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Pretty. Expensive.

I think the price is realistic. It's a mark VI from a very good era, it's in mint condition, and the low A models really don't play much different except that the altissimo is better.

I have a low A Mark VI in similar condition (I changed one pad and a couple of felts) that I got for a trade, but my low A alto is a later model. I like this one better.

I'm willing to bet that you could still get a low A alto from Selmer if you came up with enough bucks. I said the same thing to classical saxophonist Arno Bornkamp, and he said he was going to try to get a new one. Let's see what happens.

Note - Benedikt Eppelsheim pointed out to me that the bell of a Selmer low A alto is really a low Bb bell with the small end extended and an additional tonehole. In other words, the bell taper does not continue to expand at the same rate as the rest of the bore. I measured mine, and he's correct. However, changing the bore taper that far down the line doesn't seem to do much.
 
I can totally see this unique horn going for $8000. I don't say it would be a ratonal decision. But if it was the only sax you bought.. Well let's just say you could do worse.

The getasax.com site has a lot of eye candy.
 
SOTSDO Isn't it accepted common knowledge that extended range saxophones (low A baritones and altos, low G basses, whatever) have a "muffled" tone?

And that's probably a good thing, depending on what you mean by 'muffled'...

But my low A Yani (B992P) does not seem to have a 'muffled' tone when compared to either the Selmer or Yamaha baris that play beside me in various groups. It can play as bright, dark, muted, superforte, or subtoning as any and (he said modestly) even better than most.
 
I should have added that neither does my YBS 62. But, one hears these things...

Personally, I attribute it to the different "issue" points of the wave of sound coming from the bell. From such minor differences can large mistaken impressions come

I feel the same way about the "mellow" tone of the A clarinet compared to the Bb. As a young college student, I was part of an extended trial of A, Bb and (one) C clarinets, all playing the same musical passages (and transposed, to eliminate sight reading errors) from behind a screen. There was no consistence with any of the ten or twelve participants as far as picking out which was which when listening on the other side of the screen. Once the physical connections (and visual ones) of the players were taken out of the equation, all was equal.

The mellow A perception (in my mind, at least) comes from playing Bb most of the time, and associating a particular tone with a given fingering. So, the same C on an A horn sounds mellow compared to what the player is used to, and it sounds "bright" when played on the C.

The test convinced me, at least...
 
I elaborated on the low A "muffled" bit before. A quick recap was that some people think that the low A horns -- regardless of pitch, make or model -- sound stuffy in the bell-note range. On my blog, I talk a little about this, but I think the only rational argument would be if you have a low A horn that was "made" low A by adding a non-conical extension to the bell, like the Conn 11M baritones, that you could get "stuffy." If you add a conical extension, I see no reason why you couldn't go to infinitely lower notes, provided you maintain the appropriate proportions.

I've played a Selmer Mark VI low A alto and I've played non-low-A Mark VI altos. My opinion is that if the horn's in good enough shape, it'll play good enough. However, in the somewhat recent past, I did find that the market disagreed with me and devalued the low A altos by about 10% (IIRC) over their low Bb brethren. To which, I remember posting something like, "... Which is good for those of us who'd like a Mark VI and want to pay a bit less."

Matt Stohrer, the gentleman that sent me the cover pics for my calendar this year, has a "repairman's overview" of another low A alto at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6lo1yyP1p4. It's about as minty.

re: Current low A alto offerings from Selmer, I do know about the low A Mark VII -- there's one on www.selmer.fr and one on my old website. I've followed a few discussions on a few forums regarding different "name brand" players allegedly playing low A Super 80 horns. Generally, the discussions end with grainy pics of someone that looks like he might be holding a low A alto, but it's very difficult to tell a Mark VII from a Super 80 at a distance, moreso because of that low A. Serie II and III? I haven't heard of those. I'd think that Selmer could whip one up for you, because the Mark VII low A horns looked like Mark VIIs, not a Mark VI with grafted-on keywork.

The $8K price, though ... I don't think so. I browsed some of the closed auctions and Mark VI sales weren't getting to that level. Close. That low A horn's also going through eBay the second time. Well, it's not quite as silly as the Modele 22 tenor for $8936.
 
