There are numerous bassoons on ebay that have the brand name of Hadyn. They look to be good quality but only have a buy it now price of $795.00 US. How can this be? This is what it says on all the adds: This is a very nice full size wood bassoon. It is made from red maple wood. It has silver keys. It comes with a nice case and 2 bocals all which are new. It has many of the keys you would expect on more expensive models like the whisper lock key, the high D and Eb keys and many roller and trill keys. Has a German white ring and also the wood crutch. It has a gage for humidity inside the case. The case is a hard shell case. The quality is that of an intermediate to advanced bassoon.

This sounds almost professional quality but for that price i highly doubt it. Can someone tell me if this is trully a good bassoon and if anyone of you have boughten one?

I`m only a high school student, but a bad proffessional bassoon would cost about 10,000+ new and i got mine used about 18 years old for 6,000

1,000 for a bassoon is a joke, forget about it

These bassoons are made in China and are of poor quality. It is possible to buy a good used bassoon on Ebay (I know, I have bought two for less than $500 each), but you need to know about the various brands of bassoons. I don`t think buying on Ebay sounds like a good idea for you.

these bassoons don`t look to reliable, a sax player showed me them... i dunno, generally if oyu don`t know the brand don`t trust it unless you`ve heard good things...

i do like how the bell is longer, thus making the bass/long joint shorter... awesome... lol. i wish mine was like that.

although for $800... i peronally don`t give a crap for tone quality b/c first i need to be a good bassoonist to care about that kinda stuff... LOL... if i decide to play bassoon in college/uni i might buy one. highly doubt it though.

I heard that sometimes the keys fall off, or the wood changes shape, and I read some of the feedback left about them...people seem to have to put more money into them to get them into playing condition.. Id avoid them, and look for a cheap used bassoon that is a familar and trusted brand. Itd be worth it. And you dont want to have to buy another bassoon once you start to improve...lol.

i`m selling me old bassoon. Its an amati, i have used it in several years but i have "maintained" it. It is in very good condition. If you are interested we`re asking a little above 2,000 dollars i believe. I was able to make regions on it, so it is ok.

Ben

All this is very interesting but have any of you actually bought one of these inexpensive basoons and what playing experience have you had with it. Does anyone know of someone who has reviewed one of those that cost under $1,000? I`d really like to know the opinion of someone who knows the instrument and can tell me exactly what the good aspects are and what the weaknesses are. Can any one share that kind of information?

Has anyone heard of or had any experience with Lark bassoons? I saw one on Ebay and can`t find inforamtion about it.

Laval, Hayden, Lark -- they are all Chinese - remember, you get what you pay for. A lot of the reeds and some of the no name bocals are also from China. Buyer, beware! But then we used to say that about Japanese goods ...

However there are also some very good bassons on ebay for less money than they should be. The Muller currently on ebay (18 Mar 2005) is probably a rebranded Puchner - $795. There are others - older Conns were made by who knows who, some probably are very good. There was a Karl Wunderlich that sold for under $500 recently, and no it was not an instrument for a current professional player, but really, how many bassoonists get paid serious money to play? And, it was made by Puchner ...

Bill, I think you`re pretty much spot on. As far as I know, Puchner is the only one of the "Big 4" that did stencils. My Mirafone (Ebay) is a Puchner, and would have cost five times what I paid if it said "Puchner". On the other hand, most Mirafones were Schreibers. The trick is to find the Puchner stencils from among Kohlert, Amati,Schreiber, etc. I believe the early post-WWII made in U.S. Conns were a Heckel copy and are really nice horns. Later wood Conns were Kohlert and Schreiber and maybe others. Not awful, but not great either. Plastic Conns were made by Fox. Of course the other thing to watch out for on Ebay is condition. When you`re looking at the ultra-cheap end, you`re generally dealing with sellers who know nothing whatsoever about bassoons. They get them from estate sales, pawn shops, grandma`s attic, etc. and they wouldn`t have a clue what "boot rot" is, much less how to check for it. Still, there are bargains out there if you do your homework and have a little bit of luck.

P.S. I thought Wunderlich built their own.

Thanks for both of your imput on this. I`ve decided to just get one through WWBW.com - I can finance the one I want there. I don`t need a professional one, however, I don`t want my music degree to be wasted because I never bought my own instrument. I was so spoiled in college, they provided me with a Fox 601 to use for only $20 a year!
A girl can dream.

Hi! I`m wondering how one can recognize a Puchner "stencil". Also, does anyone know of a site that helps used bassoon shoppers distinguish between brands...for example, "The Brand X instruments made before 1970 are good", or "Whatever you do, don`t buy a...", etc.? In lieu of that, what`s the word on Adler Sonoras? Are any of `em any good...ok models, years, etc. Thanks!

do NOT buy form the following brands:

Artia
Haydn
Lark
Laval
Lesher

and be careful with these:

Conn (has to be in great cond., new., only good instrument Conn has ever made is their `Naked Lady Sax`
Linton (trustworthy just note cond., seller)
Amati (new or near-new, rec. model, good sound but delicate)

I know theres more but these are all that i can remember...

i personally reccomend a lease to own on an Amati 81n or Fox Renard 222 w/ high D

What do you know about K-Night, and Xinghai bassoons?