Bassoon

"Of fruitwood, in four joints, brass mounted. The bell is of the type with a bore which flares towards the top, where an external brass ring has been added later. The nine brass keys, mounted on brass saddles, include two wing keys for the thumb, and a C sharp key on the back of the but. The E flat key on the long joint is placed outside the D key. The brass crook is fitted into a conical base tuning socket, 3.7 cm long, with a winged ferrule to facilitae removealfrom the instrument, as in trumpet shanks of the period. " - Anthony Baines: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments. (London, 1998), p. 99.