Vintage Selmer Paris Mazzeo Model Series 9* Clarinet
One of several professional clarinets we are offering for sale. This is a vintage Selmer Paris Mazzeo system Bb clarinet. S/n U97XX makes this a 1966. While you do occasionally see a cheap Bundy or even Signet Mazzeo Model, this is the full-on pro version made in France. In twenty-five years of business, we've owned two. This one is built on a Series 9* grenadilla body with a reversed taper (conical) bore which is slightly smaller than the Series 9 (0.577 nominal) and moderately undercut throat tone holes—a slightly darker, more resistant clarinet moving out of the jazz age and intended for classical and symphonic settings.
Invented by Rosario Mazzeo in the early fifties and first produced by Selmer France in 1959, the Mazzeo Model includes a mechanism offering several alternative fingerings for throat A and Bb. This alleviates the stuffiness of standard Boehm fingerings, and provides several alternate ways around during those fast passages. On this version, the mechanism can be disabled in about two seconds simply by sliding a release pin, turning the clarinet in to a typical Boehm configuration. Note also that the adjusting screw for the mechanism has been sealed with clear acrylic nail polish. This is to save you the trouble of crawling around on the carpet for half an hour with a flashlight and powerful magnet looking for the tiny, spring-loaded set screw which you might have otherwise assumed is a much larger, harder-to-lose standard screw . . .
This one is in exceptional condition: wood is a great billet of aged grenadilla with a nice tight grain and no chips, cracks or repairs. Tenons are nice and square with no wobble between joints. Nickel plating about 99% with just a very tiny bit of wear as seen in the photos. Best of all, this one is just through the shop in February of 2026 where it was disassembled, cleaned, bore oiled, hand polished, lubed, had all new tenon corks installed, and was repadded in the traditional manner with high quality felt pads—mostly Ferree's double bladder, pressed felt. Nicely regulated, plays very nicely across the entire instrument with a nice, dark tone and very good projection.
Vintage Selmer HS* clarinet, cap and ligature included, as is the original case in good structural condition but with some external wear.
A hard-to-find clarinet, and very rare to find one uncracked, completely overhauled, and with all the Mazzeo upgrades intact!
