3D Printed Bassoon Shapers

I can imagine what you're thinking: "$20 shapers? Even if they don't last, I can try a few pieces before buying a real one." I'm sorry to say that these shapers do not even serve this humble purpose. Upon measurement, all shapes were significantly narrower than the originals they were copying. More importantly, the 3-D-printed plastic is not precisely engineered enough to give an accurate cut, nor strong enough to resist a metal blade when shaping. Both cutting and sanding produce plentiful microplastics, with sanding creating a fine dust which I learned after the fact is dangerous without a respirator. And in the end, the amount of sanding that needs to be done to remove imperfections from the cane, plus the sight of the chewed-up plastic shaper make you wonder what shape you've really ended up with.

I was looking to compare my Rieger 2 Flat shape with/ the Thunemann and this was an easy and inexpensive way to see how closely they resemble each other. This is a great way to research what changes I might or might not make.