Anyone heard of it? http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.vioworld-klassik.de/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvioworld%26hl%3Den
If you go to the classifieds under bassoon, and look maybe the second, there is a Pickert brand bassoon. I'm not saying I"m buying it, but I'm wondering if anyones heard of it

The only beginner bassoons worth buying these days are made by Fox.

Fox/Renard is an interesting brand. There used to be a complete lack of beginner bassoons. Most were completely horrible. (Pickert no doubt included). Fox/Renard saw an opening to build instruments that actually worked at a reasonable price. You can find old Fox/Renards (model 220, for example) for good prices. That Pickert probably doesn't play. You'll spend tons of money trying to fix it, and tons of time squeaking, thinking you suck, and trying to make a perfect reed for a bassoon that just won't do it. You can also find some Puchners out there that are playable.

Fox are not the only company producing decent sounding, well made beginner bassoons. Adler, Moossman, Schreiber are other names that come to mind.

You mention Puchner but the price of these put them outside the beginner league.

I second contra448's discussion. The previous poster sounds like an advertisement for Fox, given his recent posts. Fox is made in the U.S. and that gives it some advantage when going for overhauls, etc., and it is true that their bassoons are competitive with several German-made bassoons, notably those mentioned by contra448. HOWEVER, you have to get into Fox's more expensive models before you see any advantage over these other makes in quality, and personally I would not even go so far as to say that.

More importantly, I would talk to the repair people in your own town or wherever you would take your instrument for adjustments, etc., and find out what makes they work on most often. Just like with a car repair place, people do better work on the models they know. If you have to use a certain music shop or repair shop, this is very important.

I don't even know why sforzanda responded... I have a Moosmann 100a... and I am definitely not buying a Pickert.. I was wondering if anyone had heard of them, not "I'M A BEGINNER AND I'M GOING TO BUY THIS BASSOON". And plus, there is more than 1 good brand of bassoon, and I'm sure you can find alot of student models comparable to Fox, if not better.

I'm another happy 100a Moosmann owner. I really like mine, which I have had for just over a year, a replacement for a more "student" oriented instrument. How do you feel about its intonation, MM?

Well, mines kind of weird. I've only got one bocal (the instrument is rented from a university), and its a 1, so it tunes a bit sharp all the time. I've found from about A on the
staff to A above I've got fairly good tuning, but A in the staff below isn't very good xD. Its kind of hard to tune in youth orchestra when all your A's are tuned differently xD.
But, on another subject, this 100a I suspect to be a 98a, just because of the features. How's the intonation for you?

My Low Eb below the staff is awfully sharp. I'm currently researching alternate fingerings but haven't been really successful yet. I'm not too happy with my G in the upper staff either but it seems worse with some reeds than others and I can tone it down a bit with the LH pinky key. I use a #2 bocal. My horn still thinks it's a tree, however, since it's so new, so I'm hoping it will mellow down before I get too old to play it! I have a much, much older Kohlert that I've had for too many years to count (it might actually be older than me); and it is beautiful and mellow in the upper ranges, but far too recalcitrant to be used in any of the groups I play in.

To reply to the original question - nobody seems to have heard about Pickert bassoons. As with many of the unknown brands it was probably a store who bought a batch & had their own name stamped on it. So who knows what it's reallty like.

Regarding Moosmann tuning I have started another thread on the subject.

Ian