BA type of thumb hooks on some early mark 6 soprnao saxs

[Tissot]

Hi, All:
Is it normal to see an early ( 1955~1959) selmer mk-6 soprano has a Balance Action / Super balance Action thumb hook ( un-adjustable ) ?? What's the point of having an unadjustable thumb hook when most of the offical models already have an adjustable hook ?:)

[J.Max]

Yeah, that's completely normal.

[Michael Ward]

I had a 62 Mk V1 sop that had the fixed thumb. That's the way they were. The ninos all had fixed thumbs. The sops probably changed when they switched to plastic. I don't understand what you mean by " official."

[AMASAX]

Selmer phased in the Mark VI soprano later than the alto/tenor/bari. I think a lot of the horns with the SBA thumb may be SBA models, just with later serial numbers. You can also check the style of keywork(SBA or Mark VI?) and the stamping/engraving verbiage to make the call. If it does -not- say Mark VI it may in fact be an SBA horn.

I've seen SBA/Mark VI stuff well into the Mark VI serials, over 100,000, even. Wanted to buy a 93,xxx soprano that was clearly an SBA last year, but didn't have the cash :)

[Michael Ward]

The one I had was 103*** .I'm pretty sure it was a VI but I've never seen a BA sop in the flesh. It had the straight, untapered neck like Trane's on the cover of Favourite Things.