Alucard and the Hell Spawned Buescher - a newbies tale

[davewithabuescher]

My apologies for the length of my first post here. I got a little longwinded.

I have been a longtime lurker here, and finally decided to post on what seems to be the most controversial topic here in the Horns forum.

As background I was a very good player back in high school. My first trumpet was a Conn student model that I hated because almost every other student had a King, so peer pressure and middle school logic dictated that a King was the best trumpet on earth. Well at the end of my 7th grade year the 1st chair 8th grade player got a SILVER King (same model as every other laquer student horn, but in magical silver) and I was transfixed. My goal as an eighth grader was to be good enough that my parents would have to buy me a silver horn as well. Lots of practice, as well as severe neglect of my horn to ensure that I wouldn't end up with another pariah Conn, paid off and we went shopping at the music store for a silver horn. I wanted a King but the salesman explained to my mom that a Holton ST550 was a step up horn and was more appropriate than buying another student model in silver. I tried to explain to my school mates that the MF enscribed on the side of the bell was for mezzo forte not motherf*cker but again being different made me dislike an otherwise sweet horn. I had no idea who Maynard Ferguson was, nor that this was a signature model horn, I just knew nobody else had a Holton so I wanted to be rid of it. I sent that thing to be repaired constantly, I now ashamedly admit that I would ding the valves with the mouthpiece so they would stick and need to go to the shop, in hopes of getting something different. As a freshman I was assigned first part and was stunned that there were trumpet notes above the staff and really started loving to play, albeit still with the hated Holton in it's burgundy case with no secret compartments and generic flip latches. I was taking private lessons and progressed well, I was able to memorize music easily and took theory class as well as jazz band where I discovered and fell in love with Maynard (I saw him in concert 4 times and played lead on 4 of his charts my Junior and Senior years). Unfortunately I assumed that the ST in ST550 stood for student model so was still dissatisfied with my horn.
I had a job and after joining the local university wind ensemble as a junior in high school and playing with the city jazz art group once I decided I needed to buy a Bach as that seemed to be the pro horn of choice in my area. My private teacher was a college kid who was really trying to help me with triple tounging which confounded me to no end when I purchased a contest piece that required it. He got permission from several friends to let me try out their Bachs in the little chamber music hall at the college during a lesson.
Almost all were 37s but one was a 72 lightweight that felt awesome. I was playing a pair of Schilke mouthpieces after a year long mouthpiece safari financed by my after school job. Using a 12A4 for upper register stuff and a 7D2B for occasions when a non-banshee like tone was appropriate. With that 72* and the 12A4 I was able to do a chromatic scale from high C to Double C without valves, my teacher was stunned. I won a small scholarship shortly thereafter to be used for music education and paired it with my savings to visit WWBW and pick out a new 1986 Bach 72* with a reversed 43 leadpipe, a double case with a case cover and a custom tuning bit.
I was in love and though I have played several schilkes and later Benge horns in the army band (reserves) and other nice horns since I really wish I still had my Bach.
Ok fast forward a dozen plus years of no trumpet playing and my son wants to join the school band and play the trumpet.
I visited a few local pawn shops and pick a nice silver Dynasty horn for my son for a mere $150.00. It looked brand new, though I did think it was strange that when I played it at the store the sound in my head and the sound from the bell didn’t match, I chalked it up to old chops and weak embouchure.
On the second day of school my son tells me the teacher said he was playing a D trumpet instead of B flat.
<DOH>
I sold it for a nice profit on Ebay and found an older but nice silver horn at another pawn shop, again for $150.00. I didn’t know at the time that it was a 1939 model 224 Buescher 400 in silver and gold (inner bell and accent engraving). Or rather I knew all that except the year and had no idea it was a pro horn. Well my son happily played it for 4 years and at the end of middle school it had some dents and dings and the valves were sluggish and the finish was wearing a bit in places so I found him an older Blessing ML1 with a first valve trigger on Ebay and set out to find a good place to have the Buescher repaired or at least to find out if it was worth repairing.
On Ebay I found a vendor who auctioned off complete rehab and/or re-plating of horns (I won’t mention them by name here) they had excellent feedback and the website pictures showed dire horns made new and whole again. They had 2 locations, one in Alaska and one here in Ohio an hour or two from us. I contacted them by phone and talked with the owner of the Cleveland location who told me the Buescher 400 was an excellent horn and that he would rate it as equal to a Bach, Benge or Schilke and could rehab it to better than new for $300.00 in a couple of weeks.
I took a few before pictures and sent the horn and a check to the merchant and waited.
Well a couple of weeks went by and I got a bit worried so called and again talked with the owner.
He said the horn had been laquered over the silver and gold plating and that he couldn’t buff the finish as it would just turn the laquer cloudy and dull all over, but said he could strip and re-silverplate the whole horn for and extra $100.00. I asked my son what he thought and he eagerly offered to pay the extra himself for the extra new “shinyness” treatment (some things never change . At this point I had as much money in the old 400 as the nearly new Blessing, but having a nice horn at home to practice on seemed like and awesome idea.
Well after another month I called again and “your horn is almost ready”. Well I called the next week and he promised to send it out the next day. A few days later the Buescher arrived home..
It was very shiny and the dents were mostly gone, a faint ripple here and there but mostly nice until you began to look closely…..All the slides were plated end to end, which would be fine except they were so tight they were almost immobile. The new plating was only shiny in the open areas, it was dull and flat in the nooks and crannies. My son loved it anyway and oiled the hell out of the valves trying to break them in as the vendor claimed to have re-plated them. Well 2 weeks and a bottle of Al Cass later I called back and complained of the sticking valves as they were really worse than when we had sent it in. The merchant asked me to send it back and he would polish the finish and hone the valves. Well again a large period of time and a few phone calls later the horn arrived with no discernable changes made. My son tried to play it for marching band but hated the valves and managed to get another dent or two in his backup horn.
I got him a new Blessing ML1 for Christmas and put the 400 in the closet for a few years.

