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Hi, I'd like to buy a ring that I can slide over the lower long-joint tenon to increase the acoustic length of the bassoon a little bit in a well-defined way. I know that some people use such a ring made of plastic or brass. Do you know where I could get such a ring? Yours sincerely Bernhard
Last edited by Bernhard Mehlig (2015-09-30 23:54:59)
The better solution isn't adding to the top of the tenon of the long joint, but a shim that you have inserted into the socket on the boot. This way you don't get a disturbance in the bore that looks like
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For stability you'd have a matching ring on the long joint as well, but that's not where the acoustic should be set.
I don't personally find that adding a little length there does all that much to most bassoons, at most it affects the low E a bit, but that's mostly all. I know you didn't ask for that advice but I felt compelled to put it in.
Still, these aren't something you simply order, they have to be custom made to your instrument by a repair technician.
Last edited by Trent (2015-10-01 10:56:00)
Go to your local hardware store and go to the plumbing department. There are washers for sink drains and O-rings that will work very well that you can find there!
Maarten Vonk from Amsterdam is selling them.
Many thanks! I ordered a set of rings from Maarten. Yours Bernhard
This is an interesting topic, I actually know a bassoonist with an insert that was creating a choke point because the wood ring was swollen and was no longer flush with the bore. Bobs idea with plastic would eliminate that problem if it is fitted properly. The other topic is, I have seen players that deliberately leave a gap for resonance, not so much for pitch. I do not notice a big difference on my Heckel, but I have a student with a fairly new Püchner and he leaves a gap (no insert), between the bass joint and the boot and it actually adds a bit of resonance. I think he does it for pitch, but I note the added resonance more.
Hugh Cooper used to use a plumbing gasket on Puchner bassoons for this purpose. The cost of the gasket was under a dollar and he liked the idea of a "gap" in the bore as he believed that it not only lowered the pitch in the lower register of the bassoon but added resonance. I had a ring made for my 11K Heckel but found that the plumbing gasket worked just as well. The gasket is used in the u tube traps in the drain under the sink. O rings are more common and will work just as well! Just find one that is not too tight or too large. They come in many sizes!
I've used an O ring for years.
The principal in the first orchestra I played in studied under Cooper at Michigan, had a Cooper Puchner, and had a ring on his long joint. I never asked him about it because he was the only one I knew with a Puchner and I just thought it was standard.
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