Now that I'm the proud owner of two scroll shank (alto) LT's on 
account of receiving a gorgeous one yesterday from "saxaholic", I was 
wondering if anyone cared to fill in some trivial knowledge gaps I 
have.

They both measure up right around 0.058" tip opening and have the 
same round chamber, of course.  FL of 41 or 42 on both, and very 
close to radial with the exception of my long-trusted one measuring 
long (ignoring 0.002, it's radial like a 41/42 length).

Anyhow, I notice the one I just received is about an 1/8" longer, has 
wider side rails towards the tip (as well as the tip rail itself), 
and the top profile of the tip is more squarish than my original.  
Another thing is that there is a smoother transition from the beak to 
the body - my original is more "duckbill" like and has a crease 
before it sweeps up to the body.

They play and sound similar, but at some point, there were some 
definite design changes made in the period they were making LT's.

Anyone rife with Selmer trivia care to share some design history?

(And in case anyone is wondering - neither is for sale unless my 
teeth get knocked out and my jaw wired shut for the rest of my life)

My first LT was obtained in 1971 from my college teacher, who himself 
was a student of Larry Teal.  These very early LT's looked like the 
Selmer Soloists of the 1960's and early 70's, and were in fact made from 
the same blanks. 

Larry Teal wanted a round chamber and had Selmer copy the chamber of 
their metal classical models (like Marcel Mule and Fred Hemke played) 
into the hard rubber Soloist blanks.

Tip opening of alto LT (Larry Teal model) was supposed to be .060" or 
so, and yes, a "long facing".

The tenor LT (which is HORRIBLE to play) was .066" with a 24-25mm facing 
length (48-50).

This facing had to be used with very hard reeds, such as Vandoren 4.  
This facing was used in order to produce a very dark tone that contained 
more "odd numbered" overtones.

The LT tenor is especially edgy (at least by classical standards).  Its 
tone is cold and hard, not at all how a classical tenor saxophone should 
sound.*  It can be "fixed" by taking out some of the "rollover" baffle 
just behind the tip rail, and also increasing the tip opening to at 
least .080".  Better yet, save time and energy, throw it in the 
trashcan, and buy a Vandoren T35, which gives a good classical tone 
right out of the box.

Or buy the Selmer metal classical tenor model, E facing, and touch up 
the facing.  (Selmer has not yet discovered how to face a mouthpiece 
consistently and evenly)  That is, if the player will understand that 
metal is not just for rock and roll.

Paul Coats

*  For reference to THE DEFINITIVE classical tenor sax sound, listen to 
anything by James Houlik.

zed_saxmaniax wrote:

> Now that I'm the proud owner of two scroll shank (alto) LT's on
> account of receiving a gorgeous one yesterday from "saxaholic", I was
> wondering if anyone cared to fill in some trivial knowledge gaps I
> have.
>
> They both measure up right around 0.058" tip opening and have the
> same round chamber, of course.  FL of 41 or 42 on both, and very
> close to radial with the exception of my long-trusted one measuring
> long (ignoring 0.002, it's radial like a 41/42 length).
>
> Anyhow, I notice the one I just received is about an 1/8" longer, has
> wider side rails towards the tip (as well as the tip rail itself),
> and the top profile of the tip is more squarish than my original. 
> Another thing is that there is a smoother transition from the beak to
> the body - my original is more "duckbill" like and has a crease
> before it sweeps up to the body.
>
> They play and sound similar, but at some point, there were some
> definite design changes made in the period they were making LT's.
>
> Anyone rife with Selmer trivia care to share some design history?
>
> (And in case anyone is wondering - neither is for sale unless my
> teeth get knocked out and my jaw wired shut for the rest of my life)
>
>
>
>
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