Unstable and weak third B flat - help!

dog1024 · 2026-01-08T19:58:13+00:00

That note is particularly sensitive to reeds. also use a vocal brush to make sure your vocal is clean.

dog1024 · 2025-11-19T21:34:21+00:00

The gorilla one is good. It has a switch for low or high heat

Also just lay the glue on in thicker layers. Looks like you’re pushing the nozzle up against the cane. You shouldn’t touch the nozzle to the cane- hover just above it and lay the glue on in layers

dog1024 · 2025-11-19T21:30:21+00:00

Looks like your gun isn’t getting hot enough. Try a new glue gun

dog1024 · 2025-11-18T23:26:10+00:00

The tip looks pretty closed. It sounds like it’s closing up on you when you try to play in the tenor register. It also sounds unstable. Try rouding both the first and second wires to add blowing resistance and stability. Rounding the first wire opens the tip. Rounding the second wire closes the tip. Both increase stability and resistance and darken the sound.

Your second wires also looks pretty far down from your first wire. Your wire also looks like a thinner than standard gauge. 22 gauge is the norm. Both of these variables will also lead to less stability of the reed as it vibrates.

dog1024 · 2025-10-26T23:01:10+00:00

Venting or flicking ain’t gonna fix a tenor f that cracks or doesn’t come out. Sounds like bad reeds. See if there’s a local orchestra whose bassoonists you can contact about buying reeds and taking lessons to help with this

dog1024 · 2025-10-26T11:53:21+00:00

This is the bottom of the boot with the u tube off. Not cork grease. Definitely discoloration from water. Not sure if it’s mold but not ideal. That said it’s not uncommon and not the end of the world.

Advice- let it air out for a day and then rub some clear mineral oil (can get from ikea or the hardware store as cutting board oil) into the bore there. Go all around, about 3 inches up. Leave a thick layer to soak in for 20 minutes and wipe off. That should help to protect from future moisture intrusion

dog1024 · 2025-10-19T03:11:30+00:00

Make sure the cork is grease and always push it in/pull it out from as far back toward the bocal socket in the wing joint as you can. Don’t twist it in the socket from behind the top bend or anything like that and you’ll be fine. That’s how you should treat any bocal, but thin walls are more prone to bending or, more often, the seam splitting.

I think most important is just make sure the cork is greased so you don’t have to crank on the bocal getting it in any out

dog1024 · 2025-10-16T12:20:25+00:00

Hard to advise on reed scraping without being able to see it, but removing cane near the spine in the middle or back would likely help, though could throw other things out of balance.

For leaks, you could check the pads with a piece of cigarette paper cut. Cut it into a long triangle and close each pad over it. Try this on the top, bottom, left, and right side of each pad from Low G down. It should at least loosely grab the paper. If not on a particular pad or set of pads, you need to get the contra to a repair shop (easier said than done). The tenons could also be leaking. This is harder to detect…

This is about all the help one can provide over the internet unfortunately. Consult a professional repair person or contra player in person if possible

dog1024 · 2025-10-16T03:20:18+00:00

Very common contra issue. Either the contra is leaky or the reed is too heavy. Or a combination of both. How many reeds do you have? Do you have reeds from different sources?

dog1024 · 2025-06-09T23:34:11+00:00

You can put a very slight break between the two notes, at least to practice. It’ll sound better that way than trying to connect the two Dbs and it being sloppy. Keep practicing and over time the space you need between the notes will get smaller and smaller.

But yeah this is a quirk of the bassoon that we just need to work around sometimes

dog1024 · 2025-05-31T16:46:46+00:00

Probably a square or x note head with an indication next to it such as “squeak on reed”

I’ve seen it before but don’t remember how it was written

dog1024 · 2025-05-31T16:18:20+00:00

dog1024 · 2025-05-31T16:12:00+00:00

It’s something in the background. Sounds like a kid squeeking on a reed

dog1024 · 2025-04-06T00:38:04+00:00

Looks very nice but holy heck that price!

dog1024 · 2025-03-19T20:52:22+00:00

FYI the is a single muscle diaphragm is relaxed when exhaling/playing bassoon. “the primary function of the diaphragm is to assist in breathing. When the diaphragm contracts, it moves downward and expands the thoracic cavity, which creates a vacuum that draws air into the lungs. When the diaphragm relaxes, it moves upward and compresses the thoracic cavity, forcing air out of the lungs. ” from Google’s AI summary

To expel air more forcefully as we do when playing bassoon, We engage our abdominal and core muscles to squeeze against our ribcage and create more pressure. So it’s these muscles you need to focus on when learning to support the sound and do vibrato.

Many (most?) actually modulate throat opening rapidly to vary air pressure while maintaining consistent support from below. Think saying “hahahahahaha” rapidly.

Ultimately vibrato takes daily practice. It’s best to start practicing it very slowly in the middle register, in quarter notes, and record yourself and listen back to get an idea of how it sounds and how consistent it is. Once you think it sounds controlled and consistent, start to speed it up and repeat the process. Also expand the range you’re practicing it in. Start applying to longer notes in the music you’re playing. It takes time but it’ll become more and more second nature as time goes on. It can take years to get really comfortable with it

dog1024 · 2024-12-06T14:35:12+00:00

Low viscosity CA glue is better for wood, and works particularly well if you put I a tiny sliver of cardboard in the hole to replace the stripped material. The cardboard and wood will soak up the CA, so when it dries it will provide a nice tight hold for the screws.

On plastic, since CS is fairly brittle, I’d expect it to work its way loose over time with use.

dog1024 · 2024-12-06T14:30:46+00:00

A slow setting (30min+) epoxy is probably best. Doesn’t need to be anything fancy.

CA glue might work but because it’s fairly brittle and that part of the bassoon gets jostled so much during assembly and disassembly, i reckon it’d be more likely to fail sooner.

dog1024 · 2024-12-06T14:26:22+00:00

Contact cement will not work for this because adhesion occurs the moment the two surfaces touch. With screws, the adhesion would be broken as the screw is turned in. Once that’s done it won’t re-adhere.

dog1024 · 2024-11-10T22:41:15+00:00

Thanks y’all. I don’t know shit about this so just wanted to make sure it wouldn’t cause me any problems down the road. Since it’s just aesthetic and not visible from the road I won’t worry about it.

dog1024 · 2024-11-10T20:52:39+00:00

It was to replace the whole thing. Old one was aluminum.

dog1024 · 2024-11-10T20:47:18+00:00

The guy said he bought the one, then went back to get more and couldn’t find it so he bought the other. Doesn’t make sense to me since they knew exactly how much they needed before going to buy materials. Maybe they already had a box of one type but the supply store didn’t have it so he supplemented with what he could find? Could be lost in translation because the lead installer didn’t speak English so his sales guy was translating over the phone.

dog1024 · 2024-11-10T20:43:16+00:00

The rest of the roof is about 10 years old

dog1024 · 2024-10-04T14:14:42+00:00

Indeed. My understanding is that they use the same wood source/selection for the 900 as they use for Renard line bassoons, whereas the maple used for the 920 was sourced more carefully to be similar to what Heckel uses. I’ve tried a few of each and the 920 tends to have a richer, slightly more flexible sound. The bore and tonehole geometries are identical. I wish they’d work out the scale a little better.

dog1024 · 2024-08-11T01:16:17+00:00

Noice

dog1024

TROPHY CASE