Buescher True Tone Alto 434
Buescher
SUMMARY: Introduced in 1895, the True Tone line would be Buescher’s mainstay line of saxophones until the introduction of the Aristocrat line in 1932.
COLLOQUIAL NAMES: True Tone, Series 1, Series I
DATE: 1898
MANUFACTURER: The Buescher Manufacturing Company
PRODUCTION LOCATION: Elkhart, IN, United States
PRODUCT LINE: True Tone
MODEL: N/A
TYPE: Alto
SERIAL NO.: 434
FINISH: Burnished Silver Plate
CATALOG NO.: BR434EbAC
PROVENANCE:
On Loan From 
History
When Ferdinand Augustus "Gus" Buescher left C.G. Conn in 1894, he started his own band instrument manufacturing operation called the Buescher Manufacturing Company. While working for Conn, Gus Buescher was responsible for designing their first line of saxophones. These instruments were derived from, and improved upon, an original Adolph Sax saxophone. Buescher's first line of saxophones produced by his own company closely resemble the saxophones he designed for Conn. This saxophone is one of the earliest produced at Buescher, dating to 1898.
Features
This saxophone predates the advent of the automatic octave mechanism and thus retains the double octave levers used at the time. One lever would open the body octave vent. The player must move from the body octave lever to the neck octave lever at the A2 pitch to open the neck octave key. This instrument also predates the application of rolled toneholes on saxophones and the tonehols are soldered to the body tube. It has brass key touches and pinky rollers. The posts are mounted to "ribs," brass plates with multiple posts that are attached to the body. It is keyed from low Bb to high F. The bell keys are "split" on opposing sides of the bell and the low Bb key has a roller where it contacts the lever.
This example is in its burnished silver plate finish. The engraving reads “The Buescher Mfg. Co., True-Tone, Elkhart - Ind.” The True-Tone name is set within a tuning bell hung upon a tuning fork and surrounded by a triangle. The surrounding engraving is in a Victorian floral style.
