Super Action 80 Series II
Just finished this Selmer Super Action 80 Series II. Now, as many of you know, I often deride Selmers, but I only jest to rile the parishioners of The Selmer Church. As a matter of fact, I played one of these for over 15 years. These horns play with remarkably clean intonation and, in my opinion, have one of the brightest tones of all the Supers. If you're into modern horns, these offer pretty much everything on your list of prerequisites; namely the tight, compact, comfort of modern key work, the bright sound modern horns project, and an easily produced altissimo.
The only downside to this particular model, as many repair techs will agree, is the self-adjusting spring-loaded pivot screw recesses. It makes "Full" key fitting impossible. Of course, where ever there are hinge rods and hollow hinge tubes, the keys are fit so that all play - concentric, lateral, and within the post - is eliminated, as you would on any other horn. But you can not countersink the pivot screw recesses because the spring-loaded mechanism perpetually takes up slack, and you always end up with a small amount of play between the hinge tube and its post.
Other than that, these are, in my honest opinion, killer modern horns; In spite of my public jests to the contrary.
This one, just leaving my saxophone repair shop in Seattle, was especially nice.
Just finished this Selmer Super Action 80 Series II. Now, as many of you know, I often deride Selmers, but I only jest to rile the parishioners of The Selmer Church. As a matter of fact, I played one of these for over 15 years. These horns play with remarkably clean intonation and, in my opinion, have one of the brightest tones of all the Supers. If you're into modern horns, these offer pretty much everything on your list of prerequisites; namely the tight, compact, comfort of modern key work, the bright sound modern horns project, and an easily produced altissimo.
The only downside to this particular model, as many repair techs will agree, is the self-adjusting spring-loaded pivot screw recesses. It makes "Full" key fitting impossible. Of course, where ever there are hinge rods and hollow hinge tubes, the keys are fit so that all play - concentric, lateral, and within the post - is eliminated, as you would on any other horn. But you can not countersink the pivot screw recesses because the spring-loaded mechanism perpetually takes up slack, and you always end up with a small amount of play between the hinge tube and its post.
Other than that, these are, in my honest opinion, killer modern horns; In spite of my public jests to the contrary.
This one, just leaving my saxophone repair shop in Seattle, was especially nice.