend
to vary more for contra than they do for bassoon. We think of
our contra as being on about the same quality level as our professional
bassoons, but it comes off looking better by comparison with some
of the competition.
POST: You're saying there's less competition.
DEVITO: Yes. Also, contras traditionally have had a very dark,
quiet sound. Conductors wanted the instrument in the background.
But the contrabassoon is enjoying a resurgence, and players want
an instrument that can be heard! We've come through with a horn
that projects more.
POST: I have just one last question for you: what have been the
most gratifying parts of being in this business for you?
FOX: Seeing the players use our bassoon at the major orchestra
level is very gratifying for me. I like to see this happen though,
as I said earlier, my motivation is not the music, it's solving
the engineering problems. For me, the satisfaction is to see the
instruments being used after we have dealt with all the technical
problems.
DEVITO: It's very gratifying to become accepted and recognized
as one of the best. I think the gratification is very similar
to being a musician receiving feedback about how well he played.
POST: Right. When you get a standing ovation, you definitely do
not feel bad .... even, I might add, if you didn't actually play
that great!!