Selmer Super Balanced Action Tenor Saxophone SBA 1954 Original Lac

Update: Just overhauled by Matt Stohrer and new photos coming soon. Original resonators reused on the new pads, and it plays better than new.

This is as close to a new Selmer Super Balanced Action tenor saxophone as you are likely to find. This thing is amazing. it comes with all original pads, and the original metal Tonex resonators are all still present on the original pads from 1953. The excellent original Selmer factory setup feels great under the fingers. If you are going to play this seriously, you will probably want to get either all new pads (reuse the original resonators) or at least replace some pads. But it does still play surprisingly well on the current 66 year old pads. It has a sweet, warm voice with plenty of power. A bit more spread and warm than a typical 50’s Mark VI would be. Darker than any modern Selmer, but with a nice focused lyrical core to the tone. There’s that delicate thread in the center of the sound that you can grab onto with vintage Selmers that makes them especially pleasant to listen to.

There are no resolders, no dents, no dings. No neck damage, bell flare and bow are perfect. The original neck has the matching serial number to the body. The only past repair is a small dent removed on the bow, and a few really small dings removed from the back of the body tube that are hard to see. It looks very good now. I tried to make the removed dent look as bad as possible in the photos, but it looks quite a bit better in person. After watching the market pretty closely for the past ten years, I can say with confidence that this is one of the nicest SBA tenors that still exists. If you want to buy it and also get it overhauled by Matt Stohrer as part of a deal, I have an overhaul spot reserved with Matt. His work is among the best I have seen, and he is pretty serious about saxophone repair.

So that’s what you get. A super nice orignial lacquer SBA tenor with original pads from one of the most desirable years in excellent condition. This horn has great intonation and great ergonomics. It is maxed out on beauty with the dark honey original lacquer. It comes with the gorgeous original Chesterfield case. You really can’t beat this SBA tenor saxophone if you want something that does it all. Super Balanced Action tenor saxophones are going up, and this is one of the best in the world.

Only one available! If you want to buy a crazy matched set of 53xxx SBA alto and tenor, check out the matching alto here: https://www.getasax.com/product/selmer-super-balanced-action-alto-saxophone-sba-original-lacquer-1953-53069-excellent/