21,xxx Selmer Balanced Action Tenor Saxophone, Just Serviced, Video
1935 Selmer Balanced Action Tenor Saxophone, s/n 21527. This is one of the very first Balanced Action tenors that Selmer made, and many serial number guides including the one that Conn-Selmer publishes, shows the first BA serial number for 21751. This isn't incredibly surprising, as other Selmer vintages are inaccurate, such as the Mark VI to Mark VII cutoff being at least 15,000 off.
Regardless, this is a horn that is beautiful to hold as well as play. The previous owner acquired the horn from Saxquest in 2009 and I suspect that the horn was overhauled then. The pads are high quality and still in excellent condition. My tech serviced the horn prior to sale, and it feels locked in and tight. The keywork still feels great from the Saxquest overhaul. There are a couple items worth mentioning. First, the bow was previously engraved by its previous owner, which is still faintly visible. Second, the neck has previously been repaired with a patch on one side and a ring of solder beneath the neck cork. I sent the neck out to Aaron Barnard, who is a Selmer neck guru. He took off the patch to inspect the neck and confirmed that there is a crack that runs along the side of the neck. We debated filling in the crack with solder but ultimately decided to reapply the patch ensuring that there was absolutely no leakage. The horn plays great with its original neck. The sax comes in a ProTec case.
