Bassanello
The Bassanello, pl. Bassanelli was a renaissance double reed woodwind instrument which was described in 1619 by Michael Praetorius in his Syntagma Musicum II:
Though Praetorius attributes the invention of bassanelli to Johann Bassanello, it is more likely Giovanni's father Santo who invented them.
As there are no surviving examples of bassanelli, there has been some disagreement concerning its construction, e.g. cylindrical versus conical bore. A comparison of the lengths for the various sizes shown in the scale drawings by Praetorius to the pitches he gave for them, indicates the acoustical properties of a conical bore. The fact that there is no thumbhole also points to a conical bore instrument that overblows at the octave, with no need to extend the range upward by means of a thumbhole The quiet timbre was apparently produced by a narrow conical bore without a terminal flare.
