{"id":370,"date":"2008-07-22T07:58:40","date_gmt":"2008-07-22T14:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=370"},"modified":"2009-08-10T14:41:57","modified_gmt":"2009-08-10T21:41:57","slug":"vintage-buescher-vs-conn-bass-saxophones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2008\/vintage-buescher-vs-conn-bass-saxophones\/","title":{"rendered":"Vintage Buescher vs. Conn Bass Saxophones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone posted an interesting\u00a0question in the Bass Saxophone Co-operative<\/a>\u00a0recently,\u00a0regarding the differences between vintage Buescher and Conn bass saxes.\u00a0The answers provided\u00a0by\u00a0two of\u00a0the\u00a0most knowledgeable, and nicest bass sax players I have come across in my 8 years in the bass saxophone world, were\u00a0very interesting.<\/p>\n

Since I have only seen one Conn bass saxophone, and never had the chance to play it, I found this information enlightening as\u00a0well. I thought I’d share\u00a0the knowledge here, since not all of my readers belong to the Co-op.<\/p>\n

The original question from a Co-op member was:<\/p>\n

What do you think about the differences between Conn bass saxes and Buescher ones (from the 1920s)? Is one mechanism or the tuning better than the other one?\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Buescher<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul Coats<\/a> (who I bought my 1922 Buescher bass from) replied with the following:<\/p>\n

Both Conn and Buescher bass saxophones have similar intonation tendencies.<\/p>\n

The middle C (C2), played with the middle finger left hand is muffled, due to the closed pads below the open pad. The side C fingering has a better, more resonant tone.<\/p>\n

2nd space A (A1) tends to be flat, while A2 tends to be in tune. To correct this, for sustained notes, play the A1 with the addition of the G# key.<\/p>\n

Middle D (D2), and to a lesser extent, Eb2, tends to “crack” and produce notes a 5th above, that is, A and Bb. Adding the D palm key will stabilize the D. As you gain experience with the bass this problem will tend to go away. I have seen this same problem with young baritone sax students.<\/p>\n

The palm key notes tend to be sharp, but this is due to using a mouthpiece with too large chamber.<\/p>\n

Both are well made instruments, but the tone is different. The Conn sounds more “tubby”, or like a tuba. The Buescher has, as others have said, a darker, more classical tone.<\/p>\n

But I think the differences are very minor. I would be perfectly satisfied with either instrument.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\"Conn<\/a><\/p>\n

Bert Brandsma<\/a>, the Dutch bass player who\u00a0has probably only been surpassed by Adrian Rollini\u00a0with the number of\u00a0gigs played by a bass saxophone player, and performs on vintage Conn saxophones <\/a>exclusively, said:<\/p>\n

A lot depends on the year the sax was built in. I played 3 Conns and 2 Buescher basses. Besides I tried several stencils like Martin, an old Keilwerth and a Pan American, all from the Conn factory.<\/p>\n

I would advise to look for basses not older then say 1920. Before that, intonation is often really problematic. That means in general that you would need a Conn bass with rolled toneholes.<\/p>\n

After 1930 Buescher and Conn basses are very much the same. Probably since after the great depression there were so few basses made. I suspect they were working together on the few basses they sold in that era.<\/p>\n

With the horns dating from the 1920s I prefer the Conns, the keywork is better for my hands, and the two octaves have more the same sound quality. With the Buescher I felt a kind of register break, between first and second octaves. Besides I’m kind of crazy about the rolled toneholes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
…this is just my blog<\/em>. <\/span>My \u201creal\u201d <\/strong>website is<\/span> www.bassic-sax.info.<\/a> If you\u2019re looking for <\/span>sax info<\/strong>,<\/span> you should check it out too.<\/span>There\u2019s lots<\/em> there! <\/span><\/div>\n
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Someone posted an interesting\u00a0question in the Bass Saxophone Co-operative\u00a0recently,\u00a0regarding the differences between vintage Buescher and Conn bass saxes.\u00a0The answers provided\u00a0by\u00a0two of\u00a0the\u00a0most knowledgeable, and nicest bass …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[150,619,67,640,638,646,643,31],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bass-saxophone","tag-american-saxophones","tag-bass-saxophone","tag-bass-saxophone-co-op","tag-buescher","tag-conn","tag-on-line-resources","tag-vintage-horns","tag-vintage-sax"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t