{"id":17681,"date":"2010-03-13T09:54:58","date_gmt":"2010-03-13T17:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=17681"},"modified":"2010-03-13T09:55:06","modified_gmt":"2010-03-13T17:55:06","slug":"a-very-rare-selmer-padless-tenor-on-ebay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2010\/a-very-rare-selmer-padless-tenor-on-ebay\/","title":{"rendered":"A Very Rare Selmer Padless Tenor On eBay"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a very rare saxophone up for auction right now. If you’re a saxophone collector, this just might be for you.<\/p>\n

A seller in Washington state is selling a Selmer Padless tenor saxophone<\/a>. The ones that I’ve seen up for sale in the past have been anything other than pristine, but this one looks like it is in very nice condition.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

Here is how this rare vintage sax is being described:<\/p>\n

Here is an amazing piece of Saxophone history – all original, and it performs! The serial number is 27355, indicating that it was manufactured in early 1939. It was made for Selmer by The Buescher Company and the body tube is similar to an early Big-B or Buescher 156 with the narrow bell. The lacquer is original and 98% flawless. The engraving is gorgeous and goes from the lip of the bell all the way to the bottom of the curve. The neck has never been pulled down. There are no signs of repair or reattachment of key guards, etc. It is a truly beautiful instrument and it plays – from high F to low Bb. The tone is medium-bright due to the fact that the keys act as large resonators (no pads). The leather pad-rings appear to be original, but that would be hard to know. It is the best example of a Selmer USA Padless we’ve ever seen, and deserves to be in a professional collection or saxophone museum. The original case is the ‘Pullman’ style, so called because they are wedge-shaped and fit well on the overhead luggage rack of a Pullman train car. Included is the original instrument care brochure. The small, round button-shaped form on the lid of the accessories compartment is an integrated cork lubricant container – the only one of those we’ve ever seen. Now, the caveats. The bell key felts have been replaced with cork and felt combinations – quiet and uniform. There are slight scratches and a small, dime-sized wear area near the thumb rest. There are two pencil-point pings near the neck strap ring. There are three minor pings at the base. There are two tiny blemishes on the player’s side of the bell. The exterior of the case shows some wear, however it is clean inside with no musty smell. All l;atches work. The two handles have been taped and could easily be replaced. It requires a little more finger pressure than we would prefer, to get the low notes out, and would be improved by more playing time and, perhaps, minor key adjustment. It’s a dandy! It is difficult to know how to price an instrument of this type as there are so few of them. We’ll put on a $2,495.00 buy-it-now, and see what happens.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this photo you can begin to see the ornate engraving that was done on these padless horns.<\/p>\n

\"Upper<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

\"Lower<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

Here you can see the low B and Bb key guard assembly\u00a0that was like those on Selmer’s Radio Improved model<\/a>. Also, note the left pinkie cluster from the Buescher Aristocrat<\/a>\u2014which these padless horns are actually descendants of.<\/p>\n

According to CyberSax<\/a>, the Selmer Padless saxophones were:<\/p>\n

…\u00a0Buescher stencils [that] had the Aristocrat body tube, but as much True Tone (1920’s) keywork as could be used, given the left bell keys.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Lower<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

\"Left<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n
\"Bow<\/a><\/h6>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

Now the seller refers to the\u00a0pad rings\u00a0as being made of leather, and most likely being original. This is most likely not the case. According to CyberSax<\/a>, these padless horns had rubber seals. So if indeed these seals are made of leather, they were replaced at some point in time.<\/p>\n

Naturally rubber seals break down over time. Bear, the owner of CyberSax, mentions that he has been unable to come up with a suitable replacement for these rings. If this horn is playable from top to bottom as the seller claims, then someone who worked on this sax has come up with an idea for replacement rings.<\/p>\n

\"Bell<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

\"Bell<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

In the next 2 shots you can see the Selmer name, but also the US designation. Selmer clearly wanted to make sure\u00a0that these saxes weren’t mistaken\u00a0for Selmer Paris horns.<\/p>\n

\"Bell<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

\"Neck<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Although the seller has put a Buy It Now price of $2,495.00 on this vintage horn, at present the offers are less than half of that amount. At the time of writing there were 6 bids on this Selmer Padless tenor. The high bid is $1,061.36. The auction runs until March 17.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to find out more about these Buescher-made, Selmer padless saxophones, check out both the CyberSax page<\/a>, as well as the\u00a0page about this model on The\u00a0Vintage Saxophone Gallery<\/a>. That will give you a place to start your research.<\/p>\n

\n
…this is just my blog<\/em>. <\/span> My \u201creal\u201d <\/b> website is<\/span> www.bassic-sax.info.<\/a> If you\u2019re looking for <\/span> sax info<\/strong>,<\/span> you should check it out too.<\/span>There\u2019s lots<\/em> there! <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

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There is a very rare saxophone up for auction right now. If you’re a saxophone collector, this just might be for you. A seller in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[150,640,660,646,644,629,218,198,643,31,136],"class_list":["post-17681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tenor-saxophone","tag-american-saxophones","tag-buescher","tag-ebay","tag-on-line-resources","tag-photos","tag-selmer","tag-stencil-horn","tag-stencil-saxophone","tag-vintage-horns","tag-vintage-sax","tag-vintage-sax-resources"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t