"Keith G" wrote in message
...

Yer, 'tis - a nalto. This one in fact:

http://www.moirac.adsl24.co.uk/showntell/Selmer.jpg

Swim wanted to max out the sax thing for once and for all and went for
this rather pricey but nice Selmer. Cab't fault the tone, it sounds
beautiful and Moira says it plays like a dream - big step up from the
worthy but somewhat agricultural eBayArbiter she started out on.


I am glad that you also just 'appened to turn the strap
in the pic to show the Paris logo:-)

All Selmers are not born equal.


The logo on the strap was purely accidental I promise you!

Of course, of course:-)


You are right that Selmers vary in what they offer at a wide range of
price breaks - Moira went for a 'Reference 54' (I think it is) at the low
end of the professional range which can go up to many thousands of pounds.

Morning Keith.

There was a story circulating that Selmer Paris are trying to get
exclusive use of the Selmer name, as the French saxophones are
so much better (the French say) than those made in the USA. The
connection dates back to the days when Alexander Selmer who
had left France to play in an orchestra in NY, opened a small
shop to sell instruments, clarinets and saxophones made by his
brother Henri Selmer in Paris. The US market was huge, and
so it made good sense to manufacture there also. It has recently
been suggested that Semer US go back to using the name Conn
a company which they took over years ago.

Most of the Chinese saxophones are blatant Selmer copies at
less than 1/10th of the price. It will be interesting so see if the
Chinese product last as well as the vintage American and French
saxes still in use today. It well may be that in a few years from
now the pads will be leaking like sieves and needle springs
pinging off in all directions. The chap I sit next to in the big
band plays a fabulous-sounding tenor made in 1917.

Iain