Saxophones Selmer Supreme

[Kenny Garrick]

Hi Kenny. I am also new here. I have been playing sax since 1960. I played Conns in middle school and high school, and while I never had any real complaints with them, they were no comparison mechanically and ergonomically to my Selmer Mark VI tenor and my Martin Committee alto. I had the opportunity to directly compare the horns because I kept my personal instruments at home, using them for practicing and for private lessons. I played the school instruments in concert band, jazz band, marching band and pep band(for basketball games). The Conns I played sounded fine, but going back to my personal horns was like going from a Mack truck to a Jaguar. That being said, I love the sax too much to ever condemn a decent horn. I currently have a Mendini by Cecilio alto made in China that fools many listeners who think it is a very expensive pro horn! I think I paid around $120. US Dollars for it in 2010! Live and let live is a great attitude!

Hi YaketySax, thanks and enjoy the music

 

[MarkSax]

Hi Guenne,

I would say the Supreme is very free blowing in comparison to the few References I have played I can't say about 7's as I have never played one but the Supreme would be a working dog, a good all round sax for pop rock jazz or classical in the same way 6's are, I would never say the Limitee is an allrounder it to me is quite niche in what it excels at, that being up close and personal or blending in an orchestra without being too loud but it would be lousy in an 80's tribute band, just totally wrong.

If you like your reference and mk7 you have nothing to lose by giving one a blow, I think you will be surprised in a good way, and only you will know what suits you.

For me I love my Mk6 but the supreme is every bit as good and more than my Mk6 with a remarkably similar tonal palate better all round intonation and just plain old fun to play I will still get my 6 out occasionally but I can't off hand think of any reason I would take it out for a gig now I have the Supreme as I honestly think the Supreme is in a new league, but that's just my 2p

Kenny

I think making the transition from Mk6 to the Supreme would be gobsmacking in terms of everything except perhaps tone as they have that similar core. But for the people who’ve been playing the newer Series 2/3/Reference, it’s not that much of a mind blowing game changer. Selmer have steadily improved on their saxes over time since inception and the Supreme is just the current example of this, it’s not a giant leap forward. They have great intonation from low Bb to altissimo, really easy ergos, free flowing, and that Selmer core sound. The US is fixated on the Mk6 imo, having spent a lot of time there recently, whilst most of the rest of the world has discovered other brands or iterations can be as good or better. The main thing is to enjoy the playing and it seems you have found your new source of joy. Excellent.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Ok I know there are a lot of Selmer haters and detractors out there,

Where?

Hi Pete, mainly in USA where I think they confuse Selmer Bundy with Selmer, but I know a lot of players that prefer their Conns core sound to Selmer.

I think they probably confuse Selmer USA with Selmer Paris rather than Bundy, which is a specific model not a brand.

But just because you prefer a Conn doesn't make you a "hater" of Selmer.

The US is fixated on the Mk6 imo, having spent a lot of time there recently, whilst most of the rest of the world has discovered other brands or iterations can be as good or better.

I don't think it's just the US that has that strange fixation. It's more acollector thing, which you get in all countries

Later Selmers had a similar sound to some of the better MKVIs, but maybe a bit more consistently in tune. Esp. some of the ref 54 (I never liked the other ref though)

 

[Kenny Garrick]

Selmer Customer Service is anything but Supreme,
On one of the sax's an obvious manufacturing oversite occurred which only presented a couple of months into my ownership of the instrument.
All the soldered points on the back of the sax around 2" wide at the bell/bow brace up to the neck tenon had a dark brown / black stain appear under the lacquer. It became obvious that this strip on the sax had not been cleaned of the flux residue post soldering and went on to be lacquered assembled and sold.

Selmer were contacted at the end of July with photo's by the shop, Selmer then shut for August and the Sax was returned to them early September, after a battle between the shop and Selmer they finally agreed to replace the instrument in mid October. We are still waiting for that replacement to be shipped. Selmer Paris have always had a reputation for poor customer service looks like they have done nothing to improve it.

