Selmer Mark VI Tenor 112706 American Engraved Very Good Condition

Description

Original lacquer 1964 Selmer Mark VI tenor saxophone in very good condition. This was a one owner horn bought and played by a good novice player for the last 58 years until now. It’s ready for its second owner, and has been well cared for by its first one. It did get played, of course, so this is not a closet queen. But it’s a very solid horn that has many decades of music still to make, at least! The only resolder I see is the lower foot of the low Eb guard, which has some lacquer sprayed where the lacquer burned from the resolder. There are a couple of dings that were removed from the neck, and done well, leaving no indentation, though you can tell where the lacquer came off. Also a crease removed from the bell flare. So many VI’s have this, as it’s really easy to bump your bell on a music stand once over the years and do this. It doesn’t affect playability at all. The original neck is in good shape, not pulled down. There’s normal lacquer wear from use on the back of the body tube. The pads are old – some are original from ’64, so plan on a repad soon. It plays well enough now to get an idea of what a player it is, and it’s a very good one. The tone is medium dark, focused, powerful, and brightens up when pushed. Altissimo is easy, intonation is good. It’s one of those versatile VI’s that can sound dark and punchy, or dark and spread depending on mouthpiece/player, or that can scream and brighten up with a higher baffle piece and more aggressive airstream. I think the 100-120k tenors are some of the most undervalued Mark VI’s in general, as many of them play just like a late 5-digit serial (95k-99k) tenor, but they get priced a lot lower. Most things you buy lose most of their value as soon as you buy them – cars, electronics, most other goods. Nice saxophones are a rare exception. You can buy this, play it, get it overhauled, and if you need to sell it, you’ll get most (often nearly all) of your money back out of it pretty easily. Not to mention, you can gig with it and pay it off, or write it off as an expense if you’re a pro. Not a bad deal at all.

Only one available! But in this case, I also have a more worn 112k in the shop priced lower if you look around (as of late Dec 2021 that is).