A little about the bassoon reed. It is made from a five inch long piece of tube cane,  which  is split into four sections. One of these pieces is then gouged,  shaped, profiled (or scraped) across the center to remove bark and  thin the reed, and folded end to end upon itself. The two ends of the  folded cane are formed together into a small tube using pliers and a bassoon reed mandrel.  The tube section of the reed is held together  using three brass wires, and is usually covered with a decorative and  airtight coating of thread or plastic. A tapered reamer is used to  assure the tube's snug fit onto a bocal and the fold at the end of the  profiled section is clipped off to create two opposing reeds. These  double reeds are then scraped even more until quite thin, using a reed knife so they will buzz when touching eachother. The buzzing reeds vibrate the column of air within  the bassoon to produce a tone. The highest quality bassoon reeds are  hand made by experienced bassoonists using tools and practices passed  down over hundreds of years.