AE Sax/Selmer Info wanted.

kevgermany

Does anyone know much about the AE Sax models produced at/after the Selmer takeover.

My teacher's just got hold of an AE Sax alto S/N 12x, with another number on the body below the D, 54xx. No suffix. Not sure if I can get pics or not. If I can, I'll post them.

Judging by what I've found on saxpics the 54xx is a Selmer number, but I saw another post here saying it was a workshop number, not a Selmer serial number. Ideas/clarification?

Guards are the curved Sax type and the keywork/body look nothing like the Selmer 22/26. The bands joining bell/body have the domed Sax shape. Emblem is AS with fils in it. And it's stamped on the side of the bell for Rue Myrnha. medaille d'or 1900 etc. No 'No.' in front of the serial number.

Has pearls on the keys, rollers, auto octave mech, high G (?) triller and is Silver plated, but it's a replate and no idea what it was originally.

My guess is that it's one of the ones assembled from AE Sax parts at the start of the run, apparantly with a Sax body but would like to trace some shots of one with a similar serial number to compare. Best I could find was on saxpics, but they seem to be a lot later, with straight keyguards (mostly).

Were there links between AE Sax and Selmer before the takeover? Have seen posts suggesting that teh Seler 22s were Sax designs/cribs, possibly stencils. But it's all rather vague and there seems to be a lot of guesswork/hearsay around. Even the takeover date is unclear - Selmer's web site says 1929, but most web sources say 1928, and others 1927 and 1929 and 1930 as well. Also some sources claim AE Sax worked for Selmer fo a while after the takeover.

Would really appreciate some help/links, have tried searching the usual suspects, saxpics/SOTW/Bassic Sax, but have drawn a blank so far.

Thanks, Kev.
 
Howdy. Welcome to the forum.

I wrote a newish page regarding the Selmer models that were around before the Series 1922 model was introduced. You can check it out at http://thesax.info. Bottom line, regarding a connection between Selmer Paris and AE Sax prior to Selmer's purchase of the Sax plant in 1929 is AE Sax may have made saxophone stencils for Selmer. The main problem is that the most common stencils look like this and the look is close to a couple horns, but not an exact match. My gut says it's more likely a Couesnon stencil, not an AE Sax stencil.

www.selmer.fr has some info on their timeline suggesting that the 1930 and later AE Sax instruments and the Selmer Super Series were the same horn. I have heard from some folks that the AE Sax made after 1929 does play a lot like the Selmer Supers, but I'd want to check a lot more before confirming that.
 
Thanks Pete

I've been a member for some time, but have only posted once before I think.

I must get some good pics. Will see what I can do.

The sax doesn't look like the cigar cutter on the Selmer link, neck/octave mechanism is vey different, and the neck part of the octave has a ring, not a looped V wire. Doesn't look too much like the other link, either.

Best match I could find was this tenor http://www.saxpics.com/?v=gal&a=2363

But I didn't want to prejudge thinking by posting it.

Let me get mode info. And thanks again.
 
Kev! Just back from vacation and getting around to emails and forum stuff again. Three more hrs before my flight home, I'm toggled to a power source with my iPad and munching on a banana. Hope to read more from you on this forum. Cheers!
 
OT Mr Admin... :tongue:

seriously, Hi, hope to see more of you on Cafesax as well. Hope you had a good holiday.:cool:
 
I have a couple of these on my site Kev. One was for sale not that long ago in Germany. It was made by Adolphe Edouard Sax (Adolphe's son). It was serial [HASHTAG]#16849[/HASHTAG] and has pearls and an automatic octave key, as well as the same key guards as the one in your photos.

Compare the photos. What do you think? What are the differences? The only obvious one I see is the left pinkie cluster. I can't quite make out the serial #, but if it is indeed a 3 digit one starting with 1XX, then I would think that your theory about it being a Selmer horn from A.E. Sax parts makes sense.

Groovekiller...Paging Groovekiller... Any thoughts? No need to page Pete, he'll chime in automatically.
 
Except for the keyguards and the right hand C-D trill key, the horn looks like my A. E. Sax made by Selmer with a 3 digit serial number. Nice horn. The old keyguards are much better.
 
Helen said:
I have a couple of these on my site Kev. One was for sale not that long ago in Germany. It was made by Adolphe Edouard Sax (Adolphe's son). It was serial #16849 and has pearls and an automatic octave key, as well as the same key guards as the one in your photos.

Compare the photos. What do you think? What are the differences? The only obvious one I see is the left pinkie cluster. I can't quite make out the serial #, but if it is indeed a 3 digit one starting with 1XX, then I would think that your theory about it being a Selmer horn from A.E. Sax parts makes sense.

Groovekiller...Paging Groovekiller... Any thoughts? No need to page Pete, he'll chime in automatically.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I've seen the ones on your site. S/n is 149.
 
Groovekiller said:
Except for the keyguards and the right hand C-D trill key, the horn looks like my A. E. Sax made by Selmer with a 3 digit serial number. Nice horn. The old keyguards are much better.
Click to expand...

Thanks. The Selmer number is a little low (59xx), but you said in another post that it was a workshop number, not a serial number. Is there any published record of these? Cos if it was a Selmer serial number, as others say, it'd place the date of the instrument to before the Selmer take over.
 
Helen said:
I have a couple of these on my site Kev. One was for sale not that long ago in Germany. It was made by Adolphe Edouard Sax (Adolphe's son). It was serial #16849 and has pearls and an automatic octave key, as well as the same key guards as the one in your photos.

Compare the photos. What do you think? What are the differences? The only obvious one I see is the left pinkie cluster. I can't quite make out the serial #, but if it is indeed a 3 digit one starting with 1XX, then I would think that your theory about it being a Selmer horn from A.E. Sax parts makes sense.

Groovekiller...Paging Groovekiller... Any thoughts? No need to page Pete, he'll chime in automatically.
Click to expand...

I took another look at your pics, they'e the ones I saw when I nearly convinced myself that my teachers one is sax parts. G# and Low C/Eb look older, engraving is a little different, but otherwise it looks like the same horn.... Down to the ferrules...

The extra key you refer to: is this the device on top of the low D key? It's a D#/Eb alternative. The D key is in two parts. When the large part is closed, and the small part is left open, a hole in the centre of the large D valve allows an Eb to sound. When both are closed, D as normal. (A bit like getting semitones on a tin whistle) The LH pinkie Eb works as normal, so it's a slightly faster alternate fingering, a bit like the Bb Bis key. Owner says it works well. And there's also one on his 1910 Oscar Adler straight soprano (which I have yet to see).
 
Years ago I collected as much data as possible about the number located under the low D tonehole on early Selmer and A.E.Sax saxophones. I graphed the results, comparing the low D number with the serial numbers. I don't think I had enough data to be statistically significant to any great degree, but it did help me to guess the year of manufacture of the Adolophe E. Saxes that were manufactured at Selmer.

The numbers under the low D key are neither a Selmer Serial number nor a Sax serial number. However the low D numbers are roughly, but not perfectly chronological. Yours would suggest that your saxophone was made in 1930.

I just repaired a Selmer Super Balanced action alto (1950s) today that had exactly the same mechanism for opening the high Eb key with the right hand.
 
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