The Complete Handbook of Bassoons
A practical reference for players, technicians, and dealers covering selection, setup, maintenance, repair, and the business of bassoons
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
A practical, comprehensive handbook covering bassoon selection, setup, maintenance, repair, and the business of the instrument.
About this book
The bassoon is a complex machine wrapped in wood, with over two meters of tubing folded into a compact form, a key system with over 150 moving parts, and an acoustical behavior that has been refined over three centuries. Yet most bassoonists learn through a mix of apprenticeship, scattered journal articles, and word of mouth. This handbook brings that knowledge together in a single, practical reference.
It begins with how the instrument actually produces sound, how the bore profile affects intonation, and why small changes in bocal angle or reed position have a sonic impact out of proportion to their size. It provides concrete criteria for evaluating a new or used instrument, a clear-eyed comparison of the tiers of instruments available today, and a step-by-step process for selecting the right tool for your playing situation. The maintenance chapters offer scheduled, testable procedures for waterproofing, pad seating, key adjustment, and simple repair techniques that any careful owner can perform, followed by a diagnostic chart for the most common problems.
The final sections address the instrument as a business: how to position a repair service, what it realistically takes to become a successful dealer, and where to find the ongoing training, standards documents, and professional organizations that separate the reliable professional from the uninformed enthusiast.
Reader Reviews
Robert Moore
★★★★★It does what it says - it's a reference, not a skim. The acoustics chapter took me a few days to work through but it's the first time I actually understood why my low D is flat, not just that it is. I marked it down because the section on repadding a wing joint is optimistic about the skill level of a regular player, but the rest is solid and I've already used the daily maintenance routine for two weeks.
Mark Lee
★★★★★I've played professionally for over twenty years and this is the first handbook that doesn't talk down to me or assume I need to start from absolute scratch. The chapter on setup saved my new horn a trip to the shop - I found a spring I'd been fighting for a month was just a few millimeters out of alignment, and their photos and steps showed me exactly where to look. I've already recommended it to two of my colleagues in the section.
Richard Anderson
★★★★★I bought this mainly for the maintenance sections since I'm trying to move away from sending my bassoon out every time something feels off. The troubleshooting chart for leaks is genuinely useful and the writing is clear without being condescending. My only complaint is that the commercial opportunities chapter is fascinating but feels like it belongs in a different book - I skimmed it, but that's just my own interest.
Jonathan Robinson
★★★★★This is a proper technical handbook, not a glossy coffee table book. The comparison of bore profiles with actual measurements rather than vague adjectives was exactly what I needed to justify a step up in my instrument tier. I'm rating it a three only because the binding on my edition is already coming loose after a month of regular use, which is ironic for a reference book I expect to keep for years.
Michael Davis
★★★★★The back cover fits: it is a serious reference. The chapter on why the whisper key matters was eye-opening - I always knew it made a difference but I never understood the acoustical reason. I docked a star because I was hoping for more on bocals and they cover it well in the specs chapter but never offer a concrete step-by-step for someone trying to pick between a few options.
William Jones
★★★★★This earns the name 'complete'. I'm a repair tech and I bought it expecting to skim past the stuff I know, but the section on diagnosing leaks in the boot joint showed me a method for the C# pad that is better than what I was using. It now lives on my workbench, not my bookshelf. The business chapter doesn't pull punches - they are honest that reselling bassoons is slow money and you need repair skills to make it work.