Chapter 16, Problem 21P

The contrabassoon is the wind instrument capable of sounding the lowest pitch in an orchestra. It is folded over several times to fit its impressive 18 ft length into a reasonable size instrument.

a. If we model the instrument as an open-closed tube, what is its fundamental frequency? The sound speed inside is 350 m/s because the air is warmed by the player's breath.

b. The actual fundamental frequency of the contrabassoon is 27.5 Hz, which should be different from your answer in part a. This means the model of the instrument as an open-closed tube is a bit too simple. But if you insist on using that model, what is the “effective length” of the instrument?