lefreQue Sound Bridge

What's that metal baffle doing on my bocal and wing joint?

It's a lefreQue Sound Bridge! 

For hundreds of years, instrument manufacturers have broken the bassoon into several parts to make it more compact for carrying and to keep it out of harm's way. I've certainly never thought about what acoustical trade-offs occur when you cut up the body of the instrument into several parts.

However, it stands to reason that some resonance must be lost when an integral piece of wood is sectioned off. Especially when the sections are joined by tenons with cork or string wrapping. 

In the chart below (from Maarten Vonk's bassoon website), you can see the relative speed of vibration for various materials. Cork is on the slow end. Thus, it is often used to insulate or dampen vibrations in a room, for instance. Cork is a great material for maintaining a secure, tight seal between joints, but not the ideal substance for the resonance of a musical instrument. 

Air                      330 m/s

Glue less than       50 m/s
Cork less than      500 m/s
Solder (lead)        1260 m/s
Wood soft/ hard   1500 / 4000 m/s
Brass                  3600 m/s
Gold                    4700 m/s

The concept behind the lefreQue Sound Bridge is to link the resonance in the individual joints of the body of the instrument by placing a bridge between them.

The bridges are easy to install and take off. They are not permanent and do not require a repair technician to modify your instrument.

Research:

Before purchasing, I did some investigating with other bassoonists, repair technicians and by viewing various Internet sources.

There is a lefreQue YouTube channel but no bassoon demos at this point.

West Virginia University Bassoon Professor, Lynn Hileman has written an informative blog about her trial of the sound bridges.

Photos of them in use on bassoons show various methods of deployment.

Trials:

I have only tried the bocal/wing bridge (known as the Double Reed model) and the bridge for the long/bell juncture. I tried the various materials available, too -- sterling silver, solid silver, red brass, etc.

I tried them on my students' bassoons and we probed them in our bassoon section. 

The results were surprisingly variable. While my tests were by no means scientific, I noticed a wide variety in result (ranging from no audible difference to near life-changing difference). 

What I've come away with from months of testing is that every bassoonist needs to decide for him/herself if these bridges do anything at all, and if so, which ones, and how best to deploy them on your instrument.

Ways to Try:

Here are some ways I tried. My conclusions are based upon what worked for me, so try them yourself. In trying yourself, be sure to investigate all the different materials and ways to deploy them.  I've heard from other bassoonists who use these very differently from me and are quite satisfied!

1. Which bridges?

Some bassoonists are "fully lefreQued"! They use the bridges as a system. However, these little baffles are very expensive, so I would suggest trying one bridge at a time to see if a particular bridge is really adding anything at all.

My trials show that the only bridge that added any resonance for me was the Double Reed bridge -- or the one that bridges the wing joint and bocal. The only other one that had even a hint of added resonance was the long/bell bridge -- but not enough to justify a purchase.

2. Which material?

I tried the various materials (a lot like shopping for bocals!) and found the solid silver added the most resonance and gave the best sound.

3. How to deploy?

This may be the area that needs the most investigation. There seems to be no standard way to apply these, and for me, some of the most recommended ways didn't work very well.

The bridges seem to be very finicky if not assembled and positioned just right. Some people notice a fuzziness or buzzing coming from them at times. Like what you may experience from a sympathetic vibration coming from the body lock.

If you experience this buzzing, before rejecting a lefreQue for your bassoon, try re-positioning the bridge on the joint and make sure the two bridges are perfectly aligned one on top of the other with no overlap.

Overlapping bridges

Tension from the silicon band may cause the bridges to slip apart slightly when you put them on. Keeping one exactly on top of the other will decrease damping caused by metal touching metal (which may also cause some of the buzzing).

Each lefreQue comes with a set of two bridges. They should be used together, with the smooth bridge on the bottom and the "bumpy" one on top.

Top side

Underside

These two photos show the top and underside of the two bridges.

These bridges are not interchangeable. My trial with the bridge with the bumps placed on top of the smooth bridge produced more resonance than vice versa.

In the photos you can see how the two differ. The bridge on the left side is the bridge that contacts the body of the bassoon. It helps the body resonance jump from joint to joint.

The bridge on the right has little bumps that act as feet. This is the bridge that goes on top. The feet keep the bridge from completely contacting the bottom bridge and dampening its resonance. Originally, lefreQues were sold as single bridges. However, it was discovered that pairing each bridge with another one allowed for more resonance, as the lower bridge was not dampened by the fastening bands.

The tapers of the bridges are purposeful, with a more sharp taper at one end for each. This sharper taper is made to help the fit against the bocal, whereas the taper at the bottom better fits the circumference of the wing top band.

