Bassoon, bass double-reed woodwind instrument. It has about 2.4 m (about 8 ft) of conical-bore wood tubing in a narrow U shape, in four sections, or joints. The bassoon normally has eight finger holes (usually controlled by keys) and ten or more additional key-controlled holes. The reed is placed in a curved metal tube, or crook, set into the tenor joint. Developed about 1650 from the similar curtal (which was bored into a single wood block), the bassoon has a range of about three octaves upward from the third B-flat below middle C. The modern French bassoon, played in Belgium, France, Spain, and Italy, was developed in the mid-19th century by the French firm of Buffet-Crampon. The German bassoon, played elsewhere and perfected by the 19th-century German manufacturer Wilhelm Heckel, has a more consistent, less flexible tone than the French bassoon.
