I wasn’t even familiar with these <440 Hz standards. I have heard of high-pitch saxophones, were A is tuned to 457 Hz, and they’re fairly much incompatible alongside modern instruments (other than, possibly, a trombone or slide whistle). Evidently the saxophone was invented before 440 was the standard, and in the early 20th century there were both high-pitch and low-pitch (i.e. A=440 Hz) horns.
At one point I wound up with a La Monte alto, it couldn’t possibly be old enough to be high-pitch, but that fucker will not play in tune* (I’m no virtuoso, but I know enough to tell something’s off with that horn). I guess it’s just a dog horn which is too bad, because the tone itself is nice.
*By which I mean that, when the mouthpiece is placed where F# (concert A) is tuned to 440 Hz, the rest of the horn plays sharp or flat.
