Sigurd Rascher's Saxophone?

[M Exner]

I think his alto sax (and maybe others) was a Buescher. If this is correct, does anyone know what Buescher model it was? Mike

[Gayle Fredenburgh]

Sigurd Rascher played on a gold plated Buescher New Aristocrat model alto in the serial number series 267,xxx.

[M Exner]

Thanks Gayle. Are you the one that works with a vintage sax website? Your name sounds familiar. Sorry to be so ignorant. Mike

[M Exner]

Just checked your profile page and I found my answer. Thanks again.

[michaelbaird]

In the First Division Band Method, he is pictured holding the saxophone and demonstrating proper playing position. He is playing a Buescher 400 tenor. I'm sure he probably played trutones with opposing bell keys also.

[Hornlip]

I've got a picture of Rascher with a bunch of saxophones, most of which I take to be Buescher horns. Maybe it's his personal sax collection. He's sitting on a chair outside on a lawn, with a split-bell alto in his lap. In one hand he's got a curved soprano, in the other either an enameled straight soprano or a clarinet. To his right there's a 400 tenor and a Baritone; to his left a Bass sax, and then a contrabass.

If I had any web space to host the pic, I would put it up here. I can email it to somebody who can, if anybody wants it.

[Roger Aldridge]

It's mx understanding that a 267xxx New Aristocrat has split bell keys as well as the distinctive True Tone-style bow guard. This can make it tricky to tell the difference between a New Aristocrat and a late model True Tone in a picture. There are differences between them. The engraving is different. The NA may also have a different neck. But, these things may be too subtle to pick out in a picture.

[paulwl]

I've got a picture of Rascher with a bunch of saxophones, most of which I take to be Buescher horns. Maybe it's his personal sax collection. He's sitting on a chair outside on a lawn, with a split-bell alto in his lap. In one hand he's got a curved soprano, in the other either an enameled straight soprano or a clarinet. To his right there's a 400 tenor and a Baritone; to his left a Bass sax, and then a contrabass.

If I had any web space to host the pic, I would put it up here.
Here's a copy...it's pretty famous. I've linked it from a web site that appears to be in Japanese (or another language that comes out as ???????????????'s on my browser).
http://members.aol.com/SiMIYASAX/SiMIYASAX/

The bari looks like it might be a 400-type back-bell-key model as well as the tenor.

That thing in his right hand has to be a sopranino. It's too short for a straight soprano, and he probably wouldn't have wanted to imply he endorsed their use, anyway.

http://members.aol.com/SiMIYASAX/SiMIYASAX/rascher.gif

[MusicMedic]

You can always tell Mr. Rascher's Transitional because the Bb Bell key Guard is missing as is the low C Guard. I assume that was done by Buescher so the world would have no problem reading the BUESCHER logo on the bell.

[Pinnman]

Ebay recently carried a Buescher ad. showing Rascher endorsing the 400 series.

[Hornlip]

Yep that's the picture. I love that picture.

[michaelbaird]

It is nice to know that he and I have the same taste in saxophones! I just need to own more of them :D

[bari_saxxy]

Like Gayle said, Mr. Rascher's alto was a Buescher New Aristocrat (transitional) that he bought in England after he "outgrew" his first older sax. It came with a #3 neck, a larger-bored neck known for ease of upper register response. He did have some of the key guards taken off in order to reduce weight (a former teacher of mine who studied with him had the same thing done to his alto). He would be seen with other Buescher altos, but never in a concert setting. One famous example would be his video in which he is playing his transitional while soloing with the band and a 400 in the demostrations he gives. I have a transitional myself, but I'm going to be ordering a #1 neck from Mark Aronson since the current #2 neck is too bright for my taste. Whatever he played on, Mr. Rascher could make it sound good.

[michaelbaird]

My high school band director told me that he attended a Rascher saxophone clinic and there was a student there that kept griping about his reeds, spending alot of time adjusting them and complaining. Rascher goes up to him, asks for his worst reed and then Mr Rascher plays his entire concert that night on it.

