Buescher 400 Alto

[bongorific]

I'm sure someone from here can help me. I picked-up a pretty nice 400 alto with a serial of 393xxx. It has Bell key openings on right rear. similar to THC. Under serial is S 5 is that a body style number? question two. what is good to clean-up nickle plating on this horns fingering? Last question did they make these horns have underslung octive keys. My 47xxxx serial has one but this older model has standard wish-bone, over the top.
Horn played pretty good right out of the box and after adjustments and re-pad looks to be a keeper. I love E-bay but it's costing me a fortune. When you had to hunt them down in pawn shops it took longer. E-bayjust to easy...thanks

[bongorific]

I love this site so much good info. was scouring about and got link to saxpics from another post. found the info i needed printed it and saved the link....S5 is a postTHC body style top hat &canes have "B" body styles.
Thanks again

[Dave Dolson]

Bongo: My 400 TH&C alto has the following details -

Serial is 346xxx . . . "B 7" under serial number
Neck octave lever is underslung with the vent on the top of the neck
Silver "tone ring" under bell rim
Silver neck-strap ring and thumb rest
Silver "Buescher 400" in raised script on bell's right side
Bell keys back of the bell
Top Hat and Cane engraving
"Buescher 400" stamped on G# lever
Norton springs, no snap-in pads anymore

DAVE

[paulwl]

Dave, I imagine this question has been asked and answered before somewhere, but...Where, approximately, (serialwise) do Bueschers lose their snap-ins?

Neither my #340k THC tenor (B-11) nor my #354k THC alto (B-7) have snap-ins. Both prior owners assumed that they'd been removed, but maybe they were just made too late.

[Dave Dolson]

Paul: I dunno . . . I have TT sops (1928 I guess) with snaps and without. I assume the snaps were removed before I bought it in 1985. Still, the TT sop without the snaps is a better player (but not by much).

My Buescher altos are similar - two don't have their snaps (a TT and the TH&C) while my Big B still has snaps - I think ( they look like snaps and I haven't tried to pry one off to verify - that horn I date to around 1949). The Big B is the best player of the three. My TH&C by the way has Noyek resos, so they are for sure after-market.

Maybe a Buescher devotee can say for sure.

Bongo: Yes, great site alright. The whole issue of the various Buescher body-numbers was discussed elsewhere on SOTW not too long ago. I've forgotten the details already (means little to me as long as whatever horn I pick up plays good). DAVE

[Hornlip]

Dave, I imagine this question has been asked and answered before somewhere, but...Where, approximately, (serialwise) do Bueschers lose their snap-ins?

Neither my #340k THC tenor (B-11) nor my #354k THC alto (B-7) have snap-ins. Both prior owners assumed that they'd been removed, but maybe they were just made too late.

I'm pretty sure some Buescher horns kept their snaps pretty late, maybe until they were permanently relegated to student status -- somewhere recently I saw a post TH&C 400 alto for sale that still had snap-ins; it had nickel keywork & bell keys on the left side but it still had the underslung octave key.

[Pinnman]

If only I kept decent records! However, I have found the eBay listing from when I sold the 360K S25 400 I used for a couple of years which confirms that it did have snaps.

Hornlip's comment suggests even later, maybe up to 450K.

[bongorific]

Dave,That TH&C sounds like the cats' meow. got the castle too?. those horns are fabulous, I've only seen pictures. love to try one someday. My 400 is pretty plain but I finnally got one with rear bell keys and on the cheap. A ""400" for four hundred and it's a for sure Buescher.I'd really like to get my hands on tenorTH&C from that era. a 1951 job the year i was born.




bongo

[Pinnman]

... just an afterthought: my comment (others' possibly also) relates to 400s. The S5/S25 400s were essentially (if I read other people's posts correctly) the same as the Aristocrats from 357K to 359K. That being so, it is a fair bet that they had snaps too.

However, Crats from 359K onwards were downgraded significantly and my guess (no more) is that they did not have snaps. Others may have more solid information.

[Dave Dolson]

Bongo: Yes, the castle is there below the Elkhart, IND USA stampings. The horn is sweet. While I was testing it before buying it, two guys burst into the practice room - turns out they were dying to know what kind of a horn sounded like that!!

But as good as it is, my Big B is even better. I've never played a bad Buescher. DAVE