I have played both.

The Fox-Fast contra IS a contra bassoon with added venting keys. The bore is
the same the regular Fox contras.
The Contra Forte is NOT a contra bassoon. It is fingered basically the same,
but the bore is very different. Even the tip of the bocal is much bigger. It
sounded like a Bass Sax on certain notes, but others sounded more bassoon-like.
I think it would work well on certain pieces in the orchestra, but I can't see
playing one all the time.

Hank Skolnick (now in St. Louis) would be the one to answer this question more
thoroughly, since he bought a ContraForte several months ago.


Mark Ortwein
Assistant Principal Bassoon / Contra Bassoon
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra





________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!