SeleS by Selmer: Anyone Surprised?

On May 26 Selmer Paris had a press release that likely shouldn’t have come as a surprise to many. Selmer announced its new brand, SeleS, to the public.

What does this mean to the once mighty Selmer Paris name? Maybe I’m wrong, but to me it seems to spell trouble. They’re most likely losing money to the mass-produced, machine-assembled cheap horns from Asia, and they’re trying to figure out a way to stay in the game.

Let’s face it, while there are certainly always going to be a small, select number of players who are going to choose to spend $7,000+ on a new baritone sax, there will be far more players who are willing/able to spend $5000 or less on one. (No actual word on what a SeleS baritone saxophone is going to cost. I just pulled the $5000 figure out of my ass. 😉 )

Selmer Paris was kind enough to provide a video featuring their President and Managing Director, Brigitte Selmer. It was her great-grandfather Henri, who founded the Selmer Paris company in 1885.

Well Brigitte Selmer doesn’t really say anything different than the press release, does she? Well here’s my interpretation of Selmer Paris’ press release…

There are a couple of things that the introduction of the SeleS brand of instruments by Selmer Paris raises for me. In no particular order, they include:

• Where are these instruments made? Given the wages in France, and the working conditions of French employees, I don’t see the workers in Mantes-la-Ville, France doing the jobs.
• Will this cheapen the reputation of the Selmer Paris instruments? Until now Selmer USA has been the producer of the lesser-quality and student model Selmer horns, while Selmer Paris’ reputation has always remained solid. Will the introduction of cheaper-made horns potentially damage the Selmer Paris brand overall?
• Will this potentially drive up the prices of older and vintage Selmers? Hard to believe this could happen even more so than already the case, but if the SeleS brand turns out to be a dud, and has a damaging effect on the Selmer Paris name, could this make the pre-SeleS horns even more desirable?

Personally, I hope neither of these last two things is the case. I’ve been worried about Selmer Paris for quite some time. I’ve been concerned that they really are the only European saxophone shop still operating like all of them once did.

Thanks to cheap Asian competition, many of these European manufacturers have had to close down, or radically restructure. (Just think of the Julius Keilwerth company, and all its been through).

Although the chances that I’ll buy a SeleS instrument are about 0.005%, I hope that Selmer Paris sells lots of the various SeleS horns—whatever the hell they are all going to be—and blows the hell out of their competition.