Hi everyone,

I have a beautiful Kohlert & Co. Winnenden bassoon. Up to new I did not care to identify the serial, but now I got curious. Under the boot, incribed in the metal strip I see a single digit, the number "7". If you hold the bassoon upright it is actually upside down. Could it be it?

Is it possible that this is one of the very few instruments the Kohlerts made in Germany in 1949?

Please advise. Thanks!

Interesting. Yours is obviously a more recent Kohlert. I have one from when they were in Graslitz - I think it is pre WWI. I've had a lot of work done on it first by Jimmy Keys and then Keith Bowen. I'm told it plays like a 5000 series Heckel - which makes some sense. I just finished up a run of the Rutter Magnificat and am interested in bocals. I've been trying some out for a long time and have never found the ideal one. (When I was in college I loaned the Kohlert vocals to another student (Matt Schubin) and when I tried to get them back he said I never loaned them to him. Damn. Mostly I'm looking for a Fox CV - 0. They seem to work best but Fox no longer makes them. Who else makes good bocals? I hope you have a good Kohlert, I had heard their quality went downhill in more recent times. How is yours?

guess my reply could have been a little more helpful. the only number on the bottom of the boot is XVII. I suppose that could have been 1917 but that would have been during the war so is probably unlikely. The serial number or rather the only number I can find anywhere on the instrument is on the bell joint right under the logo. the numbers are very small and very lightly scored. It's also a ridiculously high number - maybe a Kohlert expert knows. Also, though the bell has the same Graslitz logo as the other joints, it was a different color stain so maybe was a replacement. The ring is definitely ivory. Anyway, here's the number: 239795 (or maybe 6, it's too faint to see.

Kohlert were operational in Winnenden from 1947 - 1982 when the business was sold to Kreul & Moosmann who. The serial numbers did start from 1 in 1947.