Original Silver Plated Buescher Aristocrat Bari Sax w/ Art Deco Engraving # 284348

Sweet early vintage Buescher Aristocrat series bari sax in original silver plate, serial number 284348. This horn needs the steady hand of a qualified repair tech to iron out some issues, but with some love, it'll be a great horn for its next owner.

This is of the first and more highly desired first series of Aristocrats, featuring the art deco style engraving. The original silver plate is mostly in solid shape with only typical finish wear, but still has excellent coverage throughout. Unfortunately there are some physical issues holding the horn back. There some dents and dings in the bottom bow which aren't too bad, but the upper crook (“U tube”) has been beat around in the past. I think at some point it was unsoldered and then resoldered in the wrong position, as there are some keys up there that aren't even closing at the moment. There's also a rough looking at-home repair for the octave key extension that meets up with the neck. That whole assembly needs to come apart, a new key fashioned, as well as a new/replacement neck receiver on the horn. Not for the faint of heart, but most qualified techs will have the tooling and know-how to make it right. Unfortunately our repair shop is backed up for nearly a year, and just don't have the time to get to it.

Pads don't look to be in all that bad shape, but whether they can be re-used or not will be up to your tech when they get into it. We rarely see these early Aristocrat horns in original finish come up for sale; it's a shame we don't have the time to properly restore this one right now, but I'm hoping its next owner can bring it back to glory.