MKVI lacquer color?

[dvanaken]

Maybe some fellow MK 6 owners can help enlighten me on this. I have 1969 MKVI Alto that I've owned all its life. It has a nice "rose gold" lacquer. A few years ago I bought a nice Tenor of the same vintage (1972) which had some "leg wear"and the original lacquer is worn off in a farily large area on the left side of the bell area. The remainder of the horn is pretty nice but shows some wear for 30 years of life.

Here's the question - the tenor is a much lighter lacquer color - not the rose gold, but a more yellow color - looks a bit like my son's Yamaha alto, although has more "depth". Did Selmer use a range of colors? Were the tenors different from the Altos? I really don't think this horn was ever relacquered - it was sold as original and does not have the teltale signs...

Any ideas?
-dale

[Joe]

Selmer did indeed use two lacquers, the darker "honey-gold" for the US assembled VI's and the lighter "orange-gold" for their French assembled horns. Many of the European horns have found their way into the US. If your tenor is original, then it is a French assembled VI. Without getting too technical, the French lacquer is an inferior type and usually doesn't hold up as well as the US lacquer.

Generally, the French horns have a lighter, brighter sound, better factory set-up, and better intonation. In the US, the French altos are mostly thought of as having a less desirable sound, lacking some of the darkness, solidity, and warmth of the US altos. The French tenors, however, seem to be as sought after as their US counterparts. I don't think the sound is as different on the tenors. IMO, the French tenors don't have an inferior tone to the US ones, just a little different color.

[dvanaken]

Aha!

This was puchased in Canada (I have the original receipt).. Might this be more likely a French model? Any other way to tell? As I recall, the "Made in France" was in French on the older parisian sixes, but this one is marked just like my Alto.

Thanks
-dale

[Joe]

Dale, if your tenor was purchased new in Canada, it would be the French assembled horn. The US assembled saxes weren't imported out of the US for sale as new, at least not that I've ever heard of. The horns look identical except for the lacquer. If your tenor was earlier, you could look for the serial number on the neck that would show it was a US horn.

[dvanaken]

Joe - you're a wealth of info! Thanks for the help. -dale