[paulwl]

AIUI, the 01, ** (double star) and 3 necks came in with the New Aristocrat altos in 1931, and 01 was the sole survivor when the left-bell-keyed Aristocrats came out in 1934.

I forget whether anybody has found any obvious changes among the 1, 01, or the * (single star) neck used on the late True-Tone altos.

There's been a good bit of discussion on the Forum over the years, little of it conclusive. Check out this discussion. Or this one. Or search neck in thread titles in the Buescher forum.

Keep in mind that Buescher apparently didn't even advertise that different necks were available for the New Crats. It might have been a kind of open trade secret, only for the sales force or maybe even the factory staff.

 

[paulwl]

So there was an * / ** option for a little while...

 

[paulwl]

You wouldn't by chance still have the serial numbers or the years those True Tones were made, would you?

Saxquest is selling a 2603xx gold T-T with the ** neck.
This thread mentions a 2599xx silver T-T with the ** neck.

These would date to very late 1930 or early '31. The first New Aristocrats were 263xxx (late 1931).