- #Selmer reference 54 alto antique how to#
- #Selmer reference 54 alto antique serial number#
Now let’s for a moment turn that around, and say that a buyer got taken by a seller, and paid top dollar for a counterfeit. Until now we’ve assumed that these counterfeit saxophones could be spotted, and/or buyers are paying less for them than they would for the real, brand name horn.
Any Selmer Paris horn that’s being sold for $1,200, or even $1,800 is likely a counterfeit. You’re not likely to get a real Selmer Paris horn for $1,200-unless it’s stolen-and you don’t want that one either. If something is too good to be true, it probably is. 
A second pair of eyes is always a good idea, and can be helpful in doing research while you’re busy play-testing the horn.Take along a friend who plays sax, or your teacher.If something seems not quite right, it likely isn’t.Bring your smart phone with you and confirm things while you have the sax in your hands.
#Selmer reference 54 alto antique serial number#
Get the serial number of the horn ahead of time, and research what features the horn should have. Know A LOT about the brand and model of saxophone you want to buy. What can you do to protect yourself from buying one by accident? No matter where you live you can run into counterfeit saxophones. Source: sax.co.uk What can you do to prevent yourself from buying a counterfeit saxophone? It is not laser cut it does not have an oval around the ® the font is different the laurel leaves are different. The sax below illustrates what real Selmer Reference 54 engraving looks like on an alto. Another thing that gives the Craigslist horn above away as a counterfeit sax is its engraving. The Reference 54 alto below is Selmer’s antique finish. Therefore, it is up to the buyer to carefully research the model of Selmer in question, and carefully compare it to the saxophone they are considering buying. It should be noted on the later editions of the Reference 54 alto from Selmer, the chromatic F# key and high E high do more closely resemble those of the counterfeit saxophone. A real Reference Alto from Selmer Paris looks like this…. The high E key is also flat, and level with the other left palm keys *. The real Selmer Reference horn also has round chromatic F# key *, as well as a round, MOP front F key. The Reference horns don’t have double arms on the low Bb, B, and C keys. While necks might have been lost and replaced, what immediately jumped out at me was the double arms on the bell keys and some of the key shapes. It should have one that has a Selmer logo on it like this… There is no original Selmer neck with the horn. The model only comes in antique and dark lacquer. The finish is not one offered by Selmer for its Reference 54s. The tenor is very easy to identify as a counterfeit: Counterfeit saxophone #1: fake Selmer Reference 54 tenor I just happened across these while perusing Craigslist to see if I could find a vintage sax bargain, but instead I found horns to illustrate my counterfeit article.īoth horns were sold by the same seller-ostensibly because he has throat cancer. 
There might be Yani and Yamaha fakes in the local market as well, but I wasn’t looking for them.
It just so happened that the two saxophones for sale in Vancouver this summer, were both Selmer knockoffs.
#Selmer reference 54 alto antique how to#
Would you know how to spot a fake-regardless of the brand? Selmer, Yanagisawa, and Yamaha saxophones are often copied and sold as the real thing. Why? Well even if you’re like me, and don’t generally buy horns online, you could still encounter fake horns. Then of course I took off on holidays for over a month.Ī thread on the Woodwind Forum about a knockoff Yani reminded me about the in-progress article, so this morning I began nearly from scratch, to get my head around all the permutations that distinguish a fake from an authentic Selmer Paris saxophone.ĭuring the summer I came across a couple of ads on Vancouver’s Craigslist, which should get all of us-regardless where you live-thinking. That article got so complicated to research, that I put it aside while I was playing in a musical. Yes, there are most definitely counterfeit saxophones in Vancouver, CanadaĪ number of months ago I started writing a fully illustrated, updated piece on how to spot counterfeit Selmer Paris saxophones.
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