Taper

Fit against bocal and wing

 
How to attach?

Photos I viewed showed a few different ways of attaching the bridges. Here are the two most common ways:

Bound at feet

Bound at middle

You should try each way to see which produces the best result. I found a pretty big difference between the two, with the fitting the silicon band over the middle yielding the best resonance and sound.

I've thought a little about the use of silicon (also an insulator, not a very good material for carrying vibration). I wonder if a metal coil spring or something that also transmits vibration well might be a better agent for attaching these bridges?

The lefreQue company offers a few different kinds of bands. Indeed the package includes a veritable smorgasbord of bands. It's not clear there is one recommended way to attach as well!

How much tension?

Along with how to attach, I've wondered about the amount of tension placed on the bridges by the attaching bands. Too much could dampen the bridges' resonance, too little could add a buzzing sound.

I found a good amount of tension by accident. I lost the original band sent with my bridges. Upon obtaining a new one, I noticed that it was wider and not as big in circumference as the old one. the fit was much more tight than the old one. An upgrade? 

After trying it, I thought the new band inhibited some of the resonance I was getting with the old one. To reduce the tension and, hopefully, free up some of the resonance, I cut the band's width in half. A more narrow band would be more elastic and free.

Original, cut

New width

This new width restored the resonance I was missing!

Where to position?

Another variable in deploying these things is exactly how to position them. Here again, different positioning yielded different results.

Here are the ways I tried with the bocal/wing bridges:

Under the post

By removing the whisper pad key, you can slip the band under the spring and mount it right up against the whisper key post. Putting the key back in place prevents the band from slipping out of position.

However, on my bassoon, this necessitated placing the band across the lower part of the bridge. This placed greater tension on the feet at the bottom of the bridges and very little on the top feet. There was a tendency for buzzing from the top and they were more prone to slipping out of place.

Moving the bridges down so the band could fit across the middle of them (near the trademark) caused the bottom bridge to contact the metal band at the top of the wing joint, resulting in a loss of resonance.

The best position for the band was fitting it around the very top of the wing joint metal band. It's best to put the band on before you insert the bocal. This makes it easier and safer to move or adjust the band if needed. The band is thin enough that it should fit between the wing and long joint without pushing the joints apart.

Best band position

Unfortunately, without the band locked in place under a key, it is necessary to keep an eye on the band so it doesn't slip out of place.

Where, exactly?

Front

Back

These photos show two possible locations for the bridges. Trying both, I found the front position to be the better of the two for sound and resonance. If you like this one, you must be careful to leave clearance space between the bridges and the swinging of the whisper pad key,so the whisper pad cup doesn't get caught up on the bridge!

The Bulge

One last thing I tried was putting the band on with the fat bulge over the bridges vs. rotating the band so the bulge is on the opposite side of the joint from the bridge. The sound was better with the bulge over the bridge. This is nice, because the bulge provides a nice, easy spot for your fingers to grab onto when removing the band. The bulge needs to be positioned exactly in the middle of the bridge's width for best resonance.

Bulge over bridge

Conclusions:

The lefreQue Sound Bridge provided a noticeable improvement in the resonance of my bassoon. It also helped some of the other instruments I tried it on, but not every bassoon showed improvement.

Attention to how the bridges are deployed, which ones are used, which material is best, how to attach them, tension of the band and where to place them on the body of the bassoon are important details you should explore when trying these bridges out.

A dime store solution!

 
In this post I'd like to describe an improvement I've made to my bassoon which costs next to nothing.

I made the modifications with help from Ken Potsic, my repair technician. I also sought advice from Frank Marcus and Shane Weiler.

My interest in investigating this was sparked by playing with our new Second Bassoonist, Gareth Thomas. Prior to his audition he substituted with us for two weeks. His two weeks were separated by a few months, during which he had some work done to his bassoon by Benson Bell.

Thus, I was able to get a good "before" and "after" impression of the improvement gained by his work with Benson. The difference was stunning. His sound had much more depth and resonance when he joined us for a week after Benson's work.

When asked, Gareth provided me with a detailed description of the issue with his bassoon and the solution.

In a nutshell, the problem had to do with misalignment of wing and long joint tenons in the boot joint sockets. The misalignment caused chokes in the flare of the bore at these junctures. These chokes cause unnecessary damping of the instrument's resonance.

Among other things, Benson Bell re-drilled the sockets and fitted new caps in them, properly aligning the joints so the bore at the end of each of the tenons is now flush with the bore at the base of each boot joint socket.

