1975 Selmer Paris Mark VII Alto Sax

A Vintage Selmer Sax is revered by many as the best saxophones ever made. The Mark VII was the successor to the Mark VI model. While many believe the Mark VII to be not quite the same caliber of sax sax the Mark VI, the Mark VII is actually quite a solid playing horn once you spend the time needed to get it in to great playing condition. The biggest complaint on the Mark VII was the large left hand pinky cluster. While not the best, it is still easy for most players to manage without issue. As a result, many players eventually abandoned their Mark VII alto in favor of finding a great condition Mark VI, which helped to lead to eventual mystique surrounding the Mark VI.

However, when properly regulated, a Mark VII alto a great playing sax, worthy of the “Vintage Selmer” mystique!

Serial ☆M241,526 –  Early 1975 Production
This particular Selmer Mark VII Alto Sax is serial number ☆M241529 and has much of its lacquer in tact. And yes, that is a “Star” before the serial number that was part of the factory stamp process… more on that below. This represents one of the earliest full production runs of the Mark VII alto – yes, there were small batches before this, but official alto “production” as in full production line, not batches, started around the 241k serial number range on the altos. So this is an early production model. And these early production models were absolutely the better built Mark VII’s! The horn itself is in solid physical condition and pads are in good shape. We have gone through and performed a full service in our ProShop to ensure that the sax is in great playing shape.

There is a large patch of acid bleed around the D# tonehole – see the photos. At the end of the day, this was a pro player’s horn and his concern was performance, not looks – and the horn performs well. This was his “backup” sax and as he is getting a new main sax soon, his current main sax will become the new backup and thus, he no longer needs this Mark VII.

So what’s up with the ☆?
Not every horn went through production perfectly smooth. Sometimes, if a horn had an issue during manufacturer, or while in transit from Selmer Paris to Selmer USA for final finishing, those issues had to be corrected. This means that the horn would be put in the hands of one of the top end craftsmen in the facility to correct the issue and put the horn through additional scrutiny. Once corrected and the horn passes the additional inspection, the 5 point star would be added to the serial number. So what was the issue with this horn? Well, at the time of this post, we don’t know! We have reached out to Selmer historians to see if any such information was recorded int he shop logs… and we will post that here once we hear back from Selmer. However, the horn PLAYS GREAT!

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