Re-striping a pre-war Heckel bassoon

December 15th, 2023

The pre-war Heckel bassoon in the photo below was brought to us by a professional bassoonist who plays it every day. The varnish had worn through: it no longer protected the instrument and so needed re-doing. Owing to the amount of wear this involved re-doing the striping.

This bassoon is over 100 years old, and is still being played professionally. Over the years it has played in hundreds of concerts, and because it has been looked after it still plays as well as it did the day it was first made. We are pleased to play our part in re-finishing the bassoon in order to protect it for generations to come.

In the photo below the remnants of the varnish have been removed, and we have carefully re-applied the stripes by tracing over the faint original markings in the wood. Heckel have always added very characteristic stripes to the wood of their bassoons and it takes some skill to replicate what they did originally.

At this stage, the stripes stand out, looking stark against the bare wood. The next stage is to soften the stripes, and once the colour and the varnish are added, they will become fainter and more subtle.