I saw a king symphony bassoon on ebay currently at $1,000. It looks to be in great condition, with new pads, corks and case. I wasn't aware that king made bassoons. It says it was made in Germany. Does anybody know about the quality of these instruments.

The only King bassoons I've seen were made in Czechoslovakia by Amati. But as this says 'Made in Germany' it's likely to be a step up from the others - possibly a Schreiber.

Ian

I'm in a similar situation... my Bassoon was stenciled "Imported by H.N. White, Cleveland" which later got merged into King iirc. As far as I know it was made in Germany or Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1965.

Not a bad bassoon after it had a decent overhaul (including fixing naughty boreworm holes) but I'm not sure if it is the same brand they used later on.

I also bought this on ebay, it's a risky thing really. Can be good and bad.
Unless it is expressly stated that it has been recently serviced and is ready to play expect to spend some money
at a reputable woodwind shop to get it properly adjusted.

I also have some old sad lesher bassoon still in a box which I will use to practice repadding and such... it's not quite up to the quality of my White

I can't see a King on ebay atm, would you have a link ?

Cheers
James

The King Tempo bassoon was made by Amati whereas the Symphony model I'm pretty sure was made by Schreiber in the 70's and should be a good instrument.It's very similar to a Polisi that I have,also made by Schreiber.

http://cgi.ebay.com/KING-Symphony-Bassoon-w-High-D-Eb-Keys-New-Case_W0QQitemZ170104165824QQihZ007QQcategoryZ16227QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Looking at the description it looks like a nice horn, sellers says he's been playing it himself.
Also has whisper key lock, high D, and extra low C extension.. nice keywork.

He also mentioned it's been recently repadded etc.

If you could get it for the price it's on offer I guess it'd be nice.
But I'm only an amateur with less than a year playing and bassoons seem to be very different from one another,
even if it's the same model, they seem to vary.

There is always a certain risk with buying without seeing, but you can pickup something nice, it's a gamble.
But for the last few months I've been checking ebay for bassoon offers just out of interest and thisone
is one of the best ones for that kind of price I've seen.

Good luck
James