US collaboration with the French based Selmer or not, let's be honest here; it is STILL a Taiwan made Selmer horn, so I went into this VERY skeptical! HOWEVER, the doubt turned out to be unfounded! Apart from the aesthetics which in typical Selmer tradition were stunning to the eye, the initial quality was immediately apparent! EVERY key depressed fluidly and naturally and with ZERO rattle. The intonation was as close to perfect across the ENTIRE range from low Bb all the way to an overblown high G, and that alone was impressive! Now obviously that was not done on the piece of junk Selmer plastic mouthpiece which I immediately threw away; I use my standard Otto Link New York Super Tone Metal to help this baby sing, and boy, does this horn sing! The keys move effortlessly; the horn sits easily on the right thumb rest, which, while it is metal, is adjustable. I put a piece of mouthpiece bite padding on the bottom of the curve of mine for additional comfort.. The thumb rest behind the octave key is uncomfortable though, being nothing more than a stub of metal. I resolved this by again, using a rubber bite pad cut to shape and stuck onto the thumb rest to provide some padding for comfort. It is called a "Professional" horn, and really I suppose it is a "Step Up" level horn for those that are the purists, but heck, I use this for my jazz gigs and I LOVE it!!! Best jazz tenor I EVER owned and for the price you can NOT find another pro level horn! A DEFINITE "BUY" recommendation here!