E Flat Alto Saxophone

The design for the saxophone was patented in Paris in 1846 and unlike many instruments today it was invented by a single individual. Its inventor, Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), was a Belgian musical instrument designer who could play many wind instruments. He invented the saxophone to satisfy his desire to create an instrument that combined the best qualities of brass and woodwind.

Elkhart, Indiana, is known as the capital of American band instruments being the home of instrument makers such as Buescher, Conn, and Martin.

The website https://jazzfuel.com/ has this to say about the history of the Buescher company who manufactured this saxophone.

"Buescher was founded by Ferdinand August “Gus” Buescher in 1893. Working at the Conn band instrument factory from 1876 until 1894 he built Conn’s first saxophone which was based on an early Adolph Sax model. Eventually, in 1894 he quit the Conn factory and set up his own company called “Buescher Manufacturing Company” in Elkhart, Indiana. They became Conn’s main competitor with their trademark named band instruments “True Tone.” Following a fire accident in 1903, the company was renamed “Buescher Band Instrument Company” highlighting their main focus.

In 1916 Mr Buescher sold the majority of his shares to six businessmen. One of these investors was Andrew Hubble Beardsley who later established Elkhart Band Instrument with Conn’s president Carl Dimond Greenleaf who served as secretary-treasurer in the new company. Beardsley became president of the company in 1919, and Buescher remained vice-president and general manager until 1929 when he resigned from these positions and stayed at the company as a consultant engineer.

In 1926 Buescher Band Company was merged with Beardsley’s other company Elkhart Band Instrument Company (it is unsure which company bought the other). When Beardsley died in 1936 the company was dissolved, however, Buescher kept using the Elkhart brand for its line of student instruments until 1959. The Buescher company kept producing high-end professional saxophones such as the “True Tone”, “New Aristocrat”, “Buescher Aristocrat” and the “400” until 1963 when the company was bought by “H&A Selmer Company” (known as Conn-Selmer from 2003)."