1954 Selmer Mark VI Alto Saxophone 98% ORIGINAL LACQUER, WOW!
1954 Selmer Mark VI alto saxophone, s/n 58,xxx. This is a single owner horn, made by Selmer in their first year of Mark VI production. It was played for the first three years of its life, and then spent the next part of six decades in its case. As you can see from the pictures, the lacquer is nearly all intact. There are no dents whatsoever, and no evidence of any past dent work either. The neck looks perfect, never having been bent down. The only repair worth mentioning was on the side Bb key, which needed to be heated up to repair a stuck key (which had been frozen after all of its years in the case). There is some lacquer loss on the Bb key only, but the action is now perfect, and nothing will need to be done to it again. The sax comes in the original Chesterfield triple case, as seen in the pictures.
The saxophone has been overhauled by DC's best sax repairman, who reused the original screw-in metal resonators. It plays amazingly well, and can whisper down to the low Bb. Given its little use, the saxophone still has the action of a newer saxophone. Everything feels crisp and tight.
This is an amazing treat to hold this horn in my hands. I have really enjoy playing it since it's come back from the repair shop. It has a focused, punchy sound, but its tone is on the dark side. It has the great response of early Mark VI's, but seems to have some extra complexity and balance to the sound. Selmer's attempt to recreate this 1954 Mark VI with their Reference 54 is almost laughable. Nothing against the Reference 54, but it is not the same as a 1954 Mark VI. When horns like this come along, it seems like a no brainer to take the plunge and get the real thing for only a bit more than a new Reference 54.