I discovered Alucard’s satin wonder auctions and Trumpet Herald around the same time. I had decided to buy a couple of horns on Ebay to play myself and Google helped me find TH as a source of knowledge about them. I picked up a Kanstul 4 digit serial Besson and a 1900’s era gold plated Holton, neither of which really was perfect for me and both of them resold at a decent profit after a few months audition. I toyed with the idea of getting a vintage satin horn from Alucard, as they were visually stunning and different, his pictures and descriptions were thorough and his feedback flawless. But I really didn’t know much about the vintage horns so didn’t pull the trigger on any of his auctions. In reading on Trumpet Herald about some of the wonder-horns that Alucard was selling I found a few tidbits about the old 400 in the closet. So I decided to give the old dog one more chance to hunt. I e-mailed Alucard and Richard e-mailed me back. I told him all about the horn and that I would like to get it satin finished with gold accents and that the valves sucked and it had a few dents and if he was willing to take it on I would pay whatever he asked. He agreed to do the work and told me to expect it to take a month or so as he has some body work and valve work done by a tech friend and he likes to take his time and treats his work like a hobby as he is retired. I agreed to his very modest price and was to call him in 2 weeks as he was taking a skiing vacation. In 2 weeks I called a very injured Richard who had suffered a horrendous skiing accident and was unable to stand or walk and begged a reprieve to work on my horn later when he had recovered. We exchanged e-mails for a few months until he was back in commission and I sent him the 400 and a check after taking another set of before pictures. After he had the horn he called to tell me it was a 1939 from the first year of the 400 and that it was the nicest he had seen, even better than his 51 in his collection. I asked him to add a first valve saddle as that is a feature I need for a horn to feel right. After the de-denting and valve work he prepped the horn for the blasting and called me to report that something was happening to the silver on the bell. The first re-plating had bad prep work and the silver was flaking off to reveal the copper flashing beneath on the bell. He said he was sorry for the delay but that he was going to strip and prep the horn and send it to Andersons for re-plating before he satin finished it. We spoke on the phone for about an hour and I finally talked him out of sending it off for plating (at his expense) and into trying to repair the finish without such drastic measures. He vowed that day never to apply his finish to a re-plated horn again and thereafter refered to my horn as the hell-spawned buescher. He called a few day later to say the horn was finished but that he was unhappy with it and still wanted to send it to Andersons to be done right.
I asked him to send it to me and I could send it to Andersons if necessary. He reluctantly agreed, as long as I would put the plating on his account.
The horn arrived the next day and was stunning to behold. I was speechless, my wife and family loved it. I showed it to everyone who visited my house for a month to universal acclaim. Except my son whose comment was that it played great and had great valves now but it would be better if it were shiny  Oh did I mention Richard had put a check in the case for more than half the quoted price ? The only bad news in the recent history of my Buescher 400 is that I still play like a man who hasn’t picked up a horn in two decades, but it’s fun nonetheless.
In short I couldn’t be happier with my experience with Alucard.
I read a lot of posts here that seem to paint him as something between a deliberate mangler of historical artifacts and the precursor to the anti-christ, yet his customer feedback and sales record clearly show he provides a product people love. It’s not like he buys every vintage horn that is available and locks them in his damp cellar, never to see the light of day again and forever depriving the world of music. If he were unethical, sleezy, dishonest or a poor craftsman his feedback would show it. If you want all horns to remain untouched make sure you buy them all, because he certainly won’t come to your house and take you horns away from you.
Silly whining by otherwise intelligent people really just demeans you.
Regards,
Dave with a Buescher

