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Saxophones Wurlitzer American.. or not?

villesuo

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Hi!

Because of the lack of knowledge that we share about this topic in corresponding finnish forums (or anyone doesn't just bother to answer...) I'd like to enquire your potential information about the subject.

I just recently got a tenor saxophone to my possession and I'm very eager
to know a bit more of its backgrounds. Here is some detailed information about the sax:

Label: The Wurlitzer American, "Made By Rudolph Wurlizer CINCINNATI CHICAGO"
S/N: #43744 Low Pitch, Licence Pat. DEC 8. 1914
Colour: Silver
Buttons: Plain metal, no pearl, black rolls.

I did some detective work via various saxophone forums and came up with these conclusions:

The label was made before 1930 by Buecher, Martin and Conn. I managed to take out Conn from the equation because of the lack of pearl in buttons. I also figured from some pictures in saxpics.com that the model must be either Buecher True Tone or Martin Handcrafted. The question is that how could I tell the difference from those two models and if anyone has more detailed information about the specific piece of art I would be really happy if you could share it with me!

- Ville, Tampere FINLAND
 
I also figured from some pictures in saxpics.com that the model must be either Buecher True Tone or Martin Handcrafted. The question is that how could I tell the difference from those two models and if anyone has more detailed information about the specific piece of art I would be really happy if you could share it with me!

A Martin would very likely have soldered on tone hole chimneys rather than extruded (is that the right word?) from the body. Not sure if this applied to stencils though.
 
Wulitzer

Hi

Yes, sounds very much like it's a Buescher true tone. If you post a couple of pics I can compare it agaisnt my true tones. Should be a good sax. Ergonomics not great, tuning potentially a bit dubious, but great tone.

Jon
 
pete'e right re the toneholes. if you can post some pics/send a link to some pics we can between us identify your sax.
 
I think your Wurlizer American is "made by" Conn. The pat. number: December 8, 1914 is found on most Conn saxes/tubes produced after 1914. Is the patent that established a new means of tone-hole and body tube production. I've just seen this stamp on Conn made saxes/tubes. But it was free to use the patent for other manufactors, if they paid for the licence. The stencils were often put together from old inventories. The tube and keys can be produced in 20's. I think they just stay out of the pearls for economical reasons. They (Wurlizer) got what they paid for?

Thomas
 
A Martin have soldered on toneholes and they so never stamped the tube with this patent number. I think the patent was about the method/maschine that made drawn toneholes!?!

Thomas
 
Thomas is correct re the patent being stamped on Conns however the patenet is usually followed by the number 119954.

secondly Conns usually had on the letter L to notify low pitch, not the complete words.

pictures for sure will help determine this saxes maker.

I'd like to put a fiver on it (to petes charity) if this isnt a Buescher.

A picture of the alternate f# key if it has one, the low C keyguard and the left hand pniky cluster should go a long way to ID-ing this sax
 
Easy way of ruling in/out a Conn is the Mercedes shaped guard.
 
Stutter, please remove.
 
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As if you didn't know......

The same sort as you use for your staff car in Croydon, for intimidating the lcoal gangstas
 
Thomas is correct re the patent being stamped on Conns however the patenet is usually followed by the number 119954.

secondly Conns usually had on the letter L to notify low pitch, not the complete words.

pictures for sure will help determine this saxes maker.

I'd like to put a fiver on it (to petes charity) if this isnt a Buescher.

A picture of the alternate f# key if it has one, the low C keyguard and the left hand pniky cluster should go a long way to ID-ing this sax

Griff, you are right about L for Low Pitch, it was not written out on Conns so maybe it's a Buescher after all.

1119954=is the patent number. December 8, 1914=date for assignment.

Thomas
 
Pictures

Hi again!

I'm happy to see that so many of you have bothered to answer my question!
Here are some pictures taken with my cellphone, I can take better ones if needed.

http://www.students.tut.fi/~suoranta/saxophone/1.JPG
http://www.students.tut.fi/~suoranta/saxophone/2.JPG
http://www.students.tut.fi/~suoranta/saxophone/3.JPG
http://www.students.tut.fi/~suoranta/saxophone/4.JPG
http://www.students.tut.fi/~suoranta/saxophone/5.JPG

-Ville
 
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Buescher

Looks pretty much like a Buescher to me, although the neck looks slightly different.

The other thing to do is check for sure that it's a tenor, rather than a C melody. The easy way to check this is to take the neck off and measure how tall it stands. A c melody will be about 62 cm tall, a tenor about 70cm tall.

Jon
 
Ive compared the pics to the ones here:
http://www.saxpics.com/?v=gal&a=5658 its almost identical.
the bottom bow brace, the left hand G# round pearl, the curvy alt F# and the curvy palm keys, along with the position of the lyre holder makes it a definate Buescher.
 
the height...

I measured the standing height without the neck piece on and it was around 74cm. So it's definitely a tenor sax then I guess.

- Ville
 
Congratulations

There we are. So you've got a low pitch Buescher True Tone stencil tenor. Excellent. Should blow great. I hope you enjoy playing it.

Jon
 
Yes, looks a Buescher. When did buescher started to stamp the saxes with the True Tone market?

Thomas
 
I understand that Buescher built them for Wurlitzer of Cincinnati.
Yours seems like an interesting example.
 
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