The horn that really needs no introduction -- it's the most famous horn on the planet. If you've never played one, you're missing out on the best horn ever made. Let's be honest.

A lot of the Mark VI thru Super 80 horns could be ordered with optional keywork, plating, etc. It's very much like there are no two VI's exactly alike (take a look at the 147xxx nickle alto). I wish I could've bought that gold-plate bari with low A I saw 20 years ago for $10,000 ....

There were no Mark VII sopraninos, sopranos or baritones. They continued with the name of Mark VI up to and including part of the Super 80 era and were made with Mark VI tooling, with sometimes a bit different keywork (see the approximate serial number ranges, above).

- The sopranos, baritones and basses switched to the Super 80 design in about 1982
- The sopraninos switched to the Super 80 design around 1985.
- Low A altos extended into at least the first few years of the Mark VII production. They have the same design as other Mark VI low A altos and (generally) have "Mark VI" engraved on the bell-to-bow ring (I have not seen enough of these to create a serial number range).

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I've played at least a dozen Mark VI's in all pitches (except sopranino and bass), and I've come to a few conclusions about why the VI is the most popular and best horn ever made:

- The world's most economical and most ergonomic keywork (OK, a Buffet S1 is a bit better, but Buffet based their keywork design on Selmer's). Almost all modern horns base their keywork on the Mark VI.
- Decent intonation. See below.
- Very good timbre and quality of tone. Good projection.
- Quality of construction. The VI is a very rugged horn and, even when badly damaged, can be repaired and be put in almost new shape easily.

The Mark VI is definitely not the BEST horn in any single category, arguably, but it is the best all-around horn: the Mark VI was not designed as a specifically big band horn (like the Conn M series), specifically as a jazz horn (like the King Super 20), or as a classical horn (like the Buescher Aristocrat series). The Mark VI can fill all of those roles EXTREMELY well, but it doesn't necessarily do them the best: I much preferred my Buffet Dynaction alto for classical work and I thought that my gold-plated Aristocrat bari might have been the best sounding bari for classical, but the VI blew those horns away (sorry; pun intended) because the VI had much better keywork, feel and response that it drowned out the main advantages of my other horns, tone and better intonation.

There are a few "old wives' tales" about the VI. I mention them here for sake of completeness, not necessarily because they're true:

- Horns made in the 1960s are the best
- Horns made after 1965 have a different quality of brass and, because of this, have worse timbre.
- Horns made after 1965 or so have bad engraving because the head Selmer engraver died (this may actually be true).
- French-manufactured horns have more elaborate engraving, stretching to the bow, sound better and are worth more.
- There were only about 200 low A altos produced. (If this is true, I've seen too large a percentage of them. I've played one, too. Not bad.)
- Low A altos and silver low Bb altos have terrible intonation, worse than other VI's.

... and here's one that's actually true: some VI's have rather poor intonation. This is due to the fact that the VI is hand-assembled. Some just don't sound as good as others. The vast majority have good intonation.

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One kewl thing that I found in my travels was a complete take-apart diagram of the Mark VI. I've seen this posted in a couple places, but I found this particular diagram at Sax-on-the-Web.