I learned that this misalignment is not uncommon in older Heckels and older bassoons in general. The smaller body size of the boot joint made a certain canting of the long joint bore necessary. Instead of running parallel to each other, the two bores of the boot joint in these older bassoons angle out a bit from bottom to top. You can observe this by noticing the way the wood tapers down in the body of the boot joint from top to bottom.

This was corrected in later Heckel series as the body of the boot joint was made bigger (wider). By looking at the body of a newer bassoon, you can see that there is less taper in the body of the wood and, thus, less angling to the two bores.

By itself, the angling is not a problem. The issue comes with the need to link the wing and long joint together for a good fit in the left hand. Instead of continuing the angle imparted by the boot joint, fitting them together requires the bores to be more or less parallel to each other.

Thus, in an older bassoon with a more slender boot joint, the angle has to change slightly at the juncture of the boot large side and long joint, .

If the large boot socket and long joint tenon are not mated carefully during manufacture, a misalignment can result.

How to check:

Because of the sizable improvement to Gareth's bassoon, I was curious to know if my instrument had some of the same issues, and if the bassoon be improved by addressing them.

The wing joint tenon has been replaced on my bassoon and mates precisely with its socket in the boot joint.

The long joint/boot intersection was another story.

To check my bassoon for this possible misalignment, I assembled wing and long joint in the boot (the wing needs to be in place because it may affect the positioning of the long joint in the boot bore). After removing the U-tube at the bottom of the boot joint I slid a wooden dowel rod through the bottom of the boot joint large bore towards the long joint.

I checked the bore at the four compass points by sliding the dowel through at those points. As the dowel passed through the junction of boot and long joint, I could feel the end of the dowel catch at one of the points.

If there is a catch, the dowel is hanging up on the end of the long joint tenon. The tenon end is protruding slightly into the bore, causing the choke. Sometimes this can be seen by looking through the assembled bassoon from the bottom of the boot joint, large side.

Often the protrusion occurs on the part of the tenon end facing away from the wing joint. This was the case with my bassoon.

While conferring with Frank Marcus, who had examined Gareth's bassoon, he suggested a simple method I could try on my own to see pursuing a modification like Gareth's would improve my bassoon.

Frank restored my bassoon back in 1997, so I have great respect for his work. However, the beautiful ivory that still adorns the bell of my instrument makes transport to and from Canada with the bassoon very risky. He suggested I send it without bell, but I wanted to have the bell with the bassoon to try before and after. Thus, he devised this solution to try on my own.

Frank's suggestion:

As the choke in my bassoon was caused by the long joint tenon end protruding over the lip in the boot socket at the side of the bore facing away from the wing joint (or closest to your thigh when playing), putting a few layers of tape on the outside of the opposite side of the tenon might put the tenon into better alignment. If the tenon fit in the socket wasn't too snug there would be room for the extra tape.The added thickness on one side of the tenon would move the tenon over slightly.

The trial:

I took the bassoon to Ken Potsic who put two layers of medical tape on that side of the tenon cap.

We found there was room for the tape. Tenons usually make contact with sockets at the cork or string wrap, so sometimes it's necessary to sand off a little cork or remove string to make this adjustment.

However, we were able to fit the joints together without any removal. I checked the bore with the dowel again and noticed no catching at the juncture this time.

I played the bassoon. Then we removed the tape; I played. I repeated with tape and without. We both noticed an improvement in the resonance of the bassoon and a smoother, more homogeneous scale with the tape in place.

Being naturally sceptical -- and since we were in a house basement (not a good acoustical environment) -- I replicated the before and after taping trial in Severance Hall.  I heard the same results.

Other factors:

I also measured the bore diameter at the end of the long joint tenon. The bore at this point is rarely perfectly round, so I measured the diameter at the widest and most narrow axes. (North/South, East/West) and averaged the measurements.

Then I measured the bore in the boot joint where it meets the long joint tenon (at the base of the socket).

I noticed that the bore was actually a bit larger in the boot joint than at the tenon end -- also a factor in the choke, since the bassoon bore is conical and the flare continues from boot to long joint. Perhaps at some point, I'll have the bore at the end of the tenon enlarged slightly.

Many bassoons have a metal reinforcing ring on the end of the tenons for protection. My bassoon has one on this end of the long joint. I measured the thickness of this ring (outside diameter minus inside diameter).

Then I measured the thickness of the wooden lip in the socket. Ideally the lip should be exactly as thick as the tenon end cap. The lip in my boot socket varies in thickness throughout its circumference. It is quite thin at the point where the choke occurs.

The lip is about .020" thinner than the tenon ring. So not only was there a misalignment at this point, there was also a difference in thickness of the two fitted parts.

Therefore, I placed some tape strips in the boot joint bore right where it meets the socket, effectively narrowing the bore and thickening the lip in the socket.

