I'm going to try out some new bocals on my shreiber. This is the first time I have done this, so what exactly should I look for?
My bassoon is 40 years old or so, built before the manufacturing switch. Right now I own a fox bocal, I think its either a C or a CV, and it is a three length. The sound is great, but the intonation is ballpark.

has anybody ever tried out a yamaha bocal? What did you think of it? I'm looking at trying out some fox bocals, maybe a heckel, and some Yamaha Supertone #1 Bocals.

From your first comment intonation seems to be the prime consideration - that's assuming this problem is due to the bocal & not the instrument. Only start checking on the tuning when the bassoon is well warmed up. Then it's a case of the sound which appeals to you. Having selected a few bocals which seem to give the desired result try & get them on approval so that you can test them over a couple of weeks - what appears good in the store does not necessarily work in a 'real' situation. Also you will probably find that you will need to change reed as well - different bocals differ in resistance & balance between ranges of the instrument.

Good luck.

thanks.
I went in today and play tested some bocals. It appears that it is not my instrument. All the fox bocals I tried made no difference, so I narrowed it down to the heckel and the yamahas. Right now I have a yamaha supertone on trial for my teacher to look at. The guy at the store said I could have it for $160 (totaled with student discounts, a weekend sale, and the sales manager goving me an incorrect quote). It was a little more consistant when I played loud, but the first time I tried it, I played very soft. I didn't sound as great, but it was essentially right on tune. The heckel was too much money for the difference it made on my bassoon, so at this point it is pretty much Yamaha or nothing.