The contrabassophone was invented in 1847 by Haseneier. It was intended to improve the contrabassoon at the time by using a very large bore and tone holes. There is a great resemblance to the contraforte! The contrabassophone has a less severe bore flair than the contrabassoon, and is closer to a cylindrical bore. The fingering system is also much closer to the Boehm system flute.
Kristopher King 