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That is a very pretty horn.

Those feature a 19" bell and a .726" (approx.) bore size.

model 696

I had a FA version of this horn. It played quite well.

I have a top-action 4-valve which is a "project" instrument to make into a C instrument (as these super-long capillary Buescher 4/4-5/4 B-flats (without the super-long capillary thing) have proven to play better in C.

The pistons on mine are rebuilt by Secrist. The crazy-long tuning slide loop is gone, and a 5th rotor is there in place of it.

The wide bow (you can see, if you take at look at the previous pictures) will become the tuning slide. It's not too large to be a main slide (well...if the 2165/2155/5450/6450 main tuning slides are not too large, that bow in these Bueschers certainly is not).



I have other Buescher upright bells (for optional detachable upright) and an old 14K male connector fits this instrument.

@bloke That spot that you point at to become the new main slide... Is it cylindrical there or conical in that there area? Just curious.

York-aholic wrote: ↑Tue Oct 29, 2024 3:43 pm @bloke That spot that you point at to become the new main slide... Is it cylindrical there or conical in that there area? Just curious.

Yeah, it will require two different size pairs of slide tubing.

You already know that making it more tapered simply involves making the small side reversed, as far as which end takes the inside tube and which end takes the outside tube.

Another thing that has discouraged me just a little bit is that the silver plating is very splotchy. I haven't decided whether to polish it out, see if stripping it would make it look better, or simply just to leave it be.

As seen, this is one of those instruments that is made from the same tapered tubes as their sousaphone. Notice that the bottom bow goes on up seamlessly to the bell connection, as it's the same as the first branch on the sousaphone.

Gotcha. I vote for leaving the original silver plate as is, with a bit of light polishing. That Martin medium Eb 4+1 project I'm working on will be in similar 'vintage' silverplate with some warts, brace foot spots, etc. showing.

It certainly won't be an $80k frame off Hot Rod, but it won't be a 'Rat Rod" with intentionally left rust, mismatched paint, and a beer keg for a gas can (wait, maybe that's something I need to look into, not that I'm a beer drinker, but...). It will, in this analogy, look like something that was fixed up and souped up years ago and is now a highly capable daily driver. It's got character and that "lived in look". Jeans that are faded and worn comfortable from wear/use, rather than "distressed" in a factory in order to look "cool" (?).

Garage/trailer queens are nice to look at but pretty tough to make regular use of. Daily driver: that's where it's at for me.

But I suppose it's your hunk of metal to do with as you see fit.

The satin silver on this one is sorta moon-crater-ish, YET (though the pits in the plating are definitely dimensional) nothing makes it down to the brass base metal.

Having studied it a good bit (and being top-action), I'm thinking that some of the tubes can be swapped to achieve C lengths.
Obviously (if that works out at all), it might only work out with one particular swap-out. ANY time slide tube can be NOT cut, it's a win.