Keilwerth brass instrument models

The catalogs and the information collected in the serial number list below gives the following overview of Keilwerth brass instrument models. Keilwerth didn't make rotary valve instruments and no other brass instruments than trumpets, cornets, flugelhorns and trombones.

The main brass model names were the Toneking, the (Toneking) de Luxe and (Toneking) Super de Luxe, later with the '2000' extension.

* the discussion about the system and the logic in Keilwerth sax modell names is a difficult one.

There are a few examples of a The New King trumpet (with early serial numbers: 0048 and 1468 or without and one - in black and gold - with a late 60's serial number). These have quite a different engravings, the one flowerish, the other straight. They seem to be the quite similar to the early Toneking instruments and until now are only reported from UK, Australia and Norway. I also found a reference to a Julius Keilwerth The New King de Luxe trombone and a The New King trombone with serial number 21.  The New King was a model name used for JK saxophones from before WWII until 1970. 

There's one example of a Keilwerth trumpet branded Broadway King, serial 337. It showed up in Australia.

There are quite a few Keilwerth 'Student' trumpets and 'Student' trombones known. The Student instruments are described as the most economically priced model in the Julius Keilwerth program, and  therefore especially suited to students and beginners. The Student saxophones and flutes (but no Student trumpet/trombone) appear together with De Luxe 2000 and Super de Luxe 2000 instruments in the catalog with the 1979 pricelist. The Student model in saxophones is dated between 1968 and 1988 by Uwe Ladwig. In the 1980's flyer Student trumpets, trombones and saxophones and flutes are offered. Although serial numbers for Student trumpets and trombones are in between those of the Toneking and the Toneking 2000 series, I believe they were made in the 80's, after the Toneking (de Luxe) 2000 instruments. I believe both the Student and the Toneking 2000 instruments were supplied by other makers than Keilwerth, using the serial numbers of those makers. For the '2000' instruments that maker probably was Blessing, they are pretty identical to the Blessing Scholastic. Like the Toneking de Luxe 2000 cornet. The Blessing serial number list would date that one to 1971. For the Student instruments I'm not sure but B&S/Weltklang might be a candidate. The Student saxophones in the 70's and 80's were first made by Amati, and then by B&S, according to Helen Kahlke.

A trumpet, a trombone and a flugelhorn are just named 'Julius Keilwerth'. They are amongst the latest Keilwerth brass instruments

Then there are rare examples named Modell AT (trumpet) Toneking Exclusive (trumpet) and Modell SX (trombone). A Modell ST trumpet was bought in 1990, a ST trombone was mentioned in a Spanish Ebay-ad. Exclusive, SX and ST were also saxophone model names from the end of the eighties, for the AT model name I have no clue.

The Keilwerth instruments were for a long time marked 'Made by Keilwerth, Germany' and not 'BRD' or 'West Germany'. The use of BRD was discouraged by the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany itself, because it was considered to be derogatory (GDR) jargon. The term was not banned by law, but its use was discouraged. The trumpets in the 200.000 range are marked Julius Keilwerth W Germany. In 1973, the Bundesgerichtshof made a ruling that Made in Germany does not enable people to properly distinguish between the two Germanys of the time, so 'Made in West Germany' and 'Made in GDR' became popular. 

  King Super 20, 1947 serial number 295886   Keilwerth De Luxe ca 1955 serial number 1104

King Super 20 Symphony Silversonic 1966 serial number 415937,   Keilwerth Toneking de Luxe ca 1965 serial number 12369

Keilwerth stencils branded otherwise

Keilwerth used at a certain point instruments made by others, but they also made/sold instruments that were marketed under different other names, so called stencils. These instruments were mainly sold in the VS and Canada.

Kenwood

A 'Made by Keilwerth' trumpet branded Kenwood, was sold on Ebay in 2014. It has the valve bow and guide of the early 'no serial' Keilwerth trumpets and valves numbered 13,14 and 15 which makes me believe it's one of the oldest Keilwerth stencils. ,

  Kenwood valves numbered 13,14,15 source Ebay.com 2014

Van Hall

A few 'Made by Keilwerth Germany' trumpets (serial numbers 2058, 2117) are marked Van Hall. It's identical to the Keilwerth Toneking. The serials would date it in the late fifties. They are both in Canada, which suggests that Van Hall was a brand from a Canadian seller....

Van Hall trumpet 'Made by Keilwerth Germany', serial nr, 2058, coll. Kaleb Hagel, Canada

It's not clear from where the trademark 'Van Hall' comes. There is a Kurath (Pre Willson) Silver 3v BBb tuba stencilled as a Van Hall. Kurath started in 1950, and Van Hall 'made a load of bad instruments in Holland' according to a source. There are several Van Hall (alto and tenor) saxophones, made by Keilwerth with serial numbers dating them to 1968 - 1976. They often are named 'Van Hall Luxor'. Luxor was in the mid seventies/early eighties a German label for instruments sourced from various makers and countries. Keilwerth made saxophones for Luxor, according to Keilwerth (Gabi Kermann). The above non-Luxor Van Hall would be from an earlier date.

