Well, the Mark 7 is kind of a barren shoot on the Selmer family tree.
"More modern" as you call them horns are prettty much all copies of the Selmer Super Action 80 which was an updated copy of the Mark 6. So one could actually make an argument that the Mark 7 is more modern and that teh majority of current production saxophones are actually throwbacks to the 1954 design of the Mark 6.
The Mark 7 has little finger keys designed for someone with huge hands. This can be a real issue. There are players out there who use them, but the only one I knew to do so successfully was a big bruiser of a guy with hands like a bunch of bananas, and even he had had the tilting low Bb key disabled and soldered into a fixed position.
I think there is also a lot of variation amongst them as to intonation - some very good, some not so.
Coming from a King it is almost certain you will have to work to adapt to the way the tilting low Bb key requires you to apply high force in exactly the weakest direction of the weakest finger on your two hands, but then it falls away from you just when you most need it to be positive in action. And it's spongy as all get out too. Compared to a King with a simple direct acting light action, there will be adaptation.
A Mark 7 in good condition is a very well made instrument. But the newest are pushing 40 years old and given how much the saxophone community hated them, I would bet a lot of them have suffered through marching band.
"More modern" as you call them horns are prettty much all copies of the Selmer Super Action 80 which was an updated copy of the Mark 6. So one could actually make an argument that the Mark 7 is more modern and that teh majority of current production saxophones are actually throwbacks to the 1954 design of the Mark 6.
The Mark 7 has little finger keys designed for someone with huge hands. This can be a real issue. There are players out there who use them, but the only one I knew to do so successfully was a big bruiser of a guy with hands like a bunch of bananas, and even he had had the tilting low Bb key disabled and soldered into a fixed position.
I think there is also a lot of variation amongst them as to intonation - some very good, some not so.
Coming from a King it is almost certain you will have to work to adapt to the way the tilting low Bb key requires you to apply high force in exactly the weakest direction of the weakest finger on your two hands, but then it falls away from you just when you most need it to be positive in action. And it's spongy as all get out too. Compared to a King with a simple direct acting light action, there will be adaptation.
A Mark 7 in good condition is a very well made instrument. But the newest are pushing 40 years old and given how much the saxophone community hated them, I would bet a lot of them have suffered through marching band.
