When J C Denner made this bassoon in Nurnburg around the turn of the 18th Century, he created not only a fine instrument but also one of his best examples of baroque design and ornate wood turning. He was one of the masters of his age in creating beauty in the shape and form of his work which went alongside his constant efforts to improve the instruments he made.

Although the original instrument had only three keys, this instrument is supplied as standard with an added G# key. Most other Denner bassoons have the G# key indicating that they are possibly later instruments. The bassoon can be supplied without this key if required.

This bassoon is lighter in weight than many of the period and is easy to hold and play. Players may choose not to use a sling hook at all.

We offer the Denner bassoon at both A=440 and 415Hz

Costs
This instrument is offered at £3850. This price includes a quality hard case and two reeds.

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The instruments are made in short run batches to order. Please contact us to establish current waiting time for instruments. We do not ask for any deposit when taking orders and will confirm that you still wish to purchase the instrument immediatly prior to begining work on the instrument. Should you wish to cancel the order at that time then this will not be a problem.

Reeds
As with the other bassoons, additional reeds are available on request. For players who prefer to make their own reeds, the Rieger B1 reed profile works well with this instrument and allows the full compass of notes to the top a' to be achieved with ease. Whilst we can supply reeds, we also recommend the Pro Reeds #364 reed - contact them at www.proreeds.de

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Research
In researching and developing this instrument we are indebted to Barbara Stanley who passed all of her research notes on to us. In addition to this we have experimented with various bore and crook profiles to bring us to the instrument we sell today. It is interesting to note that the wing joint on the original instrument has an unusual, almost parallel, section in the lower half of the wing joint which has been the subject of conjecture by many researchers over the years. It was thought that the bore may have shrunk in this region to give the resulting parallel section and that this was not the original profile of the bore. After making a number of different wing joints with various bore profiles we can confirm that a faithful copy of the original bore profile gives by far the best response in this instrument and we have therefore settled on this for our wing joint. Our apologies to Mr Denner for ever doubting him!
We have experimented with many crook profiles and have now produced a crook which matches the instrument and plays freely throughout the full range from low BB flat to the top a'.

Fingering Chart
We also provide a fingering chart with the instrument. In this chart we have combined fingering options from a number of original charts from the 18th century alongside some alternative fingerings suggested by professional players.
As ever with fingerings, they are often a matter of the players individual technique and reed preference. The chart is offered as a guide, to show the many alternatives which may be useful.

Click on this key image to download a copy of our Baroque Bassoon fingering chart