Antique Musical Instruments/Buescher Baritone or Euphonium

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Expert: - 11/11/2010


Question

Pfeiffer Baritone
Hi, I have an old Buescher Baritone horn I used to play as a kid. It is a silver horn, but is so tarnished that it has turned a grayish black color. I would like to find out if it is a Baritone or Euphonium, where to find the serial number, and how best to clean and polish it. It plays beautifully, but is not in that great of condition. It has several dents, but the valves work fine and the 2 water valves do not leak. The bell is curved, and is held on by 3 twist on screws with small round heads. It has Elkhart Ind - USA stamped into the bell. I also noticed on the second valve these numbers: 330222 Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

Answer
Oh boy, the old baritone vs. euphonium question! <g>

There is no simple nor clear answer to the question.  Part of the difficulty comes from conflicting usage from one country to another.  But, basically there is a group of similar instruments pitch in Bb (though some could be in C), that come three basic variations.  One is a very narrow bore instrument, one is a medium bore instrument with some cylindrical tubing and one is a wide bore instrument with little cylindrical tubing.  

There is also a smaller horn pitched in Eb that also needs a brief mention, if only because it adds to the terminology confusion.  In the US, we call this horn an alto horn.  But in England, they call it a tenor horn.  

In the US, the narrow bore Bb horn is called a tenor horn, but in England, they call it a baritone.

So, to the baritone vs the euphonium in the US question.  The baritone is supposed to have more cylindrical tubing, and one way that is demonstrated is by a tuning slide the can be inserted either way, and generally it is located on the mouthpiece side of the valves.  

The euphonium with more conical tubing generally has its tuning slide after the valves and will only go in one way.

Using those definitions, I'd call your horn an euphonium. It looks like you already found the serial number, which dates it to  1949.  

As to cleaning it, you might try a regimen of Tarnx to get off the worst, Blue Magic to do the bulk of the work and Hagerty silver polish to finish up.  You will want to use strips of cloth to wrap around the tubing and valves to get inaccessible places.
    Questioner's Rating
    Rating(1-10)Knowledgeability = 10Clarity of Response = 10Politeness = 10
    CommentThank you for the information on my horn. Incredibly fast response!


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Kenton Scott

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Please note: My area is BRASS instruments, not other wind, string or percussion instruments. I will provide information on antique, obscure and out of production BRASS instruments. 1) Please don't ask for evaluations, I'll not provide them on this site. 2) I am often asked very similar questions, so I'd invite you to first check on Horn-u-Copia.net. Much of the information I have garnered about this topic, I have posted on this WEB site.

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