[Sigmund451]

Great story 8)

[chitownjazz]

Like Gayle said, Mr. Rascher's alto was a Buescher New Aristocrat (transitional) that he bought in England after he "outgrew" his first older sax. It came with a #3 neck, a larger-bored neck known for ease of upper register response. He did have some of the key guards taken off in order to reduce weight (a former teacher of mine who studied with him had the same thing done to his alto). He would be seen with other Buescher altos, but never in a concert setting. One famous example would be his video in which he is playing his transitional while soloing with the band and a 400 in the demostrations he gives. I have a transitional myself, but I'm going to be ordering a #1 neck from Mark Aronson since the current #2 neck is too bright for my taste. Whatever he played on, Mr. Rascher could make it sound good.
For some reason I got to thinking today - I wonder what kind of saxophone it was that Rascher "outgrew" when he bought his NA? The serial number indicates he would have gotten the NA around 1934. I wonder whether he was playing a Buescher before that. His famous premiere of the von Borck concerto was in 1932, so he would have been playing something different then. And I wonder at what point he got into all of the Adolphe Sax history and figured out that a Buescher was the closest "modern" (in the 1930s, and come to think of it, today as well) version of the Sax design. I even wonder, did he figure this out before or after he bought the NA? I would imagine this information is pretty obscure, but if anyone knows anything could you share with us?

On a related note, which I imagine some of you do know something about - did Buescher ever advertise or promote their saxophones as being based on the Sax design? For that matter, would this have even been a differentiator from Conns of the 1920s and 1930s?

[Steve P]

At the first world saxophone congress, organized by Eugene Rousseau and Paul Brodie, Rascher gave the first performance. He played The Menuetto from Georges Bizet’s L’Arlésienne on saxophone #36, built in 1859 by Adolphe Sax.

Just an interesting little fact.

Steve P

[paulwl]

For some reason I got to thinking today - I wonder what kind of saxophone it was that Rascher "outgrew" when he bought his NA? The serial number indicates he would have gotten the NA around 1934. I wonder whether he was playing a Buescher before that. His famous premiere of the von Borck concerto was in 1932, so he would have been playing something different then. And I wonder at what point he got into all of the Adolphe Sax history and figured out that a Buescher was the closest "modern" (in the 1930s, and come to think of it, today as well) version of the Sax design. I even wonder, did he figure this out before or after he bought the NA? I would imagine this information is pretty obscure, but if anyone knows anything could you share with us?Rascher was pretty free in discussing this (not all of it though) with his students. They have passed it down in a mostly oral teaching tradition to their students. I imagine that their response to anyone outside the tradition would be, "Who cares? It's the music that's important."

On a related note, which I imagine some of you do know something about - did Buescher ever advertise or promote their saxophones as being based on the Sax design? For that matter, would this have even been a differentiator from Conns of the 1920s and 1930s?I do know that Buescher used this slogan in the '20s: "Sax Invented the Saxophone – Buescher Perfected It." I also recall something to the effect that Gus Buescher used a Sax instrument as his model when he built the first American sax in about 1888 for Conn.

As for Conn vs. Buescher, I don't think anyone is really sure. Although some claim Bueschers of certain eras share a parabolic bore with Sax originals, there's little evidence that anyone agrees on, and discussions of the issue tend to get bogged down quickly.

[chitownjazz]

...I imagine that their response to anyone outside the tradition would be, "Who cares? It's the music that's important."
Yeah, my favorite variation on that theme is the quote attributed to Rascher on the back of the Grand Award LPs in response to a question about what model saxophone he plays: "It's just like any saxophone played by students in school bands. It's not the saxophone that's different." Agreed, it's not JUST the saxophone, but the saxophone is different too!

[BKauth]

On another listserv it was mentioned (by a former student of Rascher's) that Rascher played a French-made instrument before he bought his Buescher New Aristocrat. I trust this person's knowledge, and have no reason to discredit it.

I do know that Rascher owned several Buescher instruments (including the "keyless" saxophone he used to demonstrate overtones). The contrabass however, is not a Buescher. The brand escapes me at this time, but I believe is mentioned in Paul Cohen's Vintage Saxophones Revisited CD.

Gus Buescher did model his instruments after Adolphe Sax's. This holds true for not only his own line, but for Conn as well when he was a foreman for them.

As for the parabolic bore design: none of the instruments from the early portion of the 20th century come close to having the full benefits of a truly parabolic bore. The early instruments of Buescher, Conn, Selmer, Martin, etc. have a slightly less-parabolic bore shape, not too different from the original Sax models, but enough so that the acoustical characteristics of the parabola are still felt. Towards the end of the 1930s and beyond, saxophones were manufactured with a much less pronounced parabola until it was gone entirely. Rascher was aware of this, and even approached the Buescher company in the 1950s to address this problem and to find a remedy for it.

[paulwl]

Interesting knowledge, B. Is any of it down on paper anywhere? Perhaps in some theses or dissertations?

[BKauth]

I don't think any of it is Paul. However, if you search the forum at www.classicsax.com, it will probably come up. That's how I found it initially.