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Hello
A friend came with a Selmer Mark VI tenor. It is serial number M1109XX (I think early 60s). It also has Elkhart on it which I think means it was assembled in USA.
The main problem was with the second octave A. When played by air control alone (i.e. without the octave key) it sounds very good and when adding the octave key it suddenly becomes much more stuffy and resistance (plus less volume). This problem is also slightly on the Bb and even less on the B. I think it disapears completely from C and up.
It is not the octave pad not opening enough because I opened it compeltely and opened & closed the hole with my finger while he was playing the A. Very obvious stuffiness even to the listener when opening the octave hole.
My theory is the octave vent is too small for the A and that this is the compromise they chose to do on this saxophone. Before I am making any changes and experiments with this hole I would like to know if it is a known problem with some Mark VI saxes (tenors) and if there is a known solution.
Thanks & best wishes!
Nitai
A friend came with a Selmer Mark VI tenor. It is serial number M1109XX (I think early 60s). It also has Elkhart on it which I think means it was assembled in USA.
The main problem was with the second octave A. When played by air control alone (i.e. without the octave key) it sounds very good and when adding the octave key it suddenly becomes much more stuffy and resistance (plus less volume). This problem is also slightly on the Bb and even less on the B. I think it disapears completely from C and up.
It is not the octave pad not opening enough because I opened it compeltely and opened & closed the hole with my finger while he was playing the A. Very obvious stuffiness even to the listener when opening the octave hole.
My theory is the octave vent is too small for the A and that this is the compromise they chose to do on this saxophone. Before I am making any changes and experiments with this hole I would like to know if it is a known problem with some Mark VI saxes (tenors) and if there is a known solution.
Thanks & best wishes!
Nitai