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patch inside the bow on late Selmer altos

Ok, so I'm putting this in repair rather than Selmer because I think this question is more likely to have an answer from someone browsing this section.

Sometime in the later run of Mark VI altos, Selmer put a patch inside the bow- most likely as part of their continuing experimentation with bow length and internal volume.

My personal experience is that these altos (with the patch in the bow) are excellent players, with a strong, full voice that seems to transfer much of the player's energy into sound, know what I mean?

So- anybody have any information on these horns? Which ones is it? Is it a solid serial run? Is it perhaps just the American-assembled horns? Is it catch-as-catch can? Why was it put there? Does anyone else agree with my assessment that these are particularly good horns?

Photos of the patch I'm talking about:

selmeraltobowpatch1.jpg


selmerbowpatch2.jpg


Yeah, its a particularly sloppy example, but they all have that shape in that location, with lots of solder- not just tacked in, or epoxied, or contact cement, or a different shape- the patch I am speaking about will look almost exactly like that, give or take a few solder blobs.
 
I think that patch was put there as a permanent "bottle cork/mouthpiece cap down the bell" kludge to avoid or diminish the motorboating warble. But as one R.M. Nixon once put it, "I could be wrong".
 
Nice picts and a good fix. Much better than a cork.

The sharp radius of the bend causes the air column there to behave as if it were wider and elongated. This fix eliminates the design problem with that horn without causing an obstruction in the bore.
 
I got my info from Ralph Morgan, who was not above making stuff up to make a sale, but in this case, there was nothing to gain one way or the other. He was at Selmer at the exact time these baffles, or patches, were installed in the altos, and the big-time mods were made to the basses.
I visited Ralph's shop often for 10-15 years, and my father had dealt with him before I did. I found him, in a conservative kind of way, to be the most knowledgeable saxophone expert I knew, and even more of an expert at mouthpieces, along with Frank Wells.
I think that the Elkhart-installed bottom bow "patches" were an excellent modification to some really great altos, and the same approach can be used to solve problems with other saxophones.
 
... and the big-time mods were made to the basses ...
I do know that at some point, Selmer did switch the design of the bass from the SBA design to a "VI-ish" design, with the tilting G# cluster, etc. What other mods are you referring to? I'm interested!
 
The Mark VI era Selmer bass saxes were awful. Almost unplayable around low B, which is a pretty important note on a bass sax. Basses imported and assembled in Elkhart had a piece of brass tubing soldered into the bottom bow to help the problem but hey still suck. Sorry to be so blunt.
On the other hand, the new Selmer bass saxes, which look similar but have high E,F, and F# keys, are terrific, maybe the most improved saxophone ever.
 
If I ever have the money and inclination to buy a bass, the first horn I'm testing is an Eppelsheim. It's also quite probably the last horn I'll test, too.

I do find it intriguing that Selmer didn't try to obliterate the market and create better Mark VI sopraninos, sopranos and basses. They easily could have. On the high side, that was a obvious opening for Yanagisawa. On the low end, an opening for Keilwerth. Hmmm.
 
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