Renaissance-Raketts
Renaissance raketts have a 9 fold bore. Each bore is connected alternately at the top and bottom, making a tube 9 times as long!
The short and squat instruments sound astonishingly deep; the bass goes as low as CC!
Racketts require a very big and broad double reed, and are traditionally blown with a pirouette.
The sound is reedy, full and droning, but rather quiet due to the narrow folded bore.
Racketts may be used as a whole consort ATTB in the 16-foot register.
Their range is one and a half octaves and with suitable reeds, one or two notes may be overblown.
Alto C – a
Tenor G – e
Bassett F – d
Bass C - A
A single rackett is also very effective as a bass instrument in a quiet consort (recorders / flute, viols or voices)
The bassett rackett has the most suitable range for this.
View of front and back
The very special inner construction requires a special fingering: 10 fingers have to cover 11 holes!
Both thumbs are required to achieve this together with the inner parts of the index fingers.
With some training the fingering can be easily mastered, and the instruments lie perfectly even in small hands.