Contrabassoon: Limbo champion! How low can you go? Well, the contrabassoon can go lower. In fact, the contrabassoon is considered the lowest-pitched instrument in the orchestra. Burping out low A-flats that rumble a half-step below the low A on an 88 key piano, there aren’t many instruments that can compete. The Imperial Bösendorfer piano has it beat, going a 6th lower, but what orchestra nowadays can afford one of those?