Buffet Super Dynaction=1957-1975 Buffet Dynaction=1950-1957 Buffet S A=1940-1949 Buffet=Powel=1930-1939

yeah jamterry that's what i know too. first of all, we were discussing the s-u-p-e-r balanced action, which started at 46. indeed the balanced action started at 35 to the best of my knowledge but the buffet model of that time certainly didn't have the features selmer put into their horns, such as RH bell holes etc.

The Super Balanced Action is an upgrade of the Balanced Action which began in 1936. The Selmer Balanced action was based on the Buffet design that became known as the Dynaction. It may have been called something else for a few years prior, but Buffet developed the action a few years prior. If you hold an early Dynaction next to my 1952 Selmer SBA, they are very similar. Not identical, but very similar. There were very few Buffet saxophones sold in the US in the early to mid thirties. Most saxophones were made in the US. Even those sold by Selmer were made by Conn or Buescher for the most part. The US Selmer company under George Bundy had set up their headquarters in Elkhart, IN. They were better able to market the expensive imported French saxophones better than Buffet. Buffet had limited marketing and distributorship in the US. They were well known for their clarinets, but not so much their saxophones. Although there may not have been many Buffet saxophones in the US prior to 1950, the design had been kicking around Europe and France for some time. Jim

interesting what you say about the distribution. maybe we are too far off the original topic here, but just to conclude, i'm not sure you understand this point: yes, the sba might look like the dynaction, but the question is what came first. in 35, when selmer made balanced action, the existing buffet model was far from similar, very far. it is called powel because the designer was from that flute family, amasing horn actually, but doesn't include the features of the balanced action in any way. buffet-powell has left hand side bell holes, selmer has right hand side, for example. the next model by buffet, SA, has right hand side bell holes but that was in 1940, 5 years after selmer already made saxophones with RH bell holes. i can not find any horn that had those things at that time except selmer, correct me if i'm wrong. moreover, one of the main changes in the sba is the left and right hands are not in a straight line, a design that lasted through the vi up until now. buffet hornes have that feature starting from S1, which is 73. it looks more like buffet learned from selmer and not the other way around.