Some instruments 'Made by Keilwerth' are marked 'Hamilton'. The one with serial number 22318 was purchased from Grossman Music Corporation in the early 1960s, according to Horn-u-Copia. Hamilton was a trade name of Grossman Music Co., a musical instrument distributor based in Cleveland Ohio. It was founded by the brothers Henry and Julius as Grossman Brothers in 1922 to distribute 'only Stringed and Band Instruments'. The serials of these Keilwerth Hamiltons, betweeen 18.3xx and 22.3xx nicely fit into the Keilwerth range, albeit that they would have been made around 1970 and not in the early 60's. There are other Hamilton trumpets mentioned on Horn-u-Copia and Trumpetherald.com with serial numbers in the 55.000-60.000 range, a HUC Hamilton with serial 142.755 and one on Ebay with serial 717.533, obviously from other suppliers. The Hamilton Supreme is stated to be similar to the Blessing Standard. Some known serial numbers of cornets and trumpets in the 59xxx range and dating of these to the early fifties is consistent with the Blessing serial numbers, but another Hamilton Supreme with serial nr 16448 is not.

La Sete

And there are 'La Sete' trumpets 'Made by Keilwerth Germany'. Those also appear to be stencils for the US market, a practice well known from the Keilwerth saxophones. La Sete is believed to have been the house brand of the Barthold brothers music store chain in Southern California, it was also used by Splevins Music Center, 8834 W. Pico Boulevard of Los Angeles, selling band instruments and dissolved in 1967. (The LA in La Sete could thus refer to Los Angeles. 'Sete' is also found as Séte and Seté). The La Sete trumpets in the 18.000 - 22.000 range definitely are Keilwerth instruments, as they are marked 'Made by Keilwerth Germany'. In the lower serial numbers (500-1800) there are instruments 'Made by Keilwerth' but also instruments 'Made in Germany' that are identical to the Wohlrab 8N and 15N model. Splevins also sold a La Sete engraved trumpet 'Made by Wohlrab Germany'. Wohlrab is believed to be a trademark from another Nauheim company, Bauerfeind. (Bauerfeind builds valvesets and had a mr. Wohlrab making their trumpets). There are several La Sete trumpets (in the 7000 range) marked only "Made in Germany". My guess is that they are also from Bauerfeind as they have a lot similar with other Wohlrab instruments. Then there are La Sete trumpets from 'Elkhart, Ind.", with serials in the 150.000 range. So while there were a few 'real' Keilwerth trumpets sold under the La Sete brand, like Hamilton they sourced from other makers as well.

And by the way, Elkhart, Indiana is where Blessing produced their trumpets, the company that provided Keilwerth with trumpets in the later years. The La Sete instruments from Elkhart are pretty similar to those Blessings/Keilwerths.

Keilwerth also produced/sold instruments under the Crestone brand, mainly  saxophones. These seem to have been sold in the fifties in Canada, according to a thread on Trumpetmaster. There are also trumpets and cornets with the Crestone brand: a pre 1954 Crestone cornet is reported, with 'Germany' on the valves but not 'Made by  Keilwerth' and a trumpet 'Made in Germany' with serial number 5611574. There also was an Eb tuba with the Crestone label sold through Canadian auction site Kijiji in 2014, reported to be 'made by Keilwerth' and 'made in the sixties'. I think these were not made by Keilwerth.

And then there's a connection to Hopf. Horn-u-Copia states that Hopf in 1948 fled the Graslitz region and relocated in Taunusstein-Wehen under the name Willy Hopf & Co. They started making woodwinds after the relocation. For brass instruments, they stencilled the products from their peers from the former home country. "The top line came from Keilwerth", according to Horn-u-copia. That's confirmed by a statement of Gerhard Julius Keilwerth, who is quoted on the Markneukirchner Museum forum saying that a Hopf New Sound trumpet was built by Julius Keilwerth somewhere between 1965 und 1973.

But as the Hopf New Sound may look quite a lot like the Keilwerth Super de Luxe with it's brass bows, there are a lot of differences; the Hopf has a hexagonal moutpipe reciever and water key, a different 3rd slide ring, the Keilwerth Super de Luxe has a micro tuner, a bell ring and two brackets in the tuning slide. And the Hopf New Sound instruments don't have a serial number as far as I know. One of them has valves numbered 169,170,171 which doesn't point in the Keilwerth direction either. Norbert Böpple (www.jbs-brass.de) told forum member Rainer H. that the Hopf was completely built bij Bauerfeind for Keilwerth and then traded to Hopf. That seems to be more accurate: traded by Keilwerth but not built by Keilwerth. The Hopf New Sound turns out to be identical to certain Wohlrab instruments (Symphonic S), Wohlrab being a Bauerfeind trademark.

