Buescher Aristocrat

Crassus

I play trombone in 3 local community bands and envy some of my collegues who arrive with cigar box size cases containing their clarinets, so I have just bought one on Ebay to "have a go". Can anyone give me info. on what I have bought?

It is a Beuscher Aristocrat Ser. No. 1039007 with an Ebolin Brilhart Special mouthpiece. It was listed as "unplayed for 20 years" and appears to be in excellent condition. It arrived in a 1960's looking B&H case.

I assume that it is a student instrument. Will the original set-up include that mouthpiece? How old will it actually be?
 
Probably late 1980's. Student instrument but well made. It has a serviceable mouthpiece. I'm not sure if those were the mouthpieces that came with the horn.

I would still have the horn checked out by a tech to make sure that the pads have not rotted.

Then you just need some reeds. That's a whole different experience :D
 
Crassus: Welcome aboard. Good luck with training your trombone chops for clarinet!! Oh, it can be done - just should be fun.

I tried some lightweight Google-searches - you may be able to locate some info that way. Ed may be right about the age of your clarinet. If it is 1980's, student line for sure, but that's not a bad thing, especially for someone trying to learn the instrument.

Buescher made some terrific saxophones in their day (turn-of-the-20th Century) up until the 1950's when they sold and thus began a cheapening of their product. I own several of their saxophones - top-flight stuff.

I also own a Buescher Bb soprano clarinet in Albert System (dating from the 1920's or so). You didn't mention the key or fingering system of your clarinet but I'm guessing a Bb soprano in Boehm System. Details like that are important to us. Keep us posted, please. DAVE
 
Thanks, Dave and Ed.

Last week I picked up a Boosey & Hawkes "Learn as you play clarinet" tutor for a few pennies at a local charity shop. (This is what prompted me to start looking for an instrument and take a chance on Ebay.) The key layout on the Beuscher is exactly as that represented in the book, so I assume it is the Bohem system. (Please correct me if I am wrong.)

You do seem to get a lot of instrument for your money! It cost me 35 Pounds (40 US Dollars?), little more than the cost of an average new mouthpiece.

I'll reserve judgement on the pads until I have had chance to give it a blow. (It came without reeds and I have not yet had chance to get any yet. A band colleage recommended 2 strength last night, and one is on it's way in the post for me to try.)

My wife plays in the same bands as myself. She also plays in a "sax quartet" that meets at our home alternate Wednesdays. (Actually usually 8 or 9 players turn up, but often no baritone. Are they rare beasts?) She won't let me touch her Yani alto sax and was surprised and shocked to see my aquisition that I sneaked onto her stand....... Let battle commence!:emoji_smile:
 
That's a great buy. You will want to pick up some 2 1/2's and maybe 3's down the road as you get used to playing on the mouthpiece. The easy test for if you are playing the correct strength reeds is to play the lowest note on the instrument and then play the highest note. Both should come out with relative ease. This assumes an instrument in good repair.

Keep us up to date on your efforts.
 
Baritone saxophones are relatively rare (at the adult level) simply because the horn itself cost so much. While kids in school have free use of the school's horns, once they exit school and enter adulthood, the leap from a tenor sax to a baritone is more than most care to make financially. Hence fewer adults with baritones, hence their scarcity.

To add insult to injury, the things are hard to hump around. Most students never bring their horns home (if my experience with them is consistent), much less hauling it to a second group's rehearsals that may not be at their own school. Another strike, if you will.

Finally, many community groups are not all that welcoming of students.

I've made a pretty penny over the years with my baritone and bass clarinet skills. Being able to bring those two (plus clarinet and bassoon to the dance usually means that I never am lacking for a partner (so to speak).
 
Pad replacement

I have spent an hour experimenting with 2.0 and 2.5 strength reeds and whilst doing this have found that the octave key pad has rotted, so I've ordered a new set of pads (cost just under 10 PDS incuding shipping). Ed warned me that the pads might need checking. Until I get them, I don't know if they will be self-adhesive or not. If I do need to use cement to fix them in place, does anyone know the type of material to use?

Apart from the issues of the octave key, I am surprised at how geat this low-cost instrument sounds!
 
Your Buescher Aristocrat is an excellent student instrument, and is essentially a recreation of the Selmer Bundy 1400, which was something of a pace-setter in its day. I've had several, and they are a good, solid instrument that will be capable of better performance than most players can demonstrate.
The rotted out register key is pretty standard on an instrument that has been stored fora while, it's the one that stays wet. If it's gone, it's a fair bet that others are not far behind it. There's a lot of information on repadding clarinets on the net, and pads are readily available. I've used shellac and hot-melt glue, both work.
Seating the pad is the most important point. Personally, I'd replace the register pad with cork, it will last longer. If you do, chamfer the edges of the pad to avoid intonation problems. Good luck.
Tony F.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom