So far on all the References I tried, I noticed that the octave key comes down with a pronounced thump or more accurately a heavy clunk because there seems to be a split-second lag-time from when you press the key to when it closes.

Everything snaps into place, except the octave key. It feels good in the hands, and all the keys fit right under the fingers as you would expect from a Selmer. When you pick up the horn, you can feel a horn of substance. The only nod to the original as far as the keywork goes is a pearl for high F instead of the teardrop key more in use today, and a round instead of elliptical pearl for the side F# like you would find on a Mark VI. What they did was to take a 1954 Mark VI alto which they found in New York which epitomized the best aspects of the model in terms of sound, study its specifications and then reproduce it exactly, with only the keywork updated. Selmer was no longer the dominant maker of saxophones. For one thing, companies like Keilwerth, Yamaha and Yanigasawa were building quality saxophones, giving Selmer their first real competition in years. Selmer realized that the increased demand for Mark VI's on the vintage market represented an opportunity for them to reclaim some of their prominence. With this saxophone, prominent American brands like Conn, Buescher, Martin and King would soon cease all saxophone production or be reduced to making only student level horns, or go out of business altogether. What was interesting about the Mark VI was that Marcel Mule, the eminent classical saxophonist had a hand in its design, yet classical players didn't take to it, but jazz players did in droves and soon it seemed almost no one played anything else. Of course it was forgotten that when the Mark VI replaced the Super-Balanced Action, many players of the time were saying the same thing. Still, there were enough players and collectors bemoaning the fact that there was no longer any Selmer saxophone that could compare to their beloved Mark VI's. It was replaced by the Mark VII, which did not receive a warm reception from Selmer devotees and the saxophone market in general and consequently, after only a couple of years, was replaced by the Super Action 80, followed by the Series II and more recently the Series III.

It was produced from 1954 through 1974, a twenty year run. The Selmer Mark VI is probably the most popular and also most costly vintage saxophone on the market.

Chinese selmer saxophone