Yes, put grease on the thread. I've always heard and seen the joints put on one at a time.

Do NOT put both tenor and long joint in together. Look at the locking mechanism (the thing that ties both these pieces together) and figure out which one will be on the bottom when you assemble the horn and put that piece in first. Often it is the tenor joint, but be sure to check as the locking mechanism could have been put in backward. Then carefully put one joint in at a time, using a back and forth motion. If there is resistance or the corks give a squeaking noise, stop and put cork grease (or Chapstick if you don't have any) on the cork before you put the joint in. The worst thing you can do is just slam the pieces into place because there is all sorts of damage which could occur.

thanks for telling me! i see now.

ok, THIS IS NOT GOOD. i did everything like i was supposed to, i played the bassoon, and now in disassembly, my long joint is sort of stuck in the boot. so, what am i supposed to do?

never mind, i'm fine

haha- nothing a little cork grease can't fix.

that's the problem. i put cork grease on it before i put it together. it didn't even fit ALL the way in. i already knew that i was gonna have trouble with the bell (The bassoonist told me about that) but i expected the long joint (with cork grease) to work perfectly. hopefully, i'll start my lessons somewhere within the next 2 weeks.

I've just had my first 2 weeks on the bassoon and I just LOVE it.
Won't touch the clarinet now for a while, the bassoon rules supreme.

I helps a LOT to have a private teacher !

Cheers
James

well, i finally started my lessons yesterday, solved a few problems, and i feel like i'm going to do very well. so, i'm good now. thanks everybody.

No wonder why the bassoon is such an unpopular instrument. It's very important, but a fact of life that there are many people out there who turn their nose up at the bassoon. I reckon that they don't like it because it's so hard to get a decent sound out of the bassoon - good players on other instruments are encouraged to stay on that path because, lets face it, a beginner bassoon is not a pretty sound. Thank god there are people out there stubborn enough to stick at it and make the beautiful music that the bassoon can play.