The addition of this tape removed some of the choke. A playing test revealed that this modification also added resonance to the instrument.

At this point, I'm not sure if I'm going to move forward with a more permanent modification to the bore. I like the "Dime Store" solution which Frank Marcus devised. While not a perfect fit, I'm sure, I'm certainly enjoying the increased resonance of a better fit at this juncture.

Perhaps in homage to two master repair technicians of the past who loved finding economical solutions to problems, I'll leave things alone.

I'm speaking of Lewis Hugh Cooper, who solved many problems with tape, matchsticks and paraffin wax and Hans Moennig, who did magical things to bassoons using dimes, sawdust and other things laying around his shop!

Wilhelm Heckel Book

Wilhelm Heckel

Six Generations Dedicated to Music

I have just finished reading a wonderful book about the Heckel Company. Its author, Edith Reiter, is a member of the Heckel family and ran the company for many years. She has retired and now has written this history of the firm and family.

The history covers the span of the company from the historic joint effort by Johann Adam Heckel and Carl Almenräder in developing the modern-day bassoon in the early 19th century right up to 2013.

The book will appeal to bassoonists in particular, of course. However, many readers will learn -- as I did -- that Heckel made all the woodwind instruments and many brass instruments until World War II, supplying orchestras and bands in Germany and around the world.

The book is lavishly illustrated with many historic photos and reproductions of documents. We can see the receipt for purchase of a Heckel bassoon by Julius Weissenborn. The collaboration with Paul Hindemith in composition of music for the Heckelphone is documented in text and with a photo of his visit to the workshop in Biebrich.

In the back of the book are lists of all the instruments sold by Heckel for which they have records. Each instrument is listed with a serial number (if applicable), date of delivery and country of delivery (if known).

If you own a Heckel bassoon -- especially if you are not the first owner -- this listing may shed some light on your instrument's history.

It is fascinating to chart the rise and drop in production of Heckel bassoons over time. No German firm was exempt from the vagaries of two World Wars, hyperinflation and economic depression during the 20th Century.

The World Wars hit the Heckel family personally. August Heckel died in battle in September of 1914, an early casualty of World War I. Edith Reiter documents the shell shock her sister Gisela suffered during bombing in World War II. Indeed, the factory was damaged during that time.

By scanning the serial numbers and dates you can see production rise as Germany rose out of the hyperinflation of the early 1920's (I have a 1 million Mark note from that time, sent to ancestors in the U.S. by German relatives). Orders from the United States really picked up during this time. Dozens of 7000 series Heckels were delivered to the United States in the summer of 1930 alone (including the bassoon I play!).

As World War II approaches you can see the effect of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as orders from the Soviet Union pick up during that brief time. The orders drop precipitously after the German invasion in 1941.

After the war, American orders pick up again. Edith Reiter credits many American supporters and customers with helping the firm get back on its feet during this time.

She graciously shares many personal stories about herself and her relatives that make the history of the company come alive. As the only woman apprentice in the factory during the 1950s, she was viewed with suspicion (the boss's daughter!) by some of the workers. Her father ordered all nude photographs removed from the shop floor. I guess machine shops are the same everywhere!

The book is in a side-by-side bilingual format -- German and English. English readers not comfortable with German can read straight through by just skipping over the pages in German.

The English translation is good, but not perfect. Some technical terms are mistranslated. When referring to keypads, the German word, "das Polster" is translated as "pillow" -- a funny image of little pillows under the keycups on a bassoon appears in your mind.

As with many German nouns, the word "das Rohr" can be translated variously. It can refer to anything resembling a pipe or anything that has a bore. It would have been helpful if the translator had been more careful in checking when the word "reed" is intended instead of "bore" or even "bocal".

Perhaps in a successive printing, these minor issues can be addressed.

I'm sure many music dealers who cater to double reed players sell this book. I purchased my copy from TrevCo-Varner Music

New Shaper

The Fox Products Corporation has copied another shape for me. It is called the Fox Straight Shaper ST2.

This is a copy of my favorite foldover shaper which is a Berdon #6--no longer made. Having it available from Fox in the straight shaper format is terrific! A straight shaper is more accurate, consistent from piece to piece, easier to use, safer and faster than a foldover.

The copy turned out really well. There is virtually no difference I can see between a piece shaped on my old Berdon and the new Fox.

At this point, the new shaper is not listed on the Fox Products website. To order within the U.S. call (260) 723-4888 and ask for Angie Strayer. Email is angelia.strayer@foxproducts.com

The shaper retails for $189.00.

Those of you who make reeds following the instructions on my website or use this blog will want to have this shape. It allows for a reed that does many things well.