Selmer Model 26

Hi everyone, I decided to join and share a story with everyone since I've been lurking and researching here.

My father who passed away in the mid 80's was a professional Saxist who mainly played tenor (and clarinet as-well in a symphonic orchestra.)

Unfortunately my mother sold his Tenor and Alto, along with other woodwinds to pay for his cancer treatment; save for one instrument, a Selmer alto which he had been restoring and using as a back up instrument before his lungs burnt out. The background of the instrument is unknown, though it may have belonged to my grandfather who was also a woodwind player.

Through the many years that have passed this instrument remained in my posession (even moving with me from Europe to Canada in 89.) It wasn't until this last week that for some reason my interest peaked once again into the Saxophone (I play guitar but would like to move on.) Having priced out many student instruments, I decided to pull out the horn and inspect it, and look into Selmer history.

It is my plan now to restore the instrument as best I can, I'm sure it leaks like a sieve as the pads are extremely old (last replaced in the 80's I assume.) The keys feel surprisingly responsive though I will replace the springs. I see this as an opportunity to learn more about the instrument, I've worked on guitars before but this is a whole other beast and I've always been fascinated by woodwinds and brass.

Somehow this thing isn't covered in rust, and I see no dents anywhere, the neck however is in nasty shape and could be replaced, and as you can see from the pics I still have one of his mouthpieces (it's as heavy as a boat anchor.) It's no wonder there are so many pre-war Selmers still kicking around, they're amazingly well built.

Here are some pics, I've thought about starting a blog to keep track of the progress.
I've included a pic of my father with his tenor which I believe was also a Selmer. Though it's impossible to know at this point I remember the hetching and logo on the horn even from a very young age (it stuck with me) when I used to hang out on stage while the band played.

The Model 26 (#11188) I believe was manufactured in 1929 according to the Selmer site. Any help pointing me to repair sites or online stores selling parts would be much appreciated. FYI my mother did at one point look into a luthier in the early 90's, she was told it wasn't worth the money as the labor cost would be too high; and thus, here we are.

Yes, I am still looking around for a student sax.

PS. Take care of your horns, they will outlive you.

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