R. Lange Weisbaden Bassoon

I am selling an instrument I inherited from my former mentor and teacher, Robin Howell. The instrument is stamped R. Lange Wiesbaden and was produced as a clone of the Heckel 7000 range in the early 1930s.

The story of Lange is long, but very interesting. At the turn of the 20th century, Reinhold Lange sought out workers from the Heckel factory to produce clones of Heckel instruments—this was of questionable legality. After he died in 1905, Hermann Ficker, a master technician in his own right, 'borrowed' tooling from the Heckel factory and carried on the torch until eventually R. Lange Wiesbaden shop closed around the time of his death in 1945. The instruments bear huge similarity to Heckels produced in period and thus serve as a more affordable entry point into the illustrious world of the Pre-War Heckel sound.

This instrument is one of the last worked on by Robin Howell. It has a modern German fingering system, 20 keys, 2 Lange bocals, and an original case.

Taking offers.