Selmer Super Sax Numbering

Dave Dolson

Distinguished Member
Distinguished Member
I took my '32 Cigar Cutter alto into Jim Scimonetti's store this morning for a look-see. Anyone who hasn't yet visited Jim's store in Lancaster, CA, should do so. Great place, friendly crew.

Anyway, while the tech was checking for leaky pads, he called me over and pointed out a four-digit number (VERY small) at the bottom of the body right above the bell-joint on the area between the body and bell.

The number was something like 89XX (don't recall the exact number). The horn's serial number is 160XX, placed as expected on the side of the bell.

The guy didn't know old Selmers (sure knew how to make 'em play though - mine turned out great - plays wonderfully now).

I don't think I have a parts-horn (like if the body was from one horn and the bell from another) because both parts had the same look and I don't think a body with a serial number in the four digit area would have the mechanical features. The tech agreed - all the same horn.

So, all you Selmer experts, what does that little number mean? DAVE
 
Dave,

I'm not a Selmer expert but I have two 'Modele 22's' an 'SSS' and a 'Balanced Action' and they all have the 'secondary' number on them.

On the 22's and the SSS (all Altos) it is on the body tube near the 'D' tonhole...on the BA (a Tenor) it is below the thumbrest where the serial number is normally located.

This has been discussed and pondered on the SOTW website more than once also and as far as I can recall, no one has ever come up with a definitive answer for this 'little' number.

I even e-mailed Ralph Morgan about this number several years ago thinking that he might know what it meant or be able to find out through Selmer but he never answered my e-mail regarding that particular item.

I am curious about the meaning of the number also...

Tom
 
All early Selmers have this number. It is roughly chronological, but not exactly chronological.

I became interested when I found the same type of number in the same location on Adolphe Sax Saxophones - the last ones that were manufactered at the Selmer factory between the late 1920s and the mid 1930s.

There were no serial number lists for the Adolphe Sax/Selmer instruments, so I started compiling a collection of the "other number" that I called the bell-to-body number, along with its corresponding serial number (shown on the side of the bell near the trademark, like Selmers of the era). I was hoping to find the date of manufacture of the Adolphe Sax horns because I have three of them.

Here's what I found:

The bell-to-body number, plotted against the serial number, is almost a straight line. That is, it is probably a production number that closely follows the serial number. However, the bell-to-body number count falls off after around 1936. The Adolphe Sax saxophones began to disappear from production at this time, and with a change in models, the Selmers no longer had the bell-to-body number, so the decreased "bell-to-body" timeline makes sense.

There is more information (maybe) that can be gleaned from these bell-to-body numbers. At the end of the bell-to-body number on some Selmer or Sax instruments, there is a letter. The letter is usually "C" or "R" or "X." In my experience, X is the most common letter, and there may be more. After cross referencing several dozen Selmer/Sax instruments, "X" usually, but not always, means a gold plated horn. Since Adolphe Sax instruments produced at Selmer were usually not gold plated, "X" on the last Sax saxophones seems to indicate a gold emulsion finish that resembled a satin gold finish but was more like lacquer.

I received some serial number help from Leo Van Oostrom while compiling this list, and the rest was the result of keeping track of serial numbers while I repaired instruments over the last 30 years.
 
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YES! Mine has an X following the four digits (I just inspected it with a glass) and it is original gold-plate.

Thanks for the replies. DAVE
 
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