As I was looking through eBay this morning, I happened across a vintage Buescher saxophone ad. Now there’s nothing particularly unusual about this, since Buescher ads are among the most commonly seen vintage saxophone ads out there.
What made this ad stand out for me were the following:
- The ad was from 1960.
- It was presumably for professional model saxophones.
- The ad featured Sigurd Rascher offering his unremunerated endorsement.
- It listed a bass saxophone among the set of horns being available for order.
Source: ANTIQUE~GRAPHIQUE on eBay.com
Since American-made saxophone aren’t necessarily my area of expertise, I did some checking around and found the information I was looking for on the pages of the original saxpics. The Aristocrat models depicted in the above vintage Buescher saxophone ad, were the last pro models that Buescher produced—before they began the slippery slide towards becoming Bundys. (Although Pete might argue that the slide had already begun by this point in time.)
What fascinates me about the vintage Buescher saxophone ad, is that as recently as 1960, a person could still order a new bass saxophone from the company. Now that’s pretty interesting when you consider that most of the bass saxophones that we see are from the 1920s, with a few 1930s horns making a rare appearance.
When I look at the bass saxophone depicted in this vintage Buescher saxophone ad from 1960, I don’t really see any differences between it, and my 1922 True Tone. Unfortunately the left side isn’t visible, but there is no bis Bb, nor does there appear to be a high E key on this more modern horn.
According to saxpics:
You may also have noticed [in the charts above] that there aren’t “officially” Aristocrat basses, sopranos or sopraninos. When someone wanted one of these items, Buescher would trot out the old True Tone tooling and make it with that — and engrave with the new engraving and (sometimes) update the keywork a bit. See, for instance, this beautiful bass from www.vintagesax.com.
If you look at the pics of the silver plated bass that Pete notes from Gayle at vintagesax.com, a couple of differences in the key work are indeed apparent. The left thumb rest and octave lever are shaped differently, and the left pinkie cluster has been redone. This is what the corresponding areas look like on the older, True Tone bass saxophones: Here is the left thumb rest and octave lever; and here the left pinkie cluster.
Being a vintage bass player, and saxophone researcher who has been following bass saxophone sales for more than a decade, I am curious how many orders for bass saxophones Buescher received post-1930. If the auctions that I’ve seen since 2000 are any indication, my guess would be, not many.
I have never personally seen a Buescher newer than the 1930s for sale. That said, it seems improbable that the one that Gayle sold through her shop is the only one ever built either.
Sadly, the Buescher Band Instrument Company is of course no more, and its original company files have likely long been lost or destroyed. Even the former workers have faded into history, so personal accounts from the time are getting ever harder to obtain. This leaves us print documents, like this vintage ad, as some of the few sources of information about a once great saxophone manufacturer.
Getting back to the ad itself, I think this vintage Buescher saxophone ad would make a great addition to your studio, or whatever practice space you have. If you are interested in picking it up, it will only set you back $9.95. The auction is set to close on January 27—if no one buys it at the But It Now price of course.
Howdy.
I can actually be a bit more specific on the date of the ad: September 29, 1960. The eBay seller may have even used the same source as the person that e-mailed me about that ad in 2002: Down Beat magazine.
Helen’s got a couple nice articles in this blog regarding the Academy horns. Worth searching for ’em!
Er, not sure where that grimacing face came from…
The grimacing face is assigned to you by chance. It’s one of hundreds of thousands of Gravatars that my website generates whenever someone leaves a comment. IIRC, it goes by email address, so every time your email address is on my site, that Gravatar is assigned to you again.
It’s OK, I know you’re not grimacing.
(also commented to your Facebook posting)
Buescher made just a few basses around that time. I imagine Rascher had something to do with their manufacture, as he was pushing for sax choirs at a time no one else was. One such bass now resides at SUNY Fredonia.
Look closely and you’ll see the sopranos are “Academy” models, keyed only from C-C, with no alternate keys. I know of a few Bb sops built that way, but i only know of one sopranino from this era, with nickeled keys in the 60s style but wearing a 20s serial, suggesting it had been in deep back inventory. It was fully-keyed, up to high Eb.
My 1930 straight Bb sop also shows signs of having sat around the plant for a long time – notably, it’s engraved in an early 20s style, but with an electric tool.
