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It's probably more accurate to call the small bore 400s a prototype (based on the pre war Ari) than accord them a true model distinction. Changes other than the bell that jump out in these comparative pictures are the different angle & shape of the left pinky spatula table, different right thumb rest, ribbon keyguards, and of course, the engraving. Let me know if you spot anything I've missed. Thanks for the though provoking, insight providing question...

While we're revealing Buescher 400 secrets, all of the saxophones Buescher called the '400' were not created equal. The true 'Top Hat' 400 will always have the intricate engraving and raised 'Buescher 400' script in sterling silver (that's unless the horn has suffered extreme buffing or other damage that pried the silver script loose, as in the 320k example pictured above). As you know if you've read our 'Ari' exposé referenced at the link above, though, Buescher also called several of its later model issues '400'. The true Top Hats ceased as a Buescher model in the high 350xxx s/n range (the latest I've personally seen is a 355k tenor that CS handled & sold in 2003), but for a very short time following the last true Top Hats a 400 model was made that is mechanically & structurally identical -- only without the extensive engraving & silver 400 script. I have only seen a couple of these cosmetically down graded 400s, so I suspect they are very few in number. What you are more likely to see is a 400 that appears much the same as a Top Hat, but lacks the underslung octave and silver bell reinforcement ring. There are also very few of these that maintain the 'back' bell tone holes and linkage, the more common 400 of the late 50s-early 60s period bearing little mechanical or cosmetic resemblance to the true Top Hat save the flared (and un-reinforced) bell. In the Buescher tenors of this immediate pre-Selmer period we see the Aristocrats and stencil Bueschers under the 'Aristocrat' moniker with the a bell flare & tilt resembling the famed 400 Top Hat tenors. It's not exactly the same, though -- the flare is not so nearly as wide.

So by the time Selmer bought Buescher the 400 remained in name only. All the distinctive 400 featured had been eliminated one-by-one, and the mechanics reduced to the very simple design of the late 1920s (modified slightly to accommodate two left bell holes for low B & Bb) that we mistakenly refer to as 'True Tone'.  The actual Buescher model name for these instruments was 'The Buescher' ('True Tone' was a Buescher trademark that appeared for approximately 50 years -- even on the true Top Hats). While this tried & true Buescher mechanical system is rugged & dependable, it lacks the sophistication of the best pre war Aristocrats and the legendary, true 400 'Top Hats'. By the early 1960s there was little difference in the Buescher saxophones, regardless of the names that appeared on them. It's a sad ending for such legendary saxophone names as were the greatest of the Aristocrat and 400 lines.