1940 Selmer Balanced Action Alto Sax – Near Mint
All Original – One Owner (Family Heirloom)

The Selmer Balanced Action Alto Sax is revered as one of the best & most historic saxophones ever made. Released in April of 1935, the Balanced Action was a major redesign in saxophones and are the first appearance of what we call the “modern” saxophone. Today, these horns are known for their broad, rich tone that is not as focused as modern Selmer’s but still can posses a phenomenally responsive, rich tone.

About this Selmer Balanced Alto – Serial 29,254

This is about as nice of a vintage horn as you will find… it is a one owning family horn (family heirloom passed down). It was used very little based on the lack of wear and it completely original. The lacquer is 100% original and other than a few small touch spots (left hand thumb rest, palm key touch, octave key), its all there. There is even still a small amount of lacquer on a few pearls (as these were lacquered after the pearls were installed). There are very few signs of age on this beautiful piece of history. There is a little lacquer wear / possible bleed in the engraving near the bell mount (see photos) but otherwise… well its just amazing.

The only “damage” to the horn is underneath the left hand palm D key. Selmer used a metal sphere as a “stop” against the body for this key which historically leads to this small dent. There is a closeup photo of this in the photos at the top of the listing. There is also a very small ding in the bell from the inside of the bell, at the start of the flare (where the throat of the bell starts to open towards the rim) at about the 5 o’clock position (see the photo of the bell above). We have decided NOT to remove either as it would damage the lacquer around it.

In the end, this is arguably the finest condition horn of its type that we have seen come available for a while. It is simply stunning. We reached out to Douglas Pipher, noted Selmer historian, with a few of the photos and serial number. Here is what he had to say about the horn:

Beautiful !!! Thanks for sharing the photos Dave !! Selmer 29254 is a US-market Balanced-Action Alto which shipped from Selmer Paris in April 1940. This is the earliest example I have seen with two patent stamps on the bell. Both patent numbers were removed at roughly 29525.
-Douglas Pipher

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