Selmer SUPREME S-bow

Tzadik said:

Thomann.de's translation are not super accurate.



The neck on the Supreme has a similar bore compared to other Selmer neck, yet the neck profile is similar to a Series III/Axos tenor.

The neck collar is wider, so the Supreme tenor neck does NOT fit on any other Selmer tenor, unless you remove the stock neck collar and replace with another one with a standard diameter (27,45/27,50 mm, before final fitting).

Selmer Supreme Tenor Sax SE-TSUL

Tenor Saxophone in Bb Dark gold lacquer, Strong projection due to enlarged bore at the S-bow, New bore and tone hole scale, Completely optimised ergonomics, Adjustable, concentric 3-point S-bow receiver, Nickel silver S-bow clamping ring, Directly...

www.thomann.de

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Selmer Supreme Tenor Saxophone - Sax.co.uk

After 8 years of secret development, Selmer Paris reveal to us their ‘best tenor saxophone ever designed’ After 100 years of innovation, design, and manufacturing of the saxophone, Henri SELMER Paris redefines the modern identity of the tenor saxophone with the SUPREME.

sax.co.uk

Tzadik said:

There are two main feature on a neck:

• the profile, the shape of the neck
• the bore, the inner dimension, the taper of the blank tube, before being bent.

As I said... (I had only a Axos tenor saxophone neck) the profile was basically the same of the Axos tenor neck, which is based on a Series III neck.
The bore, visually, looks almost the same, as well. I didn'

I didn't say they did not change anything... but if you compare a Supreme alto neck with any other Selmer alto neck... you'll visually spot significant variations.

Sax.co.uk just reports what Selmer tells them to report.
They are not deeply technical guys, they don't have to.

Be sure they will not sell any Selmer Supreme, alto or tenor, just because Selmer says they are "supreme saxophones".

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Alain Gen said:

On sax.co.uk, they claim that the bore has been modified --and especially the diameter of the ends.
Only detailed measurement can decide the merits of this claim --the naked eye can not perceive those dimensional modifications, because they are quite small.

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Dr G said:

I would only consider believing the claim if Selmer said it - for a couple of reasons.

1). How much variation is meaningful and intentional vs manufacturing variability? I have measured neck ID on Ref 36 tenor necks and found a range of greater than 0.010”.

2). I was confident that there were neck changes on the Borgani Jubilee between the 18xxxJ and OBT series because the neck tenons were so different that necks were not interchangeable. After I stated those findings here at SotW, I learned from the factory that it was a change only in the tenon, and that the geometry remained the same for the neck and bore (the bell flare was changed too).

Bottom line: One can measure, but that can be deceptive too. The proof is in the playing. Don’t buy a horn by its numbers.

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lydian said:

Selmer did say it. See my post #8.

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Dr G said:

Yes, thank you for capturing that.

“New bore in the neck” compared to what? Serie III? Ref 36? I measured 0.510” ID on my Ref 36. Is it larger than that, or do the acceptable values of ID spec overlap?

Did they discontinue the Ref 36 because the Supreme is a revision of that model?

I have no issues with that. I thought the Ref 36 was the best of that era’s models. I liked mine as it came from the factory, and it was great after Randy Jones went through it. I wonder whether they realized that it was finally time to get away from the ”homage to 1936” and give it its own recognition as a modern tenor with a different voicing.

I like the SML-flavored receiver. It will be interesting to see how fast other companies adopt it. Maybe it is time to revisit the “22 features of the SML Gold Medal” to see whether there are other nuggets waiting to be reinvented.

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