Photographer: MS | Rights management: Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International
This instrument comes from the village of Vabre, located in the Sidobre massif south of the Massif Central, in the south-east of the Dept. du Tarn. The slender body of varnished boxwood is in three parts and has wide horn rings above and below the tenon joints and at the top. The tip of the body also has a widening; this replaces a lip disc. A colourful cord connects the lower part and the funnel. The instrument has seven fingerholes at the front - the lowest one is offset to the side - and eight tuning holes, four on the tenon thickening and a pair offset underneath. The large basson mouthpiece is inserted into the top of the body without a sleeve. Tuning: La Sib. The three-piece body has unusual dimensions: the bell is slightly longer than the upper joint, the shortest being the lower joint. The decorative "reinforcements" made of horn at the top of the body and at the two tenon joints are unusually long, the bell protruding.
