Selmer Mark VI Tenor

Condition:

1969 Selmer Mk VI Tenor Saxophone, serial number 163,xxx

The style of engraving shows it to be a Paris assembled model and it is the rarer two-tone model (gold with silver keys) that Dexter Gordon played in the late ’60s and ’70s.The later Mk VIs (this one is from the beginning of 1969) are supposed to be more powerful and brighter and although these generalizations are much disputed this one certainly is powerful – punchy is the word I’d used, that’s why I fell in love with it when I first played it in 1997 and have played it exclusively on gigs and albums for 26 years (I’ve now replaced it with a mellower SBA, maybe I’m getting old ..) The keywork feels lovely and poppy, the intonation is superb, and it handles altissimo (and multiphonics) just as well as, or better than, a brand new horn – I realised just how well when I switched to the SBA, which requires very specific fingerings, I’d got used to having all kinds of options on this Mark VI. There are lots of scratches, especially on the underside below the strap hoop, but the lacquer is original and mainly there, so it’s still a shiny, newish looking horn. I’ve taken very good care of it, with regular services from Dot Brodie in Birmingham – the last complete overhaul was 2022, with occasional tweaks since, it’s entirely gig ready. The low Eb / C keys have been soldered back on, not terribly neatly, as you can see from the pics. I’ve built up the palm keys with rubber, I prefer it that way and since many other players do too, and it’s a faff to do, I’ve left the rubber on, but it’s very easily removed (by me or you) and underneath will be the shiny silver keys, they’re absolutely fine.

I played it with an ebonite Berg Larsen for about 15 years, a great and very powerful combination. Here are some videos of me playing the horn on a variety of other mouthpieces I used more recently (the videos were made to sell the mouthpieces) – a pretty standard Link (the one that came with the horn when I bought it), a Theo Wanne for a more modern sound (I found the Slant Sig 2 worked by far the best of the Wannes I tried with this horn), and for more of a mellow and thick sound, a ’50s Tonalin.