Buescher aristocrat series IV

[Mark Kiziuk]

Hi. I just purchased a Buescher Aristocrat Series IV selmer Tenor serial number 435951, which makes it about 1965-1970. I bought it because I wanted to try out an old Tenor. My question is, I looked up on Buescher Wiki (after I purchased it for $350 in perfect working order) that the Aristocrats were one of Buescher/Selmer’s worst model. Can someone please shed some light on why Wikipedia would say such a thing?

[Pete]

Hi MARK
I think these were student models made by selmer who took over
Buescher in 1963.You did ok with the price if it is in perfect
playing order, price is ok I M O, enjoy it and see if you
can handle it ok.

[Mark Kiziuk]

Hey Peter! I was going to try and buy a Yamaha Tenor but was having bad luck trying to win them on EBay. I’ve read several times that the older saxes had a better sound, so I was surfing around EBay and came across this one. I asked about the pads and the regulation of the keys and if anything needs fixing, he said no leaks and everything works perfectly and everything works according to manufacturer. Since I already own an Armstromg Alto, I was anxious to try out a tenor. He wanted $425 or best offer plus $22 for shipping and said the last person who won this sax from him did not pay, so he put it back on eBay, so I got to thinking, the sax sounds like it’s in good condition and he wants to off load it because the last buyer did not pay, so I threw him an offer of $350 (a $75 difference) and he might bite. He bit after about half an hour, and I should receive it next week. He said it might need some cleaning. I was wondering just a damp rag with a little soap should clean it up. Also wondering if there was a way to clean the INSIDE the sax as well?

[Pete]

Mark
I see you haven’t got the sax yet, well hope the guy
is being straight with you and it does work perfectly.
Is it a silver sax or brass if silver you can use a silver cloth
if brass just damp cloth and then polish with dry one, Mark
hope it is ok, you know it is a gamble buying without trying
fingers crossed for you.

[Pete]

Mark
Forgot to say regarding cleaning inside just dampen a
cloth with anti bacterial cleaner on it and try and pull
it through best you can, carefully as you go and get a
sax Pull Through when you can.

[Mark Kiziuk]

Excellent idea! I can just can put the antibacterial stuff on the cleaning swab thing that I use all the time and just pull that through! Perfect!
Thanks!

[Mark Kiziuk]

I know that buying horns from EBay at times are a gamble. The Armstrong Alto that I just bought off of eBay a month ago, the guy said pads perfect condition and ready to play. Well….since it was my first sax ever I let a guy I work with who has been playing for over 30 years ago, test it out for me. He told me a couple of the pads leaked and the upper register does not work. I contacted the seller immediately! He told me that he didn’t have 30 yrs experience and he didn’t know better, and what would be fair for the both of us? I told him to forget about it because I only paid $200 for it. I’m thinking to myself I really like this sax and I bet it can just simply be fixed cheaply and I would pay for it. I got to talking to a repair guy and my friend at work and it seemed a little costly. So I bought a booked called “Haynes saxophone manual” and fixed it myself for around $60. So if this Tenor needs an adjustment here or there or a new pad here or there, I will do it myself and actually I ENJOY working on these things! I have plenty of felt and plenty of cork, I have tools to adjust the keys if they are bent and I have a butane torch,flux and solder. The reason why my upper register did not work was because one of the posts broke off the body so I just soldered it back on. (It’s easy!) and on my alto, I replaced all of my pads. Pads are a challenge, because after you pop out the old ones with a heat gun and pop in the new ones with shellac, it is VERY challenging to make the pad straight with the tone hole. It took me close to a week to make sure nothing leaked!

[Mark Kiziuk]

Oh by the way it’s a brass Tenor.

[Pete]

Mark
You sound like me, I like to mess around with things
and get the satisfaction of doing it yourself
I am ok with my tenor sax only two years old
Yamaha custom 82zs hopefully many years before I
need to do anything on it, anyway best of luck
when you receive it keep us all informed.

[Mark Kiziuk]

Hey Peter. Your right! It’s just fun to fix it by myself! When I saw the post broken off the body (it was hard to tell because the rods held it in place) I’m thinking,”ya know other people would probably freak out getting their very first sax and it’s broke!” I’m thinking…it’s just the solder bond that broke off, now I can put that butane mini torch I have just sitting around to good use! I have never fixed one before and after I resoldered it, you can’t even really tell it was soldered back on unless I told them it was! The trick was to use ALOT of FLUX and the right type of solder! The regulation on several keys were off too! I learned how to use cork and felt! And the pads, way easy to take out and put new ones in, hard part was lining them up level with the tone holes. I even cleaned it and oiled it. And for an extra bonus I ditched those white plastic finger buttons and put a set of abalone ones in their places. It was like working on a car! The pride and satisfaction of working on it by yourself and it works afterwards! With the money I saved, I used it to buy my Tenor! I will keep you posted on my new (old) tenor when it arrives.

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