Elkhart Built by Beuscher - What were they thinking?

[ryebrye]

While browsing through tons of trombone lisings on Facebook Marketplace, I came across this gem.

It's the "Elkhart - buily by Beuscher" Currently for sale with it's original case.

They took this whole "Elk' and "Hart" thing to the extreme.

First is the logo - with a heart on it.

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Then there is the counterweight - with an ELK HEAD in the HEART. Get it? Elk Heart?

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Then the engraving on the bell is what made me almost lose it.

It looks like they commissioned Gary Larson to engrave a Far Side comic character of an Elk on the bell. It's the most bizarre engraving I've come across - it's from an era when that would have had to be done by hand, I assume...

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It's only $50 - I would pay more than that to see someone in a serious orchestra whip this out with a straight face on any sort of serious solo part.

[SteveM]

You've misspelled Buescher. Who knows, maybe it's a pretty good instrument. This was made before the name Buescher became associated with cheap, student instruments.

[BGuttman]

It wasn't a good horn. At least the one I tried many years ago. It was a student grade instrument.

[Mr412]

It was probably very cool-looking back then. The things people think are very, very cool-looking right now will seem extremely dorky in 50 years or so. Mullet anyone? How about those tats! lol

[Mr412]

...It was a student grade instrument.

I'm going to stick my neck out here and attempt a big "well, but..." comment. I don't have letters behind my name to indicate I'm a credible historian, but from what I've picked up along the way - it seems to me that "pro vs student" horns weren't near the thing that they are now. Mostly, Beuscher made band instruments. Band instruments for our grandfathers to play in town events, such as Fourth of July, etc. They did that a lot more back then than we do now b/c there wasn't cable HDTV. And I'll wager that a lot of those horns found their way into higher-level groups, including a fair share of "pro" groups. As "band instruments", they weren't considered necessarily either a student grade nor a pro grade. They were simply band instruments.

Yes, now it would be considered a "student" grade horn. But then again, so is the Kanstul 360 and the Yamaha 412G. But I don't think we should give factory grading a perfect score. After all, the King 3B is factory-labeled a medium-bore horn. It's actually a tweener and probably more on the small-bore side than medium-bore size, as far as actual bore size is concerned. Many horns can be played a LOT bigger than they are and many horns can be played above their pay grade. Then, as in now, it depends upon the player. How many pros do you know who could sound great on a "student" horn. That was a rhetorical question, b/c the answer is - lots.

Lol. It's a slow day here and I thought I would try to stir the pot a little.

[JohnL]

You've misspelled Buescher. Who knows, maybe it's a pretty good instrument. This was made before the name Buescher became associated with cheap, student instruments.

It's precisely that sort of association (or more properly, the avoidance thereof) that prompted major makes to use "cadet" brands for their economy horns. Conn had Pan American and Cavalier, King had Cleveland, American Standard, and Gladiator. Eventually, they decided that they were better off using the reputation of their more expensive lines to market the economy grades.

Cadet/student models were usually made in the same factory and by the same people as the higher grades, so they are usually decently well put together. They would use less expensive materials (more yellow brass and less nickel silver) and I suspect they may have simplified some of the manufacturing steps as well.