The highest price paid for a Mark VI Bari with low A on eBay in the past 12 months was $7995 in February 2011. It had new pads and was cosmetically like new. The price of these baris really fluctuates based upon the condition.
 

Mind you, I immediately added that I didn't feel that this was the case. But, I have heard that from a considerable number of players, usually after they see my extended range bass, full Boehm clarinets, and my low A baritone.

It's also my opinion that most of these folks who articulate that opinion haven't really experimented for themselves, and are just regurgitating what teacher or some other figure has told them.
 
The highest price paid for a Mark VI Bari with low A on eBay in the past 12 months was $7995 in February 2011. It had new pads and was cosmetically like new. The price of these baris really fluctuates based upon the condition.
Mind you, I was referring to altos.

In terms of sheer brass, a bari is a much better buy than the alto. That $7995 price is almost unheard of. $5000 is around the max.
 
The alto didn't sell, so I guess no one had the extra 8K kicking around for it. The horn is in remarkable shape. It looks like it has never been played besides being perhaps play tested.

Given today's economy, I think that most working musicians aren't going to spring for an 8K low A alto. That leaves collectors, and even those people have to be hurting a bit as well. I think the economy is taking a toll on everybody. I think the sooner the vintage instrument dealers recognize this, and stop trying to make their money on anything that has "Selmer" engraved on its bell, the sooner they'll be able to clear out more of their inventory.

It's interesting, there are some dealers who have had the same vintage horns for years. They haven't adjusted their prices, and they're sitting on their horns. Hope springs eternal I guess. I just want to know how they pay their bills. They must have to sell something in order to keep the lights on, and their Internet connections live. It's obviously just not the horns that cost over 6, 7, or $8,000. (In some cases, even less.)
 
Are we referring to Dr. Rick and his $180,000 eBay ad and Quinn and his eBay ad for $100,000? Both of those ads have been up for three or so years ....

:D

I really, really like the pretty. I'd even like to play the pretty. I just couldn't justify $8000 for anything that doesn't take me to work on a regular basis. The other thing is that I know that there are either horns out there that can be made to be equally as good as this shiny for considerably less than $8000 and there are new horns that may be equally as good for a lot less.

"Collecting" is definitely a different animal. I've mentioned that I used to collect coins. There are two main reasons I stopped: first, there's almost no challenge. You want to have a pretty, you buy it. You're not gonna find a Double-Eagle gold piece in your change. Second, while it's nice to hold the pretty and say that you own it, you really can't do much more than that. At least with a sax, you can play it. However, I do understand the "gotta have it."
 
My low A mk6 baritone is unusual, it seems, because it's a one owner horn, bought new by me in 1972. Most of these I see were purchased used by their current owners. Another thing I notice about the world of baritone saxophone playing is that most baritone players work singularly, usually in a musical setting where no other baritone player is present. So, to me, that makes it somewhat diffucult to actually ascertain what qualities a particular instrument is displaying to the listener. We know how the horn feels to us while we are playing it, but what does the audience hear when they are sitting out there listening?

I play in a band that consists of 6 baritone saxophones, all played by exellent professional players, plus the usual piano, bass, and drum kit rhythm section. The last job we played, a week ago, the band consisted of 2 low Bb Conn bari's, a low Bb mk6, and 3 low A mk6's. My overall conclusion on how the different brands and models project their individual tone characteristics....it mainly depends on the player. They all project well, no one sounds at all muffled. But I do notice that the low A 6's tend to be a bit darker, and seem to have a growl. I thought that it was just a characteristic of my particular horn until I joined the Baritone Saxophones and got to sit with the other low A mk6's.

On topic. That alto in the ebay ad is a beautiful horn. I've played a few low A altos, and the horns that weren't leaking played great. But there's not a professional demand for these horns. For example, in NYC, the broadway shows demand that the bari players play a low A horn. So folks with a mk 6 low a bari can get top dollar if they advertise their horn at the broadway theaters. $8,000 is not unusual for a good low A mk6 bari. When I was doing the recording studios when I was coming up in the business, you were pretty much required to have a low A, they wanted that sound. But the alto saxophonist is not going to be called upon to feature his or her low register, so the low A key would seem to be a personal preference of the player, not a requirement.
 
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