Fred Hemke's VII alto for sale ....

Well IMO that was somewhat of a predictable outcome. (It didn't sell for the BIN price of 6K. Nor did he get a bid for the starting price of $5,950.) A MK VII tenor in minty shape won't sell for that, so why would an alto? I'm sorry, but I don't think that name dropping is going to help the cause.

I like the VIIs, at least the tenor incarnations. I haven't played an alto, so I can't comment on those, but the tenors are great R&B and rock horns. A friend of mine has one, and I've told her that if she ever wants to sell it, I'd like to have first offer of refusal on it.
 
yup, name dropping without offering proof of name.

I thought it was sky high for a VII too. Players like the VII altos alot except for the keywork. Truthfully the table keys are awkward even after they are modified. One can get Selmer USA keywork (or used to ) and swap out the VIIs table/bell keywork with slight modification.

I'm curious if it will be relisted for a lower price ... I'll be watching it just to see.

FWIW, the early horns the table keys were very awkward with too much space between each touch. The later ones (from the few i've seen) have been evolved and they are closer together.

I played a tenor in the same serial number range as my alto and they were virtual twins in keywork touch location. Though my early VII tenor is slighlty different than my late alto.
 
Well, back when the mk7 was still a fairly new model, word on the street was that the horn was designed by Fred Hemke. I remember hearing players complaining about the wide distances between keys, especially around the plateau keys and the spatula. And the reason given was that the horn was designed by Hemke, and that he had really big hands.

Another urban legend was that Selmer wanted it's new model to be more "American," so they hired FH to bring the goodies to the new hot rod.

So maybe the seller is counting on finding a buyer who has bought into these stories and feels that Hemke has a super mk7, the mk7 to surpass all other mk7's.

I seem to notice that when it comes to buying saxophones and saxophone accessories, we saxophone players are not exactly rocket scientists.

Julian
 
That Hemke sax though was a late model they were selling. You would think it was an early model.

I should ask my "buddy" who hates my VIIs as he was around with Sinta when someone, and I never thought to ask who, came around and introduced them to the new Selmer VII. I just can't recall who that "buddy" is off the top of my head, but he doesn't like to talk about the VII unless it's trash talk.
 
VII's didn't come out in 1979. Hemke would've had a much earlier one.

I went to school with people that had stock VII's before that.
 
hakukani said:
VII's didn't come out in 1979. Hemke would've had a much earlier one.

I went to school with people that had stock VII's before that.
Click to expand...

yes, but the one in the auction was sn 303019 which was 1979, even according to the auction. You would think he would have a much earlier one.

my alto is 295xxx from 1979 and tenor 260xxx from 1976



and Hemke's VII has not been relisted ...
 
Other than the keywork I really liked my VII tenor I had for a time.

I'm also not surprised this horn didn't sell at the asking price. That's quite a premium for a VII alto.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom