Rare Selmer ‘Art Deco’ Tenor…

Engraving (click pic to enlarge)

This beautiful Selmer Tenor Sax was brought in recently for some Workshop TLC. It’s serial number 22540 puts it as a very early ‘Balanced Action’ model. This was the first time that a Selmer had both bell keys (low B & Bb) on the front side of the sax, as we are used to seeing today.

This movement of the tone holes, keys, pads etc facilitated a better design of the whole left hand low table key cluster, making the movements around C#/B/Bb a lot easier and lighter. This particular sax has some features that we’d not seen on any Selmer beforehand and weren’t present on most ‘Balanced Action’ models. From an aesthetic point of view, the most striking was the ‘Art Deco’ style engraving, it obviously dates the Sax accordingly and is quite full in it’s design.

In addition to the aesthetics there were also some quirky technical differences. The adjustment screws that regulate the right hand F/E/D keys are normally behind the keywork arms but on this Selmer they were up in front near the touchpieces, they also had felt discs underneath to quieten down the action. You can also see in the picture below how the low D key pearl touchpiece is on a bridging plate between the E and D key.

Regulation Screws (click pic to enlarge)

In addition, you can see in the picture above that the body finish is more of a satin silver than bright silver plate like the bell. As you can see on the pictures below the Sax needed a good tidy up and when finished it looked (and played) great! The guys and girls in our Workshop take great pride in their work and we’ve been rather overwhelmed with work on Vintage instruments recently as customers appreciate the special skills needed to put these instruments into best working order. The combined experience in our workshop ensures the greatest care and detail on all Sax repair work.(click on any pic to enlarge)

Engraving

Regulation Screws