The rackett is one of the most curious instruments from the renaissance period. The objective was to get an extreme length of bore in as short an instrument as possible. The bore thus doubled back on itself, not merely once (as in bassoons etc) but six times or more. The example shown has seven drillings within the body, giving a bottom note two octaves below middle C within an instrument barely six inches long. Fingering for racketts is "tricky", with more complex instruments also employing finger joints and palms of the hands to cover holes.

 

Renaissance racketts range in size from alto to great bass and have a range of around one and a half octaves.

 

The rackett shown here is a tenor, constructed from padouk and laburnum.