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The Model 254 did not feature the bottom sprung "pin" valves Buescher used on earlier Custom Built horns. Instead it used pretty standard top-sprung star-guide valves.
The action on this horn was excellent, though - a really slick, solid short valve throw and very finger-friendly.
Note the octagonal valve caps and buttons. The valve cap bottoms were octagonal, too. They were made of very heavy brass.
Note the bell's rim. There is a flat brass ribbon behind the roll in the rim that runs around the circumference of the bell. Buescher started using this method of forming the bell rim in the early 1930s, possibly in 1930 when the "New Aristocrat" trumpet was introduced. The bells on earlier horns - trumpets and saxophones - had rounder, thicker rolled rims and lacked the reinforcing ribbon.
Here and in the following pics also note the thick, grooved flat brass ribbon used on the third-valve finger ring.
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The back is bookmatched flamed maple (the actual look is more blond sorry for the poor shot). The neck is maple. The dark line down the iddle is a small mahgony strip.
The bell diameter is 4 & 9/16". It's bell flair and diameter are probably different from that found on the base line Aristocrat cornet that was its contemporary, but I don't know for sure. I've never handled an Aristocrat cornet from this era, if anything they seem to be rarer than the 265.
Note the nickel-silver used on the brace between the bell-tail and mouthpipe at the back of the horn, and on the finger-hook. Also look for the third valve slide finger ring and note how it is made of a flat, grooved thick brass ribbon.