Mark vii

[jake]

There is a local listing for a Selmer Mark vii tenor for sale so I decided to give it a 10 minute test drive. I would really like to spend the day or even better a week with it to really get a good feel for it. I played it outside at 730 in the morning in an empty parking lot. Man that sound was bouncing off the parking garage and surrounding buildings. Gave it some awesome natural reverb for sure. At first thought the sound had a more natural subtle sound to it, a little less sharp and tinny that my Hawk tenor. The action definitely sounded felt smoother to me. The keys felt as if I were pressing little pillows, LOL. I played my metal Berg mp and even belted out an Altissimo A. The key work was the same but the orientation of the keys were slightly different, wouldn’t be much to get used to for sure. I did make a recording of the session which was just an improvised play time.
When listening back to the Mark vii and my Hawk I can hear some subtle differences but is it enough the upgrade? I’m sure I am eventually gonna do it but hard to make that decision when I’m just playing for fun at the time being and not finding major differences. Like Johnny said, you get the majority of the sound from your setup!! I have had this berg for well over a year but hadn’t really used it as it was too open for me at 120/0, but now it feels great.
I guess for now when I see some local horns for sale I wan’t to play test as many as I can to get a feel and decide what would be best for me.

[Michael Bishop]

When I bought my Trevor James Saxophones, I had seriously considered taking my $ and getting a Selmer Mark 6, but like you say I’m doing it for fun; so I didn’t see the justification in spending all of that $ on 1 Saxophone. I was able to take that same $ and buy 2 brand new Saxophones. That’s really good that you were able to play test it for yourself too and see firsthand the differences between the 2 Saxophones. I know between my Trevor James Saxophones and my Selmer Bundy Tenor, there is a HUGE difference between the 2 Saxophones, so making that decision for myself was easy. But, the Bundy is still a Selmer, so it’s a keeper for me! 🙂 I will still pull it out and play with it too. Buying my Trevor James Saxophones gave me something to that I feel good about; it’s all about having fun like you say, plus these saxophones are going to last me for YEARS to some, so getting them was the best thing for me to do over the long-term of playing.

Yes, there’s no question that your MP, ligature and reed is more important than just about anything like you say, so take that into consideration too…and, honestly, I’ve had to learn that I guess you may say “the hard way” LOL Your Berg Larsen is a 120/0?!? Man, that’s out of my league LOL I used to think it was up my alley, but as I’ve gotten more experienced I’ve learned what works for me and what doesn’t–all part of that learning curve LOL I love the big tip openings and have no problems playing them, but the chamber size is what is tough for me. For me, like a 115/2 would be right up my alley–good size tip opening (but not too big or too small) combined with a medium-sized chamber equates to a balanced MP for myself. That’s what basically my Claude Lakey 8* MP for Tenor Sax is and it’s working just absolutely beautifully for me and it’s easily becoming my “permanent, go-to” MP. Whether it’s high-screaming Altissimo or low subtones, it doesn’t matter. It took me a little bit of getting used to it, as it does with any new Mouthpiece, but it’s working REALLY great for me now that I have adjusted to it. My tone is far, far “smoother” and soothing with Claude Lakeys v.s. what I’ve used in the past. Claude Lakey makes their “Apollos” MP that is exactly the same specs. of the 8*, so it would be an pretty easy transition for me from the 8* to the Apollos MP. I actually called the company of Claude Lakey yesterday and spoke to them about the Apollos MP for Tenor Sax. After getting their personal insights and personally using the 8*, it seems like this is most definately the way to go. Funny thing is that these line of MPs were the farthest thing from my mind, until I walked into the local shop to get some reeds and saw one for sale. It was the same one that Johnny used in his Trevor James Saxophone review, so I naturally got curious and decided to use it…it just “clicked” with me right away but still needed some time to adjust to it.
I think the way you’re approaching it is good Jake: take the time to play test different Saxophones, and then you’ll know which way to go v.s. just taking the first thing we see. Selmers are great, no question about it–but nowadays there’s so many other options out there. You many find something that suites you much better for a lower price. I would never had discovered the Claude Lakey MPs without trying it for myself, but like I said it was the farthest thing from my mind. A similar thing could happen with yourself here too. I’ve met some guys here at the local repair shop that love the Old Conn Saxophones and won’t play with anything else, not even a Selmer! And for the exact same reasons that we’re talking about here. Long post LOL but hope this helps out a little bit.

[jake]

Totally agree there Michael. If you have the chance to play test something that is the best way, or have a return policy. Everyone is different, what works for one may not be the same for another. The Mark vii was def a nice step up but I wasn’t totally blown away by it so I couldn’t justify the cash for it. When I get my next tenor, I want it to be THE TENOR!! That will be the purchase that I want to keep as long as I’m playing so this is a purchase I won’t jump into as I have other saxes to play. These saxes rarely come for sale locally so when there is a chance to try one out, I want to take advantage of that. Of course if I was blown away by it, it would have been an easy decision to make.

