#AMATI KRASLICE SAXOPHONE SERIAL NUMBERS FULL#
#AMATI KRASLICE SAXOPHONE SERIAL NUMBERS PROFESSIONAL#

Richard Keilwerth worked with the Amati company until 1949 and Max worked with them until 1951.Īmati saxophones built after the war and into the 50's retained the name Toneking (see below), which Julius Keilwerth had originally used as the name of his top professional-model horns.

Amati's workers were recruited predominantly from former resident instrument companies, such as F.X.

The second of Amati's names, 'Kraslice', is the Czech spelling of Graslitz).

#AMATI KRASLICE SAXOPHONE SERIAL NUMBERS FULL#

It's known that the Nazi regime initially considered the saxophone a 'Western menace' and frowned on its use, but there were definitely a few companies that flourished and these horns occasionally do appear on eBay and are engraved with full Nazi regalia.Īnyhow, in 1948, the Keilwerth company was 'nationalized' and the workshops in Graslitz were taken over by the Czech collective combine, Amati (founded in 1946, according to Amati's website. There's no information that I could find about Keilwerth DURING WWII. 150 workers (Kohlert was still the largest instrument manufacturer, with over 600 employees). Julius Keilwerth fast became the largest saxophone manufacturer in Germany with appx. It's a bit uncertain if this process started before or after World War II, though. Julius Keilwerth started providing saxophone bodies for a variety of German companies that would then add their own keywork and other finishing touches.Julius Keilwerth stenciled some saxophones for Kohlert - and each borrowed heavily from each others' designs.Somewhat amusingly, around 1920 - 1930, most German saxophones, regardless of manufacturer, started to look almost identical. Considering the patent dates I've seen from Conn and lack of any saxophone patent by any Keilwerth, it's more probable that the German manufacturers borrowed these features from the Americans, rather than vice versa. However, there are quite a few other German-made horns I've seen that also have one or more of these features and it's been suggested many times that Conn actually borrowed from the Germans. That's about 20 or so miles from Graslitz, Czechoslovakia.Īt this point, an aside: these first horns (see the 'Early Models') borrowed much from the overall design of the Conn 'Virtuoso Deluxe' model New Wonder horns: additional inlaid pearl keytouches, microtuner necks, rolled toneholes, etc. They primarily manufactured saxophones for Adler (a small German manufacturer that disappeared after World War II) and FX Hüller (another small German manufacturer, the saxophone department of which Max helped 'develop' from 1923 to 1925).īrief geography lesson: Adler and Hüller were located in Markneukirchen, Germany.

After this apprenticeship, Julius and Max established a workshop in their home around 1925 or 1926. Julius Keilwerth first worked for the Kohlert company in Graslitz, Czechoslovakia (A.K.A. Johann Keilwerth had three sons: Max (1898 - 1968), Richard and Julius (1894 - 1962). Taiwan and the EX90 is assembled with parts produced by Amati. The ST90 is a student horn produced in the R.O.C.

Modern Horns, the SX-90R and EX-90 - and are essentially evolutions of the Toneking and New King models.

#AMATI KRASLICE SAXOPHONE SERIAL NUMBERS PROFESSIONAL#

The Modell Peter Ponzol, a limited edition professional horn available for just a few years.Champion, an intermediate model, that was stripped and used as the template for a couple Boosey & Hawkes and Amati horns.New King and Toneking (three to four variations of each stencilled as the H-Couf horns, Conn DJH Modified models, Selmer Bundy/Bundy Special and dozens of others).Early Horns (King, Soloist, Deluxe and Exklusiv models stencilled as the Selmer Pennsylvania - and each are slight variations on each other).Keilwerth has only had essentially a few professional models: That's obviously not the case: Keilwerth was founded in Czechoslovakia! The Keilwerth company itself doesn't know its full history: they've even insisted on their forum that all Keilwerth horns are engraved 'Made in Germany'. While there is a lot of information about Julius Keilwerth out there, a lot of it is in German (which I can't read) and it's also partial: no one seems to know the full story of the Keilwerth company and its association with Boosey and Hawkes (before and after they purchased the Keilwerth company), Selmer, Kohlert, Amati and several other smaller manufacturers.Julius Keilwerth and his brothers were involved with most of the German AND Czech saxophone market, so much so that it's impossible to just talk about Julius Keilwerth divorced from these other companies.The Keilwerth company is probably the most challenging manufacturer to write about for two reasons:

Amati kraslice saxophone serial numbers