Hopf & Keilwerth: different: Hopf New Sound   Keilwerth 11547 Super de Luxe

(Curt Wohlrab jun. managed a music shop, Musik Haus Wohlrab GmbH, after WWII. It was located at the address Hauptstrasse 182 in Heidelberg, before the war the address of a jewish owned umbrella shop Frank und Cie. Curt Wohlrab acquired patents for his valveless trumpets in Germany and the USA. Bauerfeind had a man named Wohlrab building their trumpets. I guess Curt Wohlrab later on worked for Bauerfeind or cooperated with them and gave his name to the Wohlrab instruments.) 

A trumpet marked Keytone Rexton is, according to the Ebay seller, also a Wohlrab and identical to the Hopf New Sound.

Keytone Rexton (source Ebay2015)

There are also 'Keytone Solist the Luxe' and 'Keytone Gold Star' trumpets that are identical to Wohlrab/Bauerfeind instruments.

There's a Toneking from Musik Barth in Stuttgart with the JK logo, bought new in 1958, with totally different details.

And there's a Toneking (sr.nr. 1690) with an A and H added to the logo on the bell. That makes it read like AKH, suggesting A.K. Hüttl, another Czech/German instrumentmaker. This instrument was sold on Ebay in 2014 by a Detroit saxophone shop. The seller added that "Rumor has it that this horn was sent back from Germany with Detroit clarinetist and Herb Couf, who eventually stenciled Keilwerth saxophones.  We can neither confirm or deny the story". ..... 

Superba 1 and Superba 2

In an auction from 2012 a Keilwerth Superba 1 is offered. This trumpet has a pinky hook that looks familiar from older Keilwerths and looks like a Toneking. Another Keilwerth Superba 1 was bought second hand in 1978, serial number 25868 and has the same pinky hook and valve caps but braces in the main tuning slide and a second valve adjustment handle. It states 'Made exclusively for H.Couf by Julius Keilwerth West Germany'. It looks a lot like the Keilwerth Super de Luxe model, but with Blessing like valve caps. In 2018 a Superba 2 made by Keilwerth for H.Couf was offered on Ebay, serial nr. 18254, it looks similar to the afirst mentioned Superba 1 and thus to the Toneking Model. An H Couf Superba 1 flugel that's mentioned on Trumpetmaster with serial number 265647 might be from a different maker ('Conndirectorfan' lists it as a Blessing).

Herbert "Herb" Couf (February 15, 1920 – July 8, 2011 in Michigan) was an American clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, music store owner, music instrument manufacturer executive, and an importer of music instruments. He was based in Michigan and that's were all (or most) of the brass Superba's are found. The Superba model name is also used for saxophones that were made by Keilwerth for Couf. From 1965 to 1986, Herbert Couf, then president of the WT Armstrong company, had three Keilwerth models stencilled for him under the model name "H-Couf": the "Superba I", "Superba II" and "Royalist". These instruments were built in Germany and mainly corresponded to the Toneking Special (Superba I), Toneking (Superba II) and New King (Royalist).

Keilwerth Superba 1, source Heritage Auctions 2012

It seems that in later years Keilwerth procured instruments from Blessing, Elkhart USA (said Helen Kahlke). Evidence is of course the similarity between Keilwerth and Blessing marked instruments.

Keilwerth Super de Luxe 2000 flugel serial nr. 240409 (source: Ebay)      Blessing Artist flugel serial nr. 251636 coll. Peter Willemsen, Nld.

Blessing Scholastic serial nr.  248466                                                                          Keilwerth De Luxe 2000 serial nr. 241655

Blessing Scholastic serial nr. 244980                                                                          Keilwerth Toneking de Luxe serial nr. 240976

Other evidence can be found in the serial numbers (see serial number pages). Keilwerth brass instrument numbers make a sudden jump, first to the 100.000 range, with mostly 'Student' instruments and then to the 200.000 range with the 'De Luxe 2000' and 'Super de Luxe 2000' models like the above flugelhorn. The 6-digit serial numbers in the 200.000 range fit very well in the Blessing serial number list; Blessing reached those in the seventies. The 220.xxx to 330.xxx numbers would then place production of these Keilwerth instruments (most of the Jazzophons included) in the 1975-1983 range (from 1983 Blessing is said to have used a prefix to their numbers). The Keilwerth Toneking De Luxe 2000 would thus be a Blessing Scholastic, with identical design, valve block,valve caps ..... Blessing is said to have produced also for other German sellers in the 70's and 80's. So based on the serial numbers one could assume that Keilwerth bought their brass in Elkhart from 1975 till 1980. A little more research is needed to get the models sorted out.....