Hi, Helen. Enjoy reading your thoughts and history on all things sax. Agree completely on the “clean sax” approach to my instrument (currently a Conn 12M bari – low Bb, silver, nice). I use one of those silk snakes to dry out the upper portion of the horn after playing, but that’s only good for the upper 12″ or so. Some players of smaller saxes seem to like those feathery things that appear to wipe out the entire instrument. However, I once read a warning that they can fuzz up the inside to the point it affects function. Any suggestions for maintaining a cleaner bari?
Thanks,
David C.
Occidental, California
For a bari, there really is nothing else. I use a silk snake as well (after I’ve drained the water through the water key that is).
You’re right, those fuzzy things for the smaller horns aren’t great. They tend to leave behind small fibers inside that can interfere with the closing of the keys. Worse than that, if they are left in the horn, they trap the moisture inside, and prematurely damage the pads. For my smaller horns I use a silk pull-through.
Talk to a bunch of different players, they’ll give you a bunch of different answers, but these have been my personal experiences based on 20+ years of playing. I go years between pad changes on my main horns (tenors I’m talking about here), because after a show or practice—after which I’ve dried out the horn with a silk pull-through—I put the horn in its stand and let it dry overnight before putting it in its case.
For bari and bass, the pads tend to last much longer, since they don’t get nearly as wet. The water in the bari tends to sit in the bottom of the pig tail, and then you can drain it out via the water key. The silk snake gets the condensation that forms in the top of the pigtail and beyond, and gets you upper keys wet. But the the upper and lower stacks don’t really get wet. (At least mine don’t). That’s why there’s no need to swab out the rest of the horn.
David, you are absolutely right about pads. My 1940 Conn bass sax played beautifully for 70+ years on its original pads, and those on my 1935 Buescher bari are still going strong.
Paul, nice to hear that story on very old pads.
People are always surprised when I tell that most pads on my 1927 tenor look original.
I only replaced the high F and low C. Both locations with a high moisture content.
@ Paul: I really enjoyed reading your comment about your Conn bass’s and Buescher bari’s original pads.
@ Theo: I also like to hear that you had a tenor from the 1920s with some original pads left.
My pet peeve is folks that buy a lovely vintage horn with the original springs and pads that are still functional, and then promptly go about replacing them with new springs and pads. I always ask myself (and something them): Why are you doing this? Most times it’s because these DIY’ers like tinkering, and are of the opinion that new is better. Oftentimes this is absolutely not the case.
I have a great spring example to share. Years ago my tech in Halifax overhauled my Mark VI tenor. He told me that the springs that I had in that horn were amazing. He didn’t know if they were original or not, but that nothing on the market today was as good as these. He figured that these would never break. Although they were not “pretty” (they’re a dull, zinc color), he encouraged me to keep them in my horn. I told him, keep the horn as it is. I don’t care what color my springs are. If they’re good, I don’t want to change them just so they’re a pretty blue.
Same goes with the pads in my 1961 Hohner tenor. The horn is pretty much dead mint. It has all but 2 of its original pads. The pads seal just find thank you. Sure I could get the thing overhauled and have new pads put in, but why would I? At this point I will maintain the sax in the original condition that it is in.
:rant: People need to get over this obsession with replacing stuff with new just because they can. Newer is not always better.
Hi Helen,
Nice to hear that your health is coming back.
I agree completely with your replacement rant. In most cases it is only necessary to remove a few springs and pads.
Pads have to seal with a certain minimum and it does not improve the sound to get below that minimum. With some (not too much) maintenance you can keep them functional for more years than people believe.
Small Max Keilwerth pads intermezzo:
I have replaced the pads on my President tenor with 3.6-3.8 mm thick pads, while 4.1-4.2 is standard.
I think the springs on your Mark vi tenor are made by the German Künne group; http://www.kuenne-gruppe.com/en/
They make springs which are better than blue steel springs, but as they are of a dull grey color only a few people believe that.
As their German marketing was only slightly better than Chinese marketing, it could not bring this message successfully to the technical conservative saxophone world and they stopped their efforts.
They also did not believe that a point is necessary on a saxophone spring.
And in earlier days they made an adaptor for Norton spring systems.
Just a pity that their message did not come through.