Keilwerth Instrument Models

Keilwerth History

The Keilwerth company is probably the most challenging manufacturer to write about for two reasons:

1. 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.
2. 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. 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". That's obviously not the case: Keilwerth was founded in Czechoslovakia!

Keilwerth has only had essentially a few professional models:

• Early Horns (King, Soloist, Deluxe and Exklusiv models; stencilled as the Selmer Pennsylvania -- and each are slight variations on each other)
• 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)
• Champion, an intermediate model, that was stripped and used as the template for a couple Boosey & Hawkes and Amati horns
• The Modell Peter Ponzol, a limited edition professional horn available for just a few years
• Modern Horns, the SX-90R and EX-90 -- and are essentially evolutions of the Toneking and New King models. The ST90 is a student horn produced in the R.O.C. -- Taiwan and the EX90 is assembled with parts produced by Amati.

Company Foundations

Johann Keilwerth had three sons: Max (1898 - 1968), Richard and Julius (1894 - 1962).

Julius Keilwerth first worked for the Kohlert company in Graslitz, Czechoslovakia (A.K.A. the "Czech/Slovak Republic" or "CSR"). After this apprenticeship, Julius and Max established a workshop in their home around 1925 or 1926. They primarily manufactured saxophones for Adler (a small German manufacturer that disappeared after World War II) and FX H