Like so, now the body has been machined to give a flat section to graft onto we need to fabricate the tone hole insert

We start the replacement by machining the damage away and putting a flat base into the tone hole itself

I typically machine 2mm below the contour of the body

During the tenon replacement that cracked section of tone hole compleltey came away as we expected

This Bassoon came in for a broken tenon, however a crack also extended down the body and through the tone hole

Any cracked tone hole must be replaced as it will never seal correctly

A block of maple with the end grain orientated to match the body of the bassoon

Bassoon Tone Hole Replacement

A roughed out tone hole is created on the lathe

Parted off the blank, pretty rough looking at this stage

On a granite stone it is hand sanded and smoothed

The wood is now smooth at the contact point

An insert is made to be fitted internally underneath the tone hole to add strength to the body of the instrument

The body is also taped and masked up to protect it

The tone hole is placed on a bed of glue

And clamped overnight to dry

We then hand face the surface of the tone hole to achieve the desired relief and height for venting

We cut the internal edges away from the insert to match the original tone hole size

Now we move onto the cracked body repair and finish the tenon replacement