How to get a bright sound from a keilwerth tenor sax

They couldn't vibrate the china in the cabinet, and the metal on the walls properly for a rocker like me. I passed up a couple of unibrow Zephs for my ugly duckling. I went for the sound on that one, not the looks. My Zephyr is from 1950, so it has the newer, Super 20 style key guards. He's the one who'll have bought them all when all the decent vintage tenors in the world are off the market. :wink: Actually, I don't have nearly as many as Sarge, so it's him you should worry about. There you go Pete, with that exaggeration again.I only have 150. But my recently acquired backup horn just pops out altissimo like it was a standard range note.Р”Вue to their unknown status as a decent horn, this message will self destruct at some point so the secret will remain a secret. For a while I thought it was due to not playing enough and I had just lost it. Honestly it is the only thing about this tenor that bothers me. Still haven't found a satisfactory fingering that is stable at all dynamics. On mine altissimo is a bit of a bugger from F# to Ab. (I actually did Kije with the Strathon at its lowest baffle) (!) The Strathon gets 95% of the playing time, but the D9 is great for louder R&R stuff. It seems to favor a higher baffled mouthpiece. A couple palm risers and minor tweaks to key heights is all I had done to make it easily navigable. Mine has had the works done to it - white Roo and domed metal oversized resonators and is still an exceptionally dark horn.Р”Р„s far as ergo's I have a side key riser on the 'E' key to make it easier to access without hitting the trill key. It does not have the High F# and the trill key on mine is a 'D' trill key. I'll take proper pics later, but in the meantime, here are some photos in case anyone is interested in seeing this lovely vintage horn.Р”Вoes anyone here have a Hohner President, or owned one in the past? Know anything about them? Unfortunately the weather wouldn't allow me to take photos outside yesterday, so there are too many reflections in the shots. It was made by Hammerschmidt.)Р”Р„nyways, I have put up an album that features some of the photos I took yesterday afternoon. (The Klingsor is of course also German, although perhaps a bit newer. With regards to tone, I would liken this sax more to my nickel plated Klingsor, than to any other sax I own. This is very different from the other saxes that I own. In contrast, the Hohner was smoother, and has more of its core sound present. The D&J has much more edge and complexity to its sound-many more overtones present.

I did compare it to the De Villiers (a Keilwerth clone horn made by DР“В¶rfler & JР“В¶rka and roughly the same vintage), and was surprised how much smoother the Hohner was in sound. I'll play around with some different mouthpieces and see what it prefers. I figure a week or 2 on the horn will give me a good idea what it will do. I'll do up a complete list before I take it to my tech, but I'll need to spend some time playing it first. The high F# has too much play in it, and the low C spring needs to be tightened. There are some adjustments that need to be made. It has a dark sound compared to my other saxes (lack of resos will certainly add to that), but it really will need to go to the tech before I'm able to really say for sure what it is going to sound like. It has very few leaks, and I could subtone all the way to low Bb. The case is not very protective, and the most likely cause of the loose post was a hit to the case.Р”Р‡or a sax that's spent most of the last 49 years in the closet, it plays remarkably well. I don't believe any of them go through to the inside because they're very shallow.Р”Р„lso in the damage department, the only damage the horn has is one of the posts for the key guards on the bell has come loose. Hence the neck sustained some scratches, as well as a few minor dings. Unfortunately the previous owner did have a disassembled chrome sax stand in the neck compartment of the case, and the neck was in there unprotected. It also has a high D# trill key, like many of the European horns did at the time. This sax does have a high F# key, but located with the left palm keys, rather than with the chromatic F#. It still has its original pads (no resos) which have hardly any imprints on them. All the original accessory parts that came with the sax-end plug, mouthpiece, lig, cap, cleaning swab, and case-are still present.

This closet horn was from 1961 (serial 104XX). I was contacted about a Max Keilwerth-made, Hohner President, tenor sax that was available. As I was agonizing which of the saxes to choose, another opportunity presented itself, that was just too interesting to let slip by. Last weekend I nearly ordered one from Gerard Julius Keilwerth's shop in Germany. I've been waffling between a Tone King and a New King for a while. For quite some time now I've been wanting to get a vintage J.

How to get a bright sound from a keilwerth tenor sax