"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 10:28:49 +0200, "Iain Churches"
wrote:


"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


I used to do rapporteur work for ETSI (the European radio telecomms
standards body). One of my colleagues there was an old Swiss chap who
sat on the woodwind bench for the Suisse Romande. He was a fanatic
about all things wind - and also an engineer of some note. He insisted
that no woodwind instrument straight from the manufacturer was
playable. His big gripe was the way the pads make contact with the
holes. I guess he had a point when he said that they never lifted off
dead straight, but one side came away first, resulting in a slight
"chiff" that shouldn't be there. He said you had to dismantle every
valve and replace all of the cork pads, having ground the hole lips
flat. Then with the valve back in place, gently close it and reflow
the solder holding it to the key. Only then would the valve work
properly. He reckoned that even a cheap instrument could be made to
sound good this way.

He was a loony, though.


All that sort of thing is supposed to be checked and adjusted on a Selmer
from Wood Wind And Reed Cambridge - another reason for going up a couple of
grades with the instrument chosen.