A superb SELMER MARK 6 / MARK VI tenor saxophone, made in France in 1966, serial #132,439.
This one's rather special, a recent arrival that's been in the same family since it was new.
We've promised the son of the original owner that we'd find a good home for this gem. That means, PLEASE PLEASE NOTE, that we must decline selling the item to an export buyer or to any client who would abuse or alter the instrument in any way.
Really superb saxes, especially tenors, don't come to us often. Normal "daily driver" saxes are easy to find, sometimes costly to make playable, but they're not particularly rare.
A "nine point nine out of ten" Mark 6 / SBA / BA alto and especially a tenor, is a rare find and this one is the best tenor we've had for a couple of years.
Our tenor has never been dented or damaged, no re-solders, no pull-down to the neck. Mouthpiece is original, looks like it's never been played. One small worn spot to the lacquer, on the bell. Otherwise the finish is perfect.
As for the pads... most are original but still seating well. If you prefer, for the same price, we'll replace ALL the existing pads with new one. Please, if you'd like us to do the work, allow us an additional week to ten days to schedule the work to be done.
We have no hesitation in recommending it to the most particular musician.
*** Better than a new one? In OUR opinion, ABSOLUTELY!
*** MORE INFO... Have a look at my close-up pix. I've tried to show the one-percent that shows lacquer issues and does not quite make this beauty a "100% perfect"
Note some minor lacquer wear to the octave key-touch, left hand thumb,
also small worn lacquer strip to the top of the clothes-guard for the right-hand stack,also a bit of wear to the high D key-touch.
The low C and C# pad cups both show a tiny black line between the pad-cup and the key arm. Selmer saxes from recent years often show these issues, said to be associated with de-greasing before the lacquer is sprayed. Our sax was lacquered, however, in Elkhart, not in France.
And it's a bit difficult to see, since the spot is just under the low post for the C# arm, but there's some of the same discoloration at the foot of the post. I'm guessing it has to do also with the same "black spot" issue.
More pix are available for those who require them.
We'd like to point out that the sax is "one-owner" and that correspondence with the family of the original buyer is possible and encouraged.
And that the sax wears 100% new pads, has original Selmer resonators with it.
So not 100% perfect, but it's a good serial number, a superb player and well worth a "9.9 out of 10.0" rating.
Write me for more info? Always happy to hear from sax-o-folks!
GR/Wichita
HG