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new Heckel bassoon (current pricing for those who have been on the wait list) - $70,000

wait list length: 16 years

Just one of the reasons that I picked tuba when I wanted to start playing again a few years ago.

jtm wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 8:58 am Just one of the reasons that I picked tuba when I wanted to start playing again a few years ago.

fwiw...I have some darn-well put-together fiddles, here, that you can take off my hands for $475.

Better 16 years than 16 light years.

Actually, 16 years is a duration. Whereas, 16 light years is a length.

So I shouldn't be measuring the time of the Kessel run in parsecs?

11 ft 8 FTW

Or for that matter, 11 ft 8 + 8 FTW

bloke wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 8:54 am new Heckel bassoon (current pricing for those who have been on the wait list) - $70,000

wait list length: 16 years

Insane. Thirty years ago it was around $18k as I recall and a much, much shorter wait time. There are a number of excellent makers out there these days that produce bassoons that are every bit as good as a Heckel for much less $$. Of course Heckel is to bassoons what Harvard is to higher ed…. “The Name”

My niece is a professional bassoonist and her main ax is a Fox 601. Her grandparents bought that for her about 15 years ago when she graduated with her undergrad degree (she now has a DMA). My father had one proviso--I had to handle the transaction. So, I drove to Ohio (to fetch my niece) and Indiana to make the purchase. One seller had a used Heckel, and frankly I thought she sounded a lot better on the Fox. She did, too. The Fox was priced similarly to the report above of Heckel prices from 30 years ago. The Heckel was about twice that.

She didn't have to wait 16 years for her Fox. She had to wait about 16 minutes. But we did stop by another place to get a few modifications made to it that she wanted, and I think she ended up with a different bocal.

Rick "she ended up buying at WWBW, which meant I got to try out tubas while she was trying out bassoons" Denney

A local amateur friend had a Heckel; but -- he had a tuner on the stand. Nuf said. It did have a marvelous sound. His health went downhill a few years ago (vision among other things) and last I remember he was trying to get $30k for it. I don't know if he did or not.

MedicineMan wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 10:33 am

bloke wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 8:54 am new Heckel bassoon (current pricing for those who have been on the wait list) - $70,000

wait list length: 16 years

Insane. Thirty years ago it was around $18k as I recall and a much, much shorter wait time. There are a number of excellent makers out there these days that produce bassoons that are every bit as good as a Heckel for much less $$. Of course Heckel is to bassoons what Harvard is to higher ed…. “The Name”

In 1993 they were about $40,000 with a two-year waiting list. I was at our principal bassoonist's party when he called them in the middle of the night to place his order and pay. That was a pretty wild party, IIRC…

Have you guys seen Eppelsheim's site/instruments?
I don't know their prices, but he has has unique instruments, apparently some of which are superior to their standard predecessors.

https://www.eppelsheim.com/en/

He redesigned a contrabassoon with a much bigger bore and reed, called it a Contraforte, very powerful.

The contraforte design is very close to his Bb ~~subcontrabass saxophone~~ which he calls a "TUBAX", a full octave lower than a bass sax(can hit Ab0, half-step below piano).
That design is also mirrored for a compact-wrapped version of an Eb contrabass saxophone, another one he calls a tubax.

ANND he is the only maker of the Bb "soprillo" saxophone. A full octave higher than soprano, and fifth higher than the sopranino.

the elephant wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 2:00 pm

MedicineMan wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 10:33 am

bloke wrote: ↑Fri Aug 05, 2022 8:54 am new Heckel bassoon (current pricing for those who have been on the wait list) - $70,000

wait list length: 16 years

Insane. Thirty years ago it was around $18k as I recall and a much, much shorter wait time. There are a number of excellent makers out there these days that produce bassoons that are every bit as good as a Heckel for much less $$. Of course Heckel is to bassoons what Harvard is to higher ed…. “The Name”

In 1993 they were about $40,000 with a two-year waiting list. I was at our principal bassoonist's party when he called them in the middle of the night to place his order and pay. That was a pretty wild party, IIRC…

Dang, maybe it’s been 35 years plus then. Regardless, tubas are just a much better deal!

P.S. Please tell me he didn’t drunk order the Heckel.

.

Yes, Fox make some fine bassoons, and we have a few of them sitting here waiting to be restored and sold - when Mrs. bloke has time…
… but it’s difficult to deny that when a company can charge $70,000 - and have a 16 year waiting list, that there is some demand for their products.


Jimbo makes a sort-of good enough 186ish instrument, probably makes them as fast as they can, and I think the current selling price is about 2500 bucks…whereas Miraphone is also making real ones as fast as they can, and those are selling for four or five times as much.



I’m not trying to compare Fox to Jimbo, but making a point that there are things priced at different price points because there is a demand for those different products.

Try acquiring a Klaus Fehr french horn (his workshop is situated near Maastricht, Netherlands)
Waiting time has grown from two to six years since 2019...
This guy must be doing SOMETHING right, ´cause his are the FIRST horns bearing his name, there´s not centuries of horn-lore in his past to create demand in the present...

During times of inflation, their slogan is:

What the Heckel be the price next year?

Spend a few shekels and get the Heckel!!

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 08, 2022 5:34 am During times of inflation, their slogan is:

What the Heckel be the price next year?

That’s really interesting. I wasn’t aware that they used Memphis sentence structure in Wiesbaden.