I will post before bonehead, before alucard and after alucard pictures and put the link in this thread.

Special shout out to Tom (vetpsychewars) for championing the 400.

[A.N.A.Mendez]

As "Karl" in Sling Blade might murmer "HHMMMMMMMMggghhhmmmmm"
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"There is no necessity for deadly strife" A. Lincoln 1860

☛ "No matter how cynical you get, it's never enough to keep up" Lily Tomlin☚

[slide911]

Fascinating post. Thank you for sharing it.
_________________
1921 Conn 80A Cornet
1934 King Silvertone Cornet
1951 Martin Committee Trumpet

[ConnArtist]

[slide911]

Sure: he had a good experience with Alucard.
_________________
1921 Conn 80A Cornet
1934 King Silvertone Cornet
1951 Martin Committee Trumpet

[VetPsychWars]

I'm actually curious to see the pictures. If the model number is 224, that's different from the bulk of the 400s extant, because those (like mine) are model 225s.

I think most people are horrified by alucard because satin finishing cannot be reversed, and historical artifacts, treated that way, upset some people.

Tom
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1950 Buescher Lightweight 400 Trumpet
1949 Buescher 400 Trumpet
1939 Buescher 400 Cornet
GR65M, GR65 Cor #1

[slide911]

"I think most people are horrified by alucard because satin finishing cannot be reversed"


Is that true? Do you mean once a Satin Finish goes on you can't strip it again and replate it or relaquer it?
_________________
1921 Conn 80A Cornet
1934 King Silvertone Cornet
1951 Martin Committee Trumpet

[VetPsychWars]

Depends on how it's applied. If it's done deep enough, then I wouldn't try. Also, the satin finishing can work-harden the brass as well, so any special annealing (like in the bells of the Buescher horns) will no longer be as the factory intended.

Though of course extensive bell work like on my horn is going to change those characteristics. Fortunately the bulk of my bell work was where the bell is soldered to the casings (in these horns the bell and mouthpipe are soldered directly to the valve casings).

Tom
_________________
1950 Buescher Lightweight 400 Trumpet
1949 Buescher 400 Trumpet
1939 Buescher 400 Cornet
GR65M, GR65 Cor #1

[davewithabuescher]

http://homepage.mac.com/sambora/paragon/trumpet.html


the first pics are post alucard and pretty big
the next grouping are pre alucard
the final pics are pre cleveland guy

Mine is indeed a 224, have never seen another 224 online, ebay, hornucopia etc.