[Michael Bishop]

That’s exactly right Jake. With my Trevor James Saxophones, I was, and still am, blown away with them. I’ll still be blown away with them for a long time to come 🙂 The projection on these Saxophones is just amazing. The thing about making a video for blog uploads is that it’s kind of a subjective thing because all is does is just give you a general idea of the Saxophone. Same thing with Johnny’s demo on the Trevor James Alto Sax and the Claude Lakey MP, but his demo was good enough for me to try the Claude Lakey MPs…..and I was blown away with the Claude Lakeys because they suited me very well so it’s a keeper for me, but like you said so well that doesn’t mean they will suite someone else very well. I have the Guardala Studio MP and what, but I wanted an MP that was versatile and well-suited for all kinds of music, from quite ballads to high-screaming blues (I have a blog upload coming probably next week sometime of high-screaming blues LOL So stay tuned…) I know of a few MP who get lots of requests to do video demos for their customers and refuse to do it because, again, it’s all subjective. It was explained to me that is because the customer who sees the video may get the impression that “I’m going to sound like that if I buy it”
At the very least, I would encourage you, if at all possible, to check into Trevor James–they’re giving other companies a run for their money…that’s an understatement. The owner of Massullo Music, Sandro, said at the annual NAMM Show that’s held in California every year, they had on hand a Selmer Mark 6 v.s Trevor James RAW Signature Custom Tenor. For every 10 people, 9 of them picked the Trevor James! I posted a couple of videos (again, it’s all subjective) one of them is Massullo Music at that show displaying the RAW Sigature Custom Tenor. But like you said, everyone is different–some folks may not be a fan of Trevor James like I am. The alto that I bought (I got loads of Alto uploads coming very soon, I will not/don’t like just uploading only on Tenor, I love the Alto too much to make that mistake) is of the Signature Custom line of Trevor James Saxophone that you see in these videos, only it’s Gold Lacquered. The Signature Custom line of Trevor James Saxophones comes in different array of finishes. The Tenor that I use is the SR Tenor Sax…it only cost me $1,600 and it is technically a pro-model Sax, but was “reclassified” when Trevor James released the Signature Custom line of Saxophone. So with the SR Tenor, you basically get a pro-model Sax at an intermediate price. I went ahead and posted a couple of links for the SR Tenor too LOL Again, it’s all subjective. But I can tell you personally….it’s a MONSTER Tenor Sax.

[Michael Bishop]

sorry, bad typing. I was trying to say that I know of a few MP makers (not just MP LOL) who refuse to do video demos because, quote, “it’s all subjective”

[jake]

Great reviews. That’s the dilemma we face. Get a vintage that will hold resale value if you decide to sell it later or grab a new sax for the fraction of the price. I think the newer saxes are coming a long way. I would love to try one out for sure. The problem is I have no dealers around me. I would probably have to take a 5 hour drive the the big apple which may happen along the line. LOL.
It would be nice to own a vintage sax but then again, I’m sure a nice new sax would play so smooth because of the newness. For me it all comes down to how it sounds and makes me feel. That is after all the important thing. Brand is irrelevant to me, as long as it is a quality made sax. And honestly I’m not to worried about resale cuz I plan on playing it from now on.

[Michael Bishop]

Good for you Jake of not getting caught up in that “I got to have that brand” type of thinking. There’s just too many high-quality Saxophones out there these days for really reasonable prices. Back in the day everyone was totally hooked on the Selmer Mark 6, but there weren’t near as many high-quality Saxophones as there are now. What about the Yamaha line of Saxophones, like the Yamaha YTS-23 or the Yamaha-26? They’ve been putting out fantastic Saxophones for years–all very reasonably priced too.
And check this out: A friend of mine did the following video on “Stencil” Saxophones. He’s shedding some light on the history of Vito Saxophones; which are great, great Saxophones. When you get a Vito Saxophone, you’re basically getting a Yamaha Saxophone as he explains…and there’s a couple of Vito Tenor Saxophones available on Amazon right now–brand new and fully serviced v.s. the used, re-serviced Vito that you see on this video below. As you’ve already mentioned, we have to remember that 90% of our sound comes from our MP/Ligature and reed set-up….don’t do any good to have a super high-quality Sax without a high-quality MP/ligature. What I’m lacking for my Tenor right now is a good ligature; I had planned on getting one a couple of weeks ago but I had $400 of unexpected family van expenses, but the good news is that I’m buying a good ligature before months end. The ligature I’m using right now is really cheap and “constricts” the sound a little bit…a good ligature is going to open up the sound/projection even more. Taking into consideration the results I’m already getting with the Claude Lakey as it is even with the cheap ligature that I am using for the moment…..I’m very excited about a high-quality ligature to say the least 🙂 Small things like that, which don’t cost a lot of $, go a LONG, long way. Click on the link from Amazon that I posted for you and take a look at the price of the Saxophone. I had SERIOUSLY considered going this route before getting the Trevor James because I had played a Vito Alto and knew first hand that they are great Saxophones.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SRZH0LW?colid=1PNAY4QDUSDMH&coliid=I22F82VGIY92D6&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl

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