1971 Selmer Mark VI alto saxophone, s/n 190710. This sax has its original lacquer with 95%+ still present. It was just serviced by my repairman prior to sale. The pads are sealing well and still have a lot of life left. The previous owner set up this horn with slightly elevated key heights, and we decided to keep this as-is. It gives the horn a bit of extra projection and presence without being overly bright tonally.

This sax has a medium bow, the design Selmer switched to for good on altos starting around s/n 136,xxx in 1966. But that only tells half the story. Selmer used two medium bow lengths during this run. The initial medium bow was slightly longer and was used up until around s/n 201,xxx. After that, the bow became slightly shorter. Thanks to Douglas Pipher's work, you can identify the bow length from the logo design. Look closely and you'll see three wavy lines around the circled R on this sax. That means it's the slightly longer medium bow. Selmer removed the flourishes after 201,xxx to denote the shorter bow.

What does this mean in terms of playing characteristics? The longer medium bows tend to have a bit more body and depth, and are slightly darker sounding. I also find this bow length to be the most even in response and tone, which lends itself well to classical playing. I'm splitting hairs here, but I think this is probably the most versatile version out there.