Buescher True Tone Alto Sax 1925 - Silver and 24K Gold Plate

This is a Buescher True Tone alto saxophone; serial number 199910; 1925. This saxophone has a complete customized plating restoration. It is bright silver plated with 24K gold plating on the keys and selected body areas. There is 185 square inches of heavy gold plating (custom masking). The original engraving was recut by master engraver, Sherry Huntley. Sherry added engraving (using the original 1925 pattern) to significant areas of the instrument. A list of restoration details is provided below. This is a one of a kind artist restoration....no details were left out. An insurance value appraisal is available upon request.

Neck: Custom modified #3 neck

Custom additions: Custom masked keys (silver and gold plating), gold plated bell interior; custom engraving, new pearls, custom pearl inlays added to the pinkie stack, low e-flat/low c keys, gold plated custom fit Tino Schucht thumb rest, custom key rollers. There are custom keywork additions: bis-g# linkage bar with custom stainless steel adjusting screws/replaceable rubber inserts, forked -e-flat adjusting arm w/teflon adjusting screw, adjustable c-bar mechansim (allows independent tuning of the upper "c#" pitch; part of the Buescher Intonation Package...details below); articulated g# mechanism on pinkie stack; stainless steel music wire springs; beryllium copper flat springs; .

Intonation: Buescher Intonation Package: custom upper octave vent (to improve short tube intonation and reduce hiss); adjustable c-bar (for upper "c#" pitch regulation), tone hole liners (to trim up pitch; acoustic algorithm calculated). A custom fitted neck liner (buna rubber) is installed (using acoustic resonance tuning priniciples). A complete intonation analysis sheet is available upon request.

Pads: Aronson Saxophones SaxPro pads: the world's only laser cut sax pad, special black hairsheep leather (fully waterproof, pneumatic, heat-creasing, synthetic firm felt. Pad thicknesses are carefully designed to meet the needs of the two original thicknesses used in Buescher pads (0.165" and 0.175"). Pads are installed with the finest 100% black shellac. Tone holes were leveled, cups straightened using SaxPro precisions dies and aligned to the cups using our own bending system utilizing a precision dial indicator. Instrument has silver plated original snaps for resonators.

Significance of the Custom Engraving and Plating Work

Sherry Huntley (owner of Artistic Engraving) is one of the most talented and influential professional engravers working in the later part of the 20th century who retired in the 21st century. She did remarkable recutting of vintage instrument engraving on brass wind instruments (brass wind and saxophones). In addtion, she created custom engraving additons (in original vintage styles). I am writing this information to inform potential buyers and collectors of vintage saxes that the engraving on this sax is unlikely to be duplicated by any modern engraver or saxophone shop.

Sherry logged more vintage engraving patterns than any other professional engraver during this period. I was fortunate to work with her on my saxophone restorations during the past 40 years. Her engraving work on saxes and other brass instruments has made them highly collectible. The value of instruments with her engraving has increased their value substantially. I would estimate the value of this Buescher True Tone has been increased by $2500! The problem with this evaluation is that it's difficult to estimate...why? Because there are not any living engravers who could likely design and cut the custom patterns on this sax. Some engravers today have the skills to cut some of the patterns but may not be able to create or layout the patterns for cutting. Secondly, they may lack the correct gravers to correctly finish the work. Sherry had made many of her own custom gravers to reproduce exactly the original vintage engraving styles.

The custom engraving is not the only artist related costs in the custom engraving on this sax. The custom masking required to do the 24K gold inlays (the area inside the engraved areas) took over 12 hours of my labor. Each inlayed area is masked off carefully to the edge of the engraving and then masking lacquer is sprayed on the outside of the masked areas. The sax can then be plated in 24K gold (masking is done after silver plating of the whole sax) to allow gold plating of the unmasked areas. This technique produces the stunning results on this sax. As a result, my insurance appraisal of this sax is higher than $10,000 at current prices. These custom additions are not available from any other shop in the world (keywork, custom plating, mother-of-pearl inlays, intonation work, warranty services).

This saxophone is sold with a two year playing condition warranty.

Additional items included: New Pro Tec 304 CTXL alto sax case; Selmer/Johnston alto sax mouthpiece (refaced by Dr. James Bunte; tip opening 0.076") a $500 value; Selmer 24K gold plated mouthpiece cap and ligature.