The Complete Handbook of Bassoon Small Parts
A professional's field guide to selecting, installing, maintaining, and sourcing bassoon small parts that actually fit and function
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
The complete practical guide to bassoon small parts: materials, specs, installation, and maintenance, for professionals who need it right the first time.
About this book
Every bassoon, from a student model to a fully professional Heckel, is held together by a constellation of small parts: pivot screws, rods, springs, key corks, pads, and the hardware that makes the complex mechanism respond under the fingers. When these parts wear out or break, the instrument becomes unplayable, and finding the correct replacement is often harder than the repair itself. This handbook collects that essential knowledge into a single, organized reference. You will learn how to identify the exact part you need, what materials and tolerances matter, and how to avoid the common pitfall of buying a seemingly identical part that does not fit the specific post or key of your instrument.
Reader Reviews
Sharon Wright
★★★★★This is the book I wish I'd had when I first started working on bassoons. I've spent years cross-referencing forum posts and parts diagrams for simple things like the right screw length for a specific key post, and this finally puts it all in one place. The chapter on identifying materials and tolerances is worth the price alone – I used it to order the correct springs for a pre-war French bassoon that had been sitting in my shop for months. It's thorough and technical, but never dry. My only minor wish is that it had more close-up photography, but the text descriptions of installation procedures were clear enough for me to follow. For a working tech, this is an essential desk reference.
Ashley Mitchell
★★★★★I am a serious amateur and I just upgraded my old bassoon's mechanism with new corks and felts. This handbook was a lifesaver. The chapter on installation gave me the confidence to do the work myself, and I saved around 200 dollars in shop labor. I especially appreciated the clear explanations of why you need different hardnesses of cork for different keys – that level of practical detail is impossible to find for free online. The sections on future trends in materials were a bonus I didn't expect, but it makes me confident that the parts I buy now will still be standard in five years. I've already recommended this to my entire local bassoon group.