He needs a new private lessons teacher. Vintage horns make great horns, and as Jim said, the 6M is hard to beat. It is extremely solid, and great to learn on. I wish that I'd ad the means to get one when I started. Oh and your comment "potentially great" is wrong; the 6M rocks!

Stacey, Find your son another instructor. I don't know what this guy is teaching, but he's not doing your son any favors here. Definition, I couldn't agree with you more. I'm not a big Selmer fan. One of the biggest reasons why is that I've always felt that Selmer "bought" their way into the school systems by offering really good deals to schools who sold and recommended their products. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but I graduated in 1991, so I first started band in 1983 (fifth grade). I played clarinet the first year before switching to sax in 6th grade. I took the old 10M in and played it a couple weeks, but it needed new pads and some adjusting. I played the schools Bundy for a couple weeks and HATED it! The band director thought I should just play the Bundy though because it "sounded better and the intonation was better". BULLSHIT!!! My dad had taken the 10M in to be repadded, and now this clown of an instructor wasn't going to let me play it! Well, dad set him straight. The only compromise was that I had to buy a new mouthpiece.....you guessed it, a SELMER that the SCHOOL sold! The damn thing made my sax sound more like a cello than a saxophone. I can remember one band concert in 7th grade where I had a nice solo in one of the songs we played. I had the old Otto Link Super Tone Master in my pocket, just waiting to sli[p it on when he wasn't paying attention. He noticed and give me hell for it after the concert, even threatening to take it away the next time I used it! The next time, was about 2 weeks later at a band competition. I knew he was ready to let me have it again, and I hid it in fear he might try to take it away! His anger faded when the judges rewarded us with solid ones and I our band took first place. I told them that I wanted my sax to stand out....and it sure did! I fought with this guy all through jr. high and 2 years of high school, and I eventually decided I'd had enough of high school band and quit band my Junior year. I played football instead, and I played with a jazz band. The 3 1/2 reed thing is absolutely ridiculous and I can't understand why so many instructors and band directors insist on such a heavy reed. A #2 or a #2 1/2 is much easier to play. I've seen so many students struggle with a 3 1/2 and decide to quit band because they're popping blood vessels! This is total ignorance!!! Why are they teaching this CRAP?

consaxman_jim, I seem to be in total agreement with you! I love my old 10Ms, I have two, one in pretty darn dood origional laquer from '42 and a silver one which will be gold plated eventually from '41. And not just the Conns, but just about any vintage horn is my preference over modern ones!

Keep in mind that the Selmer Company that makes the student-model instruments is connected to the Selmer Paris maker of pro instruments ONLY in that it was originally operated by a former student of Alexandre Selmer (George M. Bundy) and given exclusive rights to IMPORT Selmer Paris instruments. And, chances are, a local (somewhat unscrupulous) dealer, rather than the Selmer Company itself, was doing the pushing. As for insisting on one particular facing and reed strength for every student, that is one of my pet peeves. Granted, it is better than specifying one reed strength REGARDLESS of mouthpiece or facing used! I usually use a Hemke 3 or Vandoren 2 1/2 on my Selmer Soloist C*. I would find a 3 1/2 too heavy to get a clear sound and difficult and extremely tiring to control. For a beginner with an undeveloped embouchure it is absurd.