
The Selmer Company continued to grow acquiring other legendary brands and makers such as Vincent Bach, Buescher, Glaesel, Ludwig, Musser, Emerson, and William Lewis & Son. The clarinet established a reputation for affordability and high quality and by 1978, sold over one million units. The clarinet was modeled after the famous Selmer Paris BT clarinet used by notable artists like Benny Goodman.

In 1948, Selmer produced the first successfully molded plastic clarinet called the Bundy Resonite 1400. In the late 1920’s Bundy purchased the American business from the Selmer brothers, while maintaining the exclusive distributorship of Henri Selmer Paris products in the US. Conn in Elkhart, it was known as the “Band Instrument City of the World.” In the late 1920’s in response to growing demand for the flutes, Bundy brought a young flute craftsman, Kurt Gemeinhardt from Germany to work for him. In the early 1920’s, Bundy moved his operations to Elkhart, Indiana in search of a stronger labor pool.

Hiring George Haynes, he began operating in Boston under the names “Original Haynes” and “Master Flute”. In 1920, Bundy moved into the area of flute manufacturing. Bundy expanded the business to incorporate selling and distributing instruments from other companies such as Vincent Bach, Martin, Ludwig, and Musser. In 1911, Alexandre returned to Paris to assist the family business, leaving his US interests in the hands of George Bundy. George Bundy began working in the store under the guidance of Alexandre Selmer. Alongside his performances, he opened a Selmer retail store in downtown New York with teaching and repair facilities. In 1909, Alexandre moved to New York City as the principal clarinetist for the New York Philharmonic. The Selmer clarinets grew quite a following and in 1904, even received a gold medal at the World’s Fair in St Louis. Alexandre Selmer moved to the United States performing as the principal clarinetist for the Boston Symphony. In 1885, Henri began making reeds, mouthpieces, and clarinets in Paris. Louis Gold Metal model instruments.The story of the Selmer Company dates back to the 1800’s with brothers Alexandre and Henri Selmer’s graduation from the Conservatoire de Paris. By comparing early verses later instruments, it becomes clear that some Adolphe Sax Selmer saxophones were assembled from the old Adolphe Sax tooling and other were put togther using parts and tooling from the Selmer St. All were stamped Adolphe Sax 84 Rue Myrha. Even so, its possible from this record to assemble a basic serial number chart for these instruments.

Bundy clarinet serial number search serial numbers#
The log book shows the serial numbers jumping around quite a bit for the Selmer/Adolphe Sax saxophones. Instruments manufactured after 1936 range in serial number from ~1350-3600. The record is much less complete after 1936.
Bundy clarinet serial number search series#
There is a fairly detailed record of these instruments recorded in a log book in the Selmer archives in Paris up to 1936 through serial number ~1364. Selmer Serial Number Lookup covers the following Selmer Saxophone Models: Model 22, Cigar Cutter / Super Sax, Radio Improved, Balance Action, Super Action, Mark VI, Mark VII, Super Action 80, Super Action 80 Series II. For example, the record shows that all of the recorded Adolphe Sax instrument sales between 1940-1941 were from instruments already manufactued between 1931-36. 100.00 or Best Offer +36.33 shipping Selmer Bundy Flute Serial 138674 In Green Case. 300.00 or Best Offer Shipping not specified Used Flute-Bundy by Selmer-A121. 107.99 or Best Offer Shipping not specified Vintage Selmer Bundy Silver Plated Flute w/ Hard Case all matching serial number. Any Adolphe Sax instrument sold after this date was most likely already made or assemble from pre-existing parts. Selmer Bundy Flute Silver w/ case Serial Number378038.

Its likely that production of Adolphe Sax instruments ceased at the onset of WWII sometime after May of 1940. The last Adolphe Sax saxophone recorded in the Selmer Paris archives was sold in 1944. Despite purchasing all of the assets of the Adolphe Sax Company in 1928, Selmer did not start selling saxophones bearing the Adolphe Sax name until 1931.
