What`s the difference between a long bore and a short bore on a bassoon? And what one is better?

LONG BORE:warm and round tone with with excellent balance and even intonation throughout the entire range of the instrument. Its tone quality fits well into chamber ensembles as well as orchestral second bassoon parts.(I have a Fox Model 1--can`t beat the tuning on it..also, you can make the sound brighter with the correct reeds. Projection has improved!)
SHORT BORE:
The short bore allows a more singing quality of sound in the solo register that also has more power and projection than the long bore models.They call it the symphony bore.

Now they have a thickwall bassoon... (sigh)

what is a thick wall? should i look into buying one?

The thickwall model is designed to be a long bore with a deep, projecting sound (from the heavier weight) They also cost $20,000. From my experience, I would just reccomend a long bore. I have found that the short bores are not a great deal more projecting, and they have serious intonation issues in the lower register. The thickwall models are also not quite as great as they are cracked up to be. They tend to play similarily to a standard long bore, and they cost mroe than is reasonably justifiable by most people.

so, can you see the difference between a short or long bore bassoon just by looking at it?

long bore is better