Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2004-10-08 14:21
Unless you are planning on holding onto the horn for the pure sentimentality of it all (an important consideration with family heirlooms, to be sure), I'd sell the thing (and expect to get a large portion of the actual inflated Mark VI price for it in the condition that it is in), bank the money or purchase something that you need, and consider it a good deal for both sides of the transaction.
I've read stories of "a market for Mark VI collectors", vaguely alluding to "Japanese collectors" who bid up the price and so forth. I've also played Mark VI horns (tenor, alto, soprano (when it wasn't cool) and the equivalent models of baritones) for years at a time. I never felt that the "Mark VI" sound was worth the increasing price of admission, and with the advances of brands like Yamaha (and the in-place wonders from the classic Conn era) that paying a premium for a Mark VI was worth the effort. Better that you be achieving whatever else you aspire to with the money, and that some other person who will play the horn will satisfy his/her itch by purchasing it, than for you to "sit" on a horn you won't play just because "It's worth a lot!"
I'm of two minds about the classic Selmer saxophones...
On one hand, I love the Selmer keywork. I've tried a lot of horns over the years, and my gold standard for how a horn feels remains the old Mark VI (and the baritone equivalent of same). There's just something about the way the keys are laid out, touchpiece height and action feel that makes for a good "feel" when playing a Selmer horn of most any post-1930's vintage.
LONG DIGRESSION FOLLOWS:
(Six month's time back, I wandered through the local mega-music store's horn room while at the place to purchase a sub mixer. Normally, there's nought there but Buffet clarinets (lots of them), student horns, and the usual array of soprano, alto and tenor horns. However, this time was an exception that they had a Selmer low A baritone sax, a student horn that is probably produced somewhere on the Pacific Rim for pennies on the dollar. (The asking price was in the neighborhood of $1,300 or so...definitely not Mark VI equivalent territory.)
(Not being one to pass up an opportunity to try out a baritone horn, I went out to the band van and shifted enough cargo to get to my bari case to fish out the mouthpiece and the shoulder strap. Once back in the tryout area, I hitched it all up and again felt the marvelous feeling of a Selmer horn under my hands. (These days, I'm playing Yamaha and Conn baritones and vintage Conn horns for the little ones.))
(Prior to playing the first note, I was in heaven. Those who have never had any other experience with the low notes on a large sax other than on a Selmer horn will not know the huge amount of torque that gets shoved into your arm by the little finger left hand. With the Selmer "flap" keywork, you've got the extra leverage offered by the low Bb key "flap" system, which makes for fast transitions and such.)
(Then I started in blowing. The horn was absolutely ATROCIOUS in the intonation area, with adjacent notes not in tune with each other, and the octave even wilder still. Some of it might have been due to pad height and such, but the pads all sealed up fine so it is unlikely that it was that much out of regulation. Still, after just coming from three hours of play on my YBS 62 (which is very well in tune with itself, thank you), it was like being subjected to acoustical torture.)
(I only fiddled with it for five minutes or so, but it was a very odd sensation, playing on what felt like a typical Mark VI equivalent baritone (the keywork was a direct copy, if my previous Selmer horn was typical of the type) but sounded like some poorly assembled furnace ductwork with a kazoo attached to same.)
END OF LONG DIGRESSION
On the other hand, I think that I obtain a better "sound" from either a Yamaha or a Conn horn. Some part of this is the horn, of course, (perhaps as much as 10%) but most of it is due to the mouthpiece and reed combination (maybe 25% or so) and the rest of what is going on 'north of the mouthpiece'. And, as those vehicles of saxophonic type are a lot cheaper than the classic Mark VI ride, I'm pretty comfortable with the difference.
Your heirs and assigns will thank you for selling out at a good price...something else to consider when you're thinking about holding onto a "museum piece" solely for the "value" in same.
I have watched Antique Roadshow for years in the vain hope of seeing some classic saxophones dragged across the table. ("It's an excellent piece. Do you know how much it is worth?") Haven't seen one yet...just a lot of guitars...
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