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My Lyon and Healy American Professional tenor sax.

12K views 9 replies 3 participants last post by  More Sax Please 
#1 ·
Hi, I hope this is the right place for some pics and a brief discussion about my sax....It was a the cheapest one I could find, and only just playable but I really wanted a vintage horn and did not have much cash... Geoff Collins in Chelmsford got it playing, repairing dents and making a new bow guard ( the old one was snapped off).
I think it is probably an early Beuscher because it resembles the one in Dr Ricks pictures, and it has a Beuscher style serial and patent:
http://www.drrick.com/stbpatent.jpg
http://www.drrick.com/stbuescher1.html
however, there are some parts which do not fit with pictures I have seen. It is my understanding that some of these saxes were assembled from differing parts during transitions between manufacturers...? I did a bit of research about a year ago, but forgot what I found out!
I know it looks rough, but it has a loveley tone, even though all the keywork is rather soft and bendy http://cierra.cc/wink.gif
Here is the link:
http://inkrobat.tumblr.com/lyon and healy
 
#2 ·
I think it is probably an early Beuscher ... however, there are some parts which do not fit with pictures I have seen.
Thank you for the pics. This tenor is 100% Buescher - except the replaced bowguard. It has drawn toneholes and the old style Buescher joint rings which put the year of manufacture prior to 1920. At that time no saxophones were produced by Couturier in LaPorte. Prior to 1924 'American Professional' was L&H's stencil brand later the term was used for the second line (Couturier).

The SN is # 85420 or 65420?

Actually this is a Buescher topic yet it makes sense to examine the differences between Lyon & Healy/Couturier saxophones and other makes stencilled Lyon & Healy in this subforum.
 
#3 ·
The serial number is 65420. (I found out how dificult it is to show details when you are trying to photograph a reflective surface.)
The shape of the octave key and the LH pinkie cluster, along with the serial number are what I was looking at in terms of Beuscher.
In the other thread "L & H American Professional by Beuscher", you said

Interesting detail: The toneholes are drawn (Pat. Dec.8 1914), but it shows the older Buescher joint rings.


The joint rings on mine are different, they have 3 bands around them, not 2 like in the ebay pictures. As mine has a lower serial number, does this indicate that mine is an example of an even older Beuscher joint ring?
 
#4 ·
The serial number is 65420. ...

The joint rings on mine are different, they have 3 bands around them, not 2 like in the ebay pictures. As mine has a lower serial number, does this indicate that mine is an example of an even older Beuscher joint ring?
Just the older ones, there are only two types of joint rings. I don't know with which Buescher saxophone you compared your tenor. The '3-banded' joint rings are the older ones. The change was around 1920 - on baritone and bass saxophones probably later.

I own the alto counterpart. It has a nice charming sound - very different from a Couturier.
 
#5 ·
Well it shows the wisdom of sitting up late at night looking at page after page of saxes.........
After some backtracking, I think I must have been looking at the thread ' Lyon and Healy by Beuscher' which has a link to ebay - and of course, it's an Alto, isn't it!.... another piece of quality research on my part...... :)
It seems that there are not many tenors about, when I have looked back at all the threads, they seem mainly to refer to altos. I wonder, does the chronology you have established in respect to modifications and manufacturers refer across all types of horn?
 
#7 ·
I wonder, does the chronology you have established in respect to modifications and manufacturers refer across all types of horn?
Good question. I'm back in ca. two weeks.
 
#8 ·
... I wonder, does the chronology you have established in respect to modifications and manufacturers refer across all types of horn?
As a general rule: Yes. There are few exceptions:

1. The semi-curved soprano "Artist series II" appeared a couple of months earlier than the other types of horns.

2. The soprano (straight and semi curved) cannot be found as an "Artist series I". The pinky key cluster changed from the "Couturier Model" type immediatly to the "Artist series II" type.

3. Only alto, tenor and C-melody can be differenciated in an Artist series II a and b type.

4.. The members of the Couturier saxophone family were introduced in stages: C-melody 1922, alto 1922/23, soprano 1923, tenor 1924, semi-curved soprano 1925, baritone 1928. So the baritone is always an Artist II model.

Although mentioned in a forum there is no evidence of an existant C-soprano yet.
 
#6 ·
I think I can explain..... In fact, I was looking at this thread:
http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?177600-I-just-inherited-an-old-sax
which has this link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAP...d8COQwmrnsnoOwS5ILIpA%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
It is very similar to my sax, except for the pearl keys. It has the same rings as this alto:
http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?128791-L-amp-H-American-Professional-by-Beuscher
which has these pics:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LYON-HEALY-...173?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3376e58435
I think I wsa confused, as they appear to have the same joint rings... perhaps this explains where my mind was going.....:)
 
#9 ·
Sorry it's been so long. Thanks very much for your help with this, I really appreciate it. It's a great old sax and it's nice to know a bit about it. The next step would be to find out where it's been, and how it ended up in Cambridge. But I suspect that could be a bit more involved....
 
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