I possess a lovely 1936 Selmer balanced action alto sax. My dilemma is whether to sell it and buy a new one, repair it, or do both (but that could cost rather a lot). It's getting hard to play and I feel that even if I throw a load of money at it, it will still be old. I have seen a Selmer 80 Series II for a VG price, in fact I have tried it and it is just immaculate. I can't remember that it has all the fancy engraving my old one has, but it sounded good which is more important. Anyone out there got one of those ? Are you pleased with it ?
Any comments gratefully received...

Might it be worth getting a rough estimate from a repairman to see how much he thinks he can do and how much it'll cost?

From your post, it sounds like you've all but fallen for the new one and want it...

Selmer Balanced Action are highly desirable saxophones. I've just done a quick search and could only find one example at the usual suspects, but that was priced at £2,750 and marked sold. Of course vintage saxophones aren't for everyone (I play new selmers but haven't yet really tried vintage, almost for fear of feeling the need to go down that route!). I think, in your shoes, I would get a really good repair job done on the sax by a specialist then play test it against the new ones. If you prefer the new ones then you could sell the Balanced Action and probably recover the cost of the repair job in an increased sale price. With any luck it would cover the cost of a new Series II with enough left over for a nice new mouthpiece too.

EDIT: Forgot to add, all saxophones will get hard to play if given no attention over the years, the new ones are no less susceptible to this. Price to sort out will range from approx £200 for a good service to £3-400 if a major overhaul is required.

I have Series III tenor and alto saxes and I enjoy playing both of them. I know quite a few people prefer Series II to Series III, especially for alto.

I completely agree with you Tsax ~
an old Selmer ought still to be good, even though it could need work doing. Must say I don't know much about the balance action ones, but there's not too many sax players who wouldn't like a Mk VI

I should think it must be worth getting an estimate on to start with, then take it from there.

Thanks TSax for your reply. I have had a good quote for £350 for a total overhaul (even replacement of the mother of pearl on the keys) so I have decided to do that. It is just too special an instrument to leave uncared for. I will see how it goes when I get it back before doing anything else. I can manage to play it OK in its present state so it's sure to be better once it's sorted. It's going in a week tomorrow so I will let you know how it's playing when I get it back. Thanks for the very helpful comments.

Playing a saxophone just after it's been sorted out is great! I had my tenor serviced (not overhauled, but stripped down, put back together and adjusted) a few months ago and it was lovely to play afterwards. It went from being OK, but some difficulty on the bottom notes, to easy to play all over. When I took it in to Howarths to see what needed doing the verdict was that there was nothing major wrong but lots of little leaks all over and that it would benefit from a full service. I'm sure with the work you're getting done you'll have a fabulous sax when it comes back. My teacher has an SBA tenor and sounds great on it (as she does on her Yani soprano and Mark VI alto). Let us know how it goes.

My Selmar Soprano saxophone needs a good service. I brought it last year for my 18th birthday! I love it but it has gone all squeaky, and isnt easy to play

Ditto last time my flute was serviced - and I don't think that was an especially thorough job (£30's worth!) just a basic overhaul - as far as I know. So so lovely to play right after

Must have another one done... it was 2 years ago!

Hehe - I make a point of having my instruments serviced every summer. This year I'll probably get it done while I'm in the States, as my parents are refusing to let me take it with me!

It's a transport issue for me.

There's a very good repair man only about 20 miles away... but not reachable by public transport.

So... it's a case of someone being willing to take me or it, and collect it.

That is a problem... I can get mine done by a shop in town, or send it by DHL back to Hanson for them to do. I'm intent on learning to do it myself though!

It would be useful to be able to do it myself!

I wish I could afford a semi-decent backup flute so at least it wasn't a decision between "get it serviced" and "be able to practise" - then maybe I'd DHL it to Cheltenham.

I still havn't got around to selling my old clarinet so I've got that, but as my parents insist on my leaving it behind when we go on holiday I usually send it in then.

My serviced sax will be ready this Friday - can't wait to get it ! I'll post up all about it ...

Oooh, how exciting. Coincidentally I picked up my alto from being serviced this lunchtime. I hadn't been planning on getting it serviced but a spring broke so I took it in for that and ended up agreeing to a service that would include fixing the spring rather than go through the hassle and increased expense of taking it in again a bit later in the year.

I'll give it a play when I get home and see how it feels - when the same guy serviced my tenor at the start of the year it was lovely afterwards. Only problem is that I'm in the grip of a tenor obsession at the moment so I'm slightly resenting having to use my precious practice time checking out the alto.