Klarinet Archive - Posting 000209.txt from 2002/01

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] The name game
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 18:44:21 -0500

At 06:00 PM 1/8/2002 -0500, Kenneth Wolman wrote:
>At 04:50 PM 1/8/2002 -0500, Dave Spiegelthal wrote:
> >....I just bought a superb
> >"Buescher BU-6" baritone sax which, while distributed by Selmer USA, is
> >made in
> >Taiwan (and thus costs less than half of comparable Yamaha, Yanagisawa, and
> >Keilwerth saxes). And many small (and large!) American musical instrument
> >retailers have recently come out with their own 'house brands', the vast
> >majority of which are Asian-made, for better or worse. Thus my suspicions!
>
>The name-game again. I only found out recently that the Buescher name
>indeed was revived after quite a few years of dormancy. Analogies with
>Dracula and the Frankenstein monster come to mind. There were rumors a few
>years ago this was going to happen, and I may even have heard them from Joe
>Sax of Joe Sax Woodwinds, the man from whom I purchased my Buescher
>Aristocrat alto back in February 1999. The horn he sold me was a "student
>grade" instrument using the Aristocrat model name. It was, he said, one of
>the last American Bueschers made, and was manufactured after Selmer had
>acquired the right to the Buescher mark. Student grade instrument or not,
>high serial number and all, the horn is built like a tank and plays
>beautifully. It is an extremely plain-looking instrument--there is almost
>no carving or adorning in the bell.
>
>The problem is that I stopped playing it in August 2000, and tried to sell
>it last month via eBay in hopes it would go to a good home. The bids I
>received for it, "bundled" with mouthpieces that equalled the price of the
>instrument itself, were a joke. I see now that potential buyers may have
>been scared off by the association of Buescher with offshore manufacturing
>plants that cookie-cut cheap horns for half a dozen other companies like
>Winston and Jean Baptiste.

You are a little confused about what happened to Buescher's
reputation. After Selmer's acquisition, the Buescher saxes were strictly
student-line horns, exactly identical to Bundys except for lacquer color
and name badge. That situation continued until Selmer dropped the Buescher
name altogether only a couple of years ago. The new imported Bueschers
have not been around long enough to have any reputation at all. Earlier
Bueschers are still appreciated, but the student ones are, while decent
players, a dime-a dozen, and knowledgeable people are not interested in
them. (I used to have one of them myself, which I sold for a couple hundred
a few years ago.) I agree with a previous poster that Jupiter instruments,
imported from Taiwan, display remarkable quality for their price. My own
E.M Winstom soprano sax is certainly acceptable for occasional use. But
watch out for anything from MAINLAND China!

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.net
451 Old Orchard Drive
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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