Founded in 1895, the Buescher Manufacturing Company of Elkhart, Indiana, began producing brasswind and woodwind instruments under the True Tone moniker. Its founder Ferdinand Augustus "Gus" Buescher was the son of a German immigrant and got his start in the band instrument manufacturing industry working for C.G. Conn at only fourteen where Buescher was responsible for designing and constructing the first American-designed and built saxophones.

Big, Bold, Professional Saxophones

In 1890, when Buescher was 29 and still working for Conn he began producing his own band instruments at his home. By 1893 while he occupied a foreman position with Conn, he was setting up his own machine shop. He began tooling up to make band instruments and in the fall of 1894, he finally quit Conn and opened Buescher Manufacturing Company. When it first opened, Buescher made not only band instruments but also other metal products as well.

In 1904 the Buescher Manufacturing Company was reorganized into the Buescher Band Instrument Company. The BBIC would continue brasswind and woodwind instrument production, introducing the Aristocrat line of instruments in the 1930s and the "400" line in the 1940s. Buescher would convert to wartime production for US military contracts from 1942 until 1946. Buescher would resume high-volume instrument production in the late 1940s while continuing to manufacture products for military contracts until 1955.

During the 1950s a controlling share of the BBIC was purchased by Charles Greenleaf. From 1955 to 1960 Buescher's product lines would undergo cost-cutting production changes and rebranding. After the success of the 400 "Top Hat & Cane" model in the 40s, the lack of innovation from the Buescher company in the 50s lead to a sharp decrease in instrument sales across all of their saxophone lines.

The Buescher Band Instrument Company was sold to Selmer USA in 1963 wherein it was reorganized as the Bundy Band Instrument Corporation. Buescher would continue producing student model saxophones under the Aristocrat name and professional model saxophones under the "400" name until the early 1970s when the Buescher name was semi-retired. 

In 1981, and then again in the early 2000s, the Buescher name would be applied to instruments produced and sold by Conn-Selmer.