Old Bassoon

[kiwi]

Hi,
I just spotted this bassoon at the link below and was just wondering what people thought of it, as I don't know much about bassoons.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=296036658

I was curious as to whether it would be worth buying.

[Merlin]

It's a very old French system bassoon missing the bell.

If you want a bassoon to learn to play on, this is not the one.

[SOTSDO]

French system bassoons ('bassons') are thin on the ground to begin with. One without a bell would be your ticket to a scavenger hunt without parallel, unless you happen to be a resident of France.

The fingering system is roughly analogous to an Albert system clarinet when compared to a German (Heckel) system bassoon, which would be the faggotte equivalent of a Boehm system clarinet. It is still taught (largely in France), but it's not au courant in bassoon circles these days.

That's not to say you couldn't learn to play one (once you replace the bell joint). It's just that it would be very, very, VERY, VERY difficult...