I grew up with Buescher, Conn, and Selmer. When I was your age a Yamaha was a motorcycle. I bought Selmers ( Mark VI's) when i was ready for horns that would be my last. I think the Ref 54 rocks. I'm hearing that the keilwerths are falling apart. Selmer had a bad period with the Mark VII and the super 80. Now they are back on track with the Ref 54.

I hear you. The falling apart part is what I was most concerned with. Thanks for your comments. Super action 80 reference model 54 sounds like the one.

There has been some concern over the tone holes on the SX-90R, but I do not believe that there was ever a serious problem with the horns. You can't believe everything you hear, especially when the source is pro-Selmer and the US Selmer company has sought to buy up and bankrupt their competition since the 1940's! From a repair tech who services MANY different makes, Keilwerth saxophones are one of the best quality horns that you can buy. Don't be discouraged! They are a great horn!

Point taken. Since the tone holes have been the subject of many forums, why didn't Keilwerth simply own up to the problem and fix it? I would have thought that honesty and integrity would have gone a long way. Nuff said. Tell me about the sound, because that's really what it's all about. I'm not a professional and don't plan to be and I treat my horns very carefully. Aside from personal preferences, what causes the differences in these horns?

To answer your question, "Since the tone holes have been the subject of many forums, why didn't Keilwerth simply own up to the problem and fix it?" As I said, I don't believe that this was EVER a wide-spread problem as some sites and articles you may have read have made it out to be. I can assure you that Keilwerth has excellent customer service and that if you did have a problem with your horn, Keilwerth would take care of the problem. Since the speculation, I believe that Keilwerth has stepped up quality control to make sure that this is absolutely not a problem. If it really concerns you, look into the regular SX-90 without the rolled tone holes. The rolled tone holes give a warmer, darker sound like the vintage Conn's of the 30's The Keilwerth SX-90 sounds similar to a Conn 10M. It's as close as you're going to come to a modern Conn 10M. They're a great horn for blues, jazz, funk, bop, classic rock, swing and just about any kind of music, really. I think the Selmer is a little better suited for classical music. Try one! Jim

Jim, thanks for the feedback. Your comments have been very helpful. It's just like anything else, there are folks that are pro this or pro that. My "search engine" seems to be pointing me to pro Selmer. Jeff.