This is a very nice original lacquer Selmer Mark VI tenor from 1968. The 147k tenors are medium between bright and dark. Not brash like a later serial VI, and not dark like a 5-digit. This one I would call medium to medium dark and rich and colorful to play, even on the older, mostly original pads. This is an excellent overhaul candidate, as it has no dents or dings, and no serious past repairs - just a few dings removed from the back of the bow and a resoldered Eb keyguard, and some very minor corrected neck pull down - about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 in severity. A longer neck cork would cover the lacquer loss from under the previous longer cork. Nice original case, beautiful lacquer, mechanically quite clean and unproblematic. This is priced low to make it a great deal for someone to buy and repad. You could also just replace a few hundred dollars worth of pads and it would play fine for a while if you wanted to. I figure, if you're in the market for a pro tenor, and you can afford to get a nice original VI, you almost might as well. It will hold its value and be a pleasure to own and play while you're enjoying it, and then it will be easy to sell if you ever need to. That's more true of vintage Selmers than of any other saxophone.
