Strasser Marigaux Lemaire, SML Gold Medal II Stencil
Here is a horn and a manufacturer that is seldom seen, seldom discussed, and wholly underrated. Renowned for their impeccable intonation and superior manufacturing quality, these small batch horns are treasures to keep when found. Due to their small manufacturing numbers you simply don't see many of these horns; However, I am certain that it is also due to the fact that people don't get rid of their SML's.
Unlike other manufacturers, the SML stencils were not lesser horns made on then-obsolete tooling. These were identical to their professional level counterparts in every way, excepting the SML logo. This, a Gold Medal II stencil, features most of the special features SML rightfully heralded as improvements on their Gold Medal II, a model SML called the MK II. It was subsequently dubbed the "Gold Medal II" since it, and it's predecessor, the MK I, inherited the moniker after winning a gold medal at The International Music Festival in The Hague.
Here is a horn and a manufacturer that is seldom seen, seldom discussed, and wholly underrated. Renowned for their impeccable intonation and superior manufacturing quality, these small batch horns are treasures to keep when found. Due to their small manufacturing numbers you simply don't see many of these horns; However, I am certain that it is also due to the fact that people don't get rid of their SML's.
Unlike other manufacturers, the SML stencils were not lesser horns made on then-obsolete tooling. These were identical to their professional level counterparts in every way, excepting the SML logo. This, a Gold Medal II stencil, features most of the special features SML rightfully heralded as improvements on their Gold Medal II, a model SML called the MK II. It was subsequently dubbed the "Gold Medal II" since it, and it's predecessor, the MK I, inherited the moniker after winning a gold medal at The International Music Festival in The Hague.
Some of the special features mentioned can be seen in this slide show and are discussed below:
-Optional G# articulation in the left hand table. A table which is almost as fast and light as that found on the 6M.
-The removeable neck tenon ring and four-slotted receiver. Which was a huge improvement over the standard receiver design seen on pretty much every saxophone except those with double sockets.
-The octave mechanism is far superior to that seen on Selmers of the same time period, with whom SML was directly competing. The SML design is simpler, more elegant, and more efficient. It has less contact points, two opposing springs to facilitate quicker action, and the teeter bar can be adjusted with greater ease to eliminate all lost motion and key slop; something that is inordinately time consuming on Selmers and every other company that blindly copied them for decades.
-Ribbed post construction.
-Adjustment screws on both stacks.
-Adjustable bumpers on the guards.
-Adjustable left hand thumb rest. Which on this model is removeable, but its range of adjustment is not noteworthy.
The list goes on, but covers what is in my opinion, uninteresting mechanical improvements that many other manufacturers were doing anyway.
The only significant difference between the Gold Medal II and its more sought-after predecessor, the Gold Medal I, is the rolled tone holes. Other than that they are virtually the same. And, as I stated earlier, this stencil is otherwise identical to its SML logo bearing Gold Medal II counterpart.
This particular horn was never sold. It sat in a warehouse and was virtually unplayed upon its arrival to my bench. As a matter of fact it had a sister horn, a tenor, a Lucerne Gold Medal II stencil with which it sat unplayed, and unsold, for decades. That horn can be seen on Matt Stohrer's site here.
-Optional G# articulation in the left hand table. A table which is almost as fast and light as that found on the 6M.
-The removeable neck tenon ring and four-slotted receiver. Which was a huge improvement over the standard receiver design seen on pretty much every saxophone except those with double sockets.
-The octave mechanism is far superior to that seen on Selmers of the same time period, with whom SML was directly competing. The SML design is simpler, more elegant, and more efficient. It has less contact points, two opposing springs to facilitate quicker action, and the teeter bar can be adjusted with greater ease to eliminate all lost motion and key slop; something that is inordinately time consuming on Selmers and every other company that blindly copied them for decades.
-Ribbed post construction.
-Adjustment screws on both stacks.
-Adjustable bumpers on the guards.
-Adjustable left hand thumb rest. Which on this model is removeable, but its range of adjustment is not noteworthy.
The list goes on, but covers what is in my opinion, uninteresting mechanical improvements that many other manufacturers were doing anyway.
The only significant difference between the Gold Medal II and its more sought-after predecessor, the Gold Medal I, is the rolled tone holes. Other than that they are virtually the same. And, as I stated earlier, this stencil is otherwise identical to its SML logo bearing Gold Medal II counterpart.
This particular horn was never sold. It sat in a warehouse and was virtually unplayed upon its arrival to my bench. As a matter of fact it had a sister horn, a tenor, a Lucerne Gold Medal II stencil with which it sat unplayed, and unsold, for decades. That horn can be seen on Matt Stohrer's site here.