Oliver Ludlow - My Year in Bassoons & Reflections on 15 Years of Double Reed Ltd.

December 8th, 2025

Fifteen Years In: A Business Built on Bassoons

Running a bassoon business - which I have been doing for 15 years now*, ever since I graduated - is a never-ending series of challenges and successes, and 2025 has been no different.

Problem-Solving: The Heart of the Work We Do

As always, the normal joys of running a bassoon business have featured highly in 2025, largely centred on problem solving - working out why a bassoon isn’t performing as it should and correcting it; or helping a customer struggling with their bassoon to identify the issue and solve it.

This bell joint, for example, had a serious accident and was split completely in half - we pinned and glued the pieces back together, and re-finished the crack to blend it in with the rest of the joint. Now it plays as well as it did before it came to us!

Photo: Broken bell joint for repair in our workshop

 

Another customer brought their contrabassoon to us and wanted us to check inside it for screws protruding into the bore - we used an endoscopic camera to take a look and were able to identify and fix the problem without taking the instrument apart.

I test-play at least one bassoon every working day - either to make sure it plays as it should or to help diagnose a problem raised by Tristan, Jason or Sebastian, our highly skilled repairers.

Over the years I have learnt to assess a bassoon very quickly, to understand its nuances and identify anything that has gone awry with it. All with the aim of putting bassoons into the hands of owners who will be delighted with how they play. 

Sometimes the cause of a problem is found inadvertently, such as the recent case of a contrabassoon brought in for overhaul. Upon taking it apart we found a tone hole liner stuck across the bore, partly blocking air flow - the owner said, “oh, yes, I always wondered where that went - it disappeared from the case some 20 odd years ago!” 

The Value of Experience—with 80 Reference Bassoons

Sometimes it can be more challenging to track down problems and rectify them - and all too often the problems are caused by historical repairs which weren’t done correctly, such as tone holes being reamed out too much or the wrong size tone hole liners fitted in a misguided attempt to fix intonation issues.

Past experience of the hundreds (possibly thousands) of bassoons I have played over the years helps enormously in identifying the cause of an issue. Small things – fractions of a millimetre – can make a huge difference to how a bassoon plays.

One aspect of bassoons often overlooked is the U-bend – we find that otherwise-insoluble problems can sometimes be resolved by adjusting the U-bend position. Using a cork which is too thick or thin has double the effect because it lengthens or shortens both bores in the boot joint. And any misalignment can cause a choke point for air flow with unpredictable effects. 

On occasion I can only identify the problem by comparing the bassoon with other bassoons. It helps that we have more than 80 bassoons on site at any time covering all makes and all historical periods - so we have plenty of examples to compare bassoons against.

For reference purposes we have also taken measurements of significant bassoons (outstanding instruments of their type and era, for example) so we can compare a bassoon against those records if necessary. 

Tristan, as well as working as a repairer, is a highly accomplished bassoonist in his own right on whom I can always rely to discuss and assist with particularly knotty problems, and especially with historical instruments where his expertise goes well beyond mine.

 2025 Highlights: Events, People, and Big Steps Forward

The highlights of 2025 include organising and hosting the Waterhouse Bassoon Day in April, and subsequently having the late David Rachor stay with us for a week measuring bassoons in the Veriam Music Trust collection, eight of which are now listed on his website.

Photo: Waterhouse Bassoon Day 2025

 

Very sadly, David, who devoted the latter part of his life to measuring and recording hundreds of historical bassoons around the world, passed away recently but it was a real privilege to get to know him and benefit from his immense knowledge of the history of bassoon making.

Photo: Left, David Rachor. Right, Oliver Ludlow

 

A Breakthrough Year for Our Own Bassoon Pads

A technical highlight has been the introduction of our own bassoon pads; we have spent an immense amount of time researching how pads are made and what they are made of, and then devising our own methods of making them consistently and reliably.

We have now moved over to using our own pads almost exclusively with great success and may well start offering them to other repairers soon.

Photo: Making bassoon pads at Double Reed Ltd.

 

The Joys of 2025: Customers, Instruments, and Reeds

Meeting customers is always a joy, especially when I introduce someone to a bassoon which will become their faithful musical companion for years to come.

