The basic desing of the unit is simple...
It is a lot like the mouthpiece of a clarinet, but it is much smaller.
It plays on an E-flat Clarinet reed.
You still need to trim the reed by width because it is still too wide to fit into the ligature.
It is also necessary to trip the reed by length. The mouthpiece is rather short (about 1 1/3 times that of a normal reed) so it would overlap the bocal, and look bad, and be difficult to mount into the ligature.
The ligature is rather ornate. It had a 'crazy 8's' pattern. The cap also carries this pattern, and has a hole at the top to allow the reed to dry.
The mouthpiece itself appears to be of ebony wood, and was created in the 1930's or 40's for clarinet players in England to be able to play the bassoon without having to learn how to play on a double reed.
It was made by a company called "c. Chevelle" from Paris.
Mouthpieces like these are still made today, although it is a uncommon thing, and the ones made today are plastic bodied, and made rather poorly.
They are used for Marching band bassoons, which simplifies the process of marching a bassoon, but still requires a double strap... and for that reason, even with these mouthpieces being a common thing (which the are not), and because the bassoon isn't loud enough to be heard in the hoopla, bassoon would never be a common marching instrument... But the St. Cloud (MN) marching band does make use of a bassoonist (whether or not he has one of these mouthpieces I know not).
I origionally bought this in order to convince my Band teacher to let me into the jazz band in my high school. He is not too inot this idea... I even lent him a CD of professional jazz bassoonist Michael Rabinowitz. He said he liked it, but...
I told him he would be the talk of the district, he said, "yes, I would be. They would all say it is time for me to retire!"
So, saddly I may not have a chance... but he did say if he was lacking a tenor or bari sax player, and he could not fine one to fill in (and he would try hard) that he might let me in.
Saddly, even if I were let in I might not be able to participate. With the school musical in the first part of the year, and my two orchastras through GTCYS (the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies) I may have a full playing card, at least for the first part of the year. Oh well! I guess I am just too experimental and hip for my school.
I had figured, that, when I bought it, it would have a natural jazzy tone. For that supposition, I am a little dissapointed. It is not that different. Instead, it is a little arier, and a bit more difficult to play (and especially tune), but it does make it a bit more saxaphony in tone (which isn't really good-except for jazz). But it is cool, and I will never part with it... it is fun just to say I have it!
for more info on jazz bassoon visit a great site hosted by The Mad Bassoonist... here