These are great sax's just a shame that if there are any issues that Selmer are exceptionally painful when it comes to providing any sort of aftersales service.

 

[Kenny Garrick]

Update on above post. I was given a new instrument by the shop on Thursday and had an interesting chat with the owner. They said they had the Vice president and the UK sales manager from Selmer visit them a couple of weeks back and the attitude from Selmer was they make very good products and appeared not to care about the very poor communications or lack of response when there are issues. Apparently the are going to strip and clean the problematic sax relacquer it and pass it on through their distribution as a new sax.

So far the replacement is great so hopefully I wont start getting brown blotches appearing around the solder joints in a couple of months time.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Apparently the are going to strip and clean the problematic sax relacquer it and pass it on through their distribution as a new sax.

I don't think would actually sell a used relacquered instrument as new.

 

[Kenny Garrick]

I don't think would actually sell a used relacquered instrument as new.

Hi Pete,
I can only say what I was told by Jon Dawkes on Thursday and who would know or how?

 

[Pete Thomas]

who would know or how?

If they keep the same serial number. If I was to buy it next year, and then my insurance company tell me it was already insured by someone a year ago.

Besides, whether someone knows or not deosn't seem totally relevant. But if tyhey don't mind publically announcing that they do that, then I think it's better they come up with a way to justify it as opposed to saying "ah well, nobody will know so pas de problème."

 

[Kenny Garrick]

I think they have an arrogance in attitude when it comes to aftersales and demonstrated by the 4 months it has taken to resolve as they were first contacted in July about the issue, it was returned to them in the first week of September following their annual shutdown. I am very grateful to Dawkes for all they have done and could not praise them highly enough but it is s shame that good music shops that are so hard to find now could have their own reputations tarnished by such poor aftersales. Dawkes seldom deal with aftersales issues as they fix 99% of issues in house, I can't remember the brand of trumpet but they had a similar issue with one and that company dispatched a replacement instrument the same day. I just think that the aftersales service from Selmer was exceedingly bad.

 

[saxyjt]

Sadly, Selmer like many family businesses has fallen into the hands of investors. And looking at the portfolio of companies you tell they are spread into many sectors and I doubt their interest is anything but financial.

Is this a recipe for disaster? I hope not. I can't afford Selmer myself, but they have obviously produced some very good products over the years and set a very high standard that kept the competition on their toes. That's a great thing. But if they are careless, they can loose that prestige and be replaced by more focused makes.

Being french, it would also sadden me to see such expertise disappear from the historical heart of the saxophone manufacturing that Mantes has been for so long. But when you see what has become of Detroit's... This would be pale in comparison!

 

[Dr G]

Acid bleed is nothing new Among modern Selmers. I recall witnessing it in the late ‘90s (last century).

I hesitate to label their apparent customer service attitude as “arrogance”, but it acid bleed does exist and is well known as a common enough cosmetic flaw.

I owned several modern Selmers (Serie II altos, Serie III sops, Serie III tenor, Ref 36 tenor) in the last 30 years, and several of them had acid bleed. I also owned Yanagisawa horns whose lacquer wore off the touches prematurely. My silver-plated horns have no such issues.

 

[Stephen Howard]

... and the attitude from Selmer was they make very good products and appeared not to care about the very poor communications or lack of response when there are issues..

Doesn't surprise me in the least.
I remember visiting their stand at Frankfurt Musik Messe over a number of years and often found that if you could find any reps at all on the stand, you'd be lucky to get their attention unless you were something of a celebrity.
On one occasion they had a new Hummingbird (if I remember rightly) alto on a podium in the middle of the stand. I reached up and gave the keys a feel and found that the action was incredibly stiff. Clearly no-one had bothered to set the horn up - which is a bit lazy considering that the Messe is effectively a shop window.

 

[peterpick]

i have acid bleed, and also many other consumption-related injuries, but the acid bleed manifests itself on a MKVI from 1957. it's ugly, but what difference does it make anyway? i thought about stripping the lacquer off but the sax is worth more than i am and courage failed me.