I get that the change is final, but it's not like he is grabbing up Dale level unique pieces and depleting the supply, there are plenty of the horns he does available in uncorrupt form.

Enjoy the pics, sorry if the after makes people weep
Dave
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1928 Conn 2B
1939 Buescher 400
1941 York Custom Model
1947 Blessing Super Artist
1959 Mt Vernon Bach Stradivarious
1961 Buescher Aristoproject
1979 LA Benge 5x
???? Holton T102S
2009 Del Quadro Custom

[VetPsychWars]

Hrmmmm.

My theory is that the difference between the model 224 and model 225 is the valve casings. If you look at the valve casings on mine, you'll see a ridge near the bottom.

I have a new picture in the eye candy thread.

Tom
_________________
1950 Buescher Lightweight 400 Trumpet
1949 Buescher 400 Trumpet
1939 Buescher 400 Cornet
GR65M, GR65 Cor #1

[davidkoch]

I really dont think that that horn looks bad, I like it actually.

I Like the very clean line from the engraving.

What turned me off from his other horns was the circle around the engraving

can anyone clarify more for me? I'm thinking of the 22B that he did.
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Hi, my name is David and I'm a trumpetaholic.

[davewithabuescher]

good eye, I had stared at bunch of your pics from prior threads and never caught that, I was thinking there was a bit of design difference in the pinky ring too but not sure
_________________
1928 Conn 2B
1939 Buescher 400
1941 York Custom Model
1947 Blessing Super Artist
1959 Mt Vernon Bach Stradivarious
1961 Buescher Aristoproject
1979 LA Benge 5x
???? Holton T102S
2009 Del Quadro Custom

[VetPsychWars]

[davidkoch]

I have a vintage satin horn (Millard Cornet) I cant find much on these horns, and the finish that they were available in probably more so because it was a small company that did Navy horns for like 2 years.

But that is beside the point, I cant really play it cuz of tuning, but it looks wonders. Again with the clean engraving.


I see from the before pics that it is a goldwash bell, is that also satin?
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Hi, my name is David and I'm a trumpetaholic.

[davewithabuescher]

[VetPsychWars]

Oh! The finger hook. Yes, in the 30s, Buescher used those fancy cast finger hooks. Your horn is late 1939 or early 1940. The information you were given is a little off; the Buescher 400 was available earlier, perhaps as earlier as 1935 or 1936.

It was sold, with minor changes, through at least 1955.

That's a pretty good run, in my opinion. It probably got too expensive to make.

I've been told by people much better than me that the Buescher 88-D mouthpiece on this horn makes for very slippery slots.

I might have an extra for you; contact me privately. Ignore the 88-E on ebay, I'm going for that one with all vigor. (That's not a joke, serious cash will be spent.)

Tom
_________________
1950 Buescher Lightweight 400 Trumpet
1949 Buescher 400 Trumpet
1939 Buescher 400 Cornet
GR65M, GR65 Cor #1

[ConnArtist]

[VetPsychWars]

[Blackbird]

Very long post but you write well so I enjoyed reading that. I have a satin horn and they look great when finished but get dirty and are hard to clean. Plus I prefer lacquer. It seems like Alucard is a nice guy - thanks for sharing that. I especially liked your quote about the anti-christ...

[ConnArtist]

I finally had a chance to read the original post.

Interesting... I had contacted him through ebay when I discovered my Coprion Director was worse off than ebay seller indicated to see if he was interested in some dent removal and giving it "the treatment". He politely declined. Maybe I caught him during the ski accident phase.

Anywho... I'm glad he refused, b/c I had newly discovered the old horn and restoration scene, and would prefer shiny or brushed look. But for now, I love my Coprion dents, red-rot, and all!
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"Stomvi" PhrankenPhlugel w/ Blessing copper bell
1958 Conn 18A cornet
1962 Conn 9A cornet (yes, the Unicorn )
Reynolds Onyx cornet
c. 1955? Besson 10-10 trumpet
1939 Martin Imperial Handcraft “Model 37�
1986 Bach Strad 37 ML