It is a real privilege also to re-introduce a customer to their trusty bassoon after renovation – and to see their delight upon playing it once again and finding it plays better than ever. 

Buying a bassoon for the first time, or buying a much more capable bassoon, can be life-changing for many people, and it is a joy to be in at the beginning of a new chapter in a bassoonist’s journey.

Reeds – the bane of many a bassoonist’s life – is another area where we are making a real difference.

With over 1,000 bassoonists buying our reeds this year, the time I have taken to select the best reeds for our customers seems to be paying off. Hopefully that means 1,000 fewer people having to struggle with reeds!

Our 2025 Mission: Inform, Encourage, and Inspire Bassoonists

We have spent a lot of time this year trying to inform and enthuse bassoonists around the world from our perspective as a repairer and dealer.

Whether that be through videos, articles or social media posts - or more directly through face-to-face contact such as during visits to us, to our Veriam Music Trust or the Waterhouse Bassoon Day back in April. 

We hope that our efforts have encouraged bassoonists to keep playing and, for anyone finding it a bit of a struggle, shown how a service or an overhaul by an expert bassoon repairer can make a huge difference to the experience of playing a bassoon; or indeed that upgrading to a well-prepared more professional bassoon can also make a huge difference for those ready for the next step in their bassoon journey. 

A Growing Concern: Fewer Young Bassoonists in the UK

A challenge which has become even more apparent in 2025 is the dearth of young people taking up the bassoon in the UK. If this isn’t reversed the outlook for bassoon playing in this country looks poor. Much of the reason for this dearth is related to funding (of instruments and teaching) and organisation, which are beyond our remit.

The British Double Reed Society is actively trying to address this problem and we have had extensive discussions with them about how we and they can contribution to a solution. 

We try to do our bit by offering an affordable mini bassoon to get young students started. And we are exploring other ways we can contribute to solving this problem, which we may be able to say more about in 2026. 

Personal Highlights: Publications and 25,000-View Videos

A highlight for me personally was having an article published in the International Double Reed Society journal (volume 48, number 3), something few people manage. A bit of familial rivalry doesn’t come amiss either, as my father. Martin, who works with me, had an article published in the same journal in 2024 (volume 47, number 3)!

And, astonishingly, our short-clip-format video series on re-finishing an old Heckel bassoon has proved hugely popular, achieving more than 25,000 views on Facebook for just one clip. I didn’t know there were that many bassoonists in the world! 

Looking Back—and Planning the Next 15 to 30 Years

One continual thought I have is how can we build on the skills and knowledge we have gained in the last 15 years to offer more to the bassoon community? Not just in 2026 but for the next 15 years (or even 30 as my working life is likely to extend that far!).

One example is a greater emphasis on historical bassoons. We set up the Veriam Music Trust last year showcasing around 20 historical bassoons from 1750 onwards (plus about 50 other woodwind instruments) and we are now offering historical instruments (original and copies) for sale from this year.

Nearly all conservatoires now offer courses in historical bassoon performance, and the use of historical instruments for baroque and classical music is ever-more accepted and entrenched, this seems to us a good way we can contribute further to the bassoon community in the UK and around the world.

Why We Choose to Remain 100% Focused on Bassoons

One path we could have taken but didn’t is to take the skills and knowledge acquired from bassoons and apply them to other woodwind instruments. This makes us unusual and possibly unique in woodwind repair and retailing. It is not for want of asking: we regularly get enquiries from clarinettists, oboists and others asking us to repair and service their instruments. While we would never rule it out permanently, in reality we are totally committed to bassoons.

Bassoons are so much more complex and challenging, and focusing on them and them alone is the most direct route we know of to becoming the best of the best. 

Beyond Repairing?

If we don’t move sideways into other instruments, an obvious move for us is to move deeper into the bassoon world and take the step from repairing and overhauling to upgrading and even making.

It is my belief that you can’t make bassoons without understanding in depth what you are making, and our 15 years of experience is the ideal starting point. But it is only a starting point, and much of my year has been devoted to learning what else we would need to do to take those next steps.

We have started in 2025 with pads, but you will have to wait until 2026 to find out more about what we have been up to – so watch this space!

* We celebrate our official 15-year anniversary in September 2026, but prior to forming a limited company I ran the business as a sole trader for several years, starting when still at university.