Kohlert Instrument Models

Kohlert History

German saxophone manufacturers are a bit difficult to learn about, primarily because a lot of the documentation has been destroyed either in the manufacturer's move from one part of Germany to another or in the WWII and the conversion of many of the music instrument factories over to producing war material.

This brings us to Kohlert.

A brief digression: Kohlert is NOT Köhler. Köhler was founded in Markneukirchen, Germany in 1933 by Franz Köhler. They stopped producing instruments around 1961.

However, while the Köhler example I've seen does not look like a Keilwerth or Kohlert design, yes, there's always the possibility that Köhler did stencil some horns from either Keilwerth or Kohlert.

The similarity in names and similarity in the saxophone designs from Kohlert and Köhler throws most folks for a considerable loop. The similarity in design is not because they shared a common ancestor, but more rather because company X would produce a good design and then everyone else would copy it (this tidbit of information popped up numerous times while I researched Kohlert and Keilwerth). Matters grew more complicated after Keilwerth began producing saxophones in 1925/6: not only did Keilwerth produce stencils of their horns (of which, they branded at least one Kohlert model), but they furnished saxophone bodies to a variety of other German and Czech manufacturers which would affix their own keywork and sell the horn under a different name - sometimes with no trace of the Keilwerth mark on the horn.

However, Kohlert IS "Vincenta (or "V." or "Vizenze" or several other variants) Kohlerta Synové Kraslice". This is the Czech form of Kohlert's name. There are other Anglicized/Germanized variants of the VKS label (e.g. "V. Kohlert's Sons"), but some variant of "Kohlert" is always listed.

Timeline

• 1840: The Kohlert Company was founded in Graslitz, Czechoslovakia by Vincenz Ferarius Kohlert However, he did not produce any saxophones.
• 1900/01: V.F. Kohlert dies and the ownership of the Kohlert Company is transferred to his sons, Rudolf, Daniel and Franz  and the company's name is changed to "V. Kohlert's S鐬ne". Kohlert produces the first German-made saxophone around this time .
• 1910-1916 (Approximately): Kohlert stencils saxophones for HN White (King) in the USA
• 1914-1925 (Approximately): Julius Keilwerth apprentices at the Kohlert company. It is arguable if Keilwerth influences Kohlert's designs more or vice versa
• 1938 (Approximately): Kohlert has become the largest German instrument maker, employing 600 craftsmen and producing an entire range of brass, woodwind and double-reed instruments  . Keilwerth is a distant second with 150 craftsmen and producing only saxophones.
• 1939-1945 (Approximately): WWII. Kohlert produced relatively few instruments during this time, as production was limited by the conversion of most factories to producing war materiel and the Nazi original disgust of all things Western, especially jazz. There was some limited production and some horns produced during WWII are labeled "Reich" and are quite elaborately engraved - with Nazi regalia.
• 1945-1947: After WWII, the firm was "nationalized" into the Amati cooperative (Amati's website says the cooperative was founded in 1945 and was fully "nationalized" by 1948 ) and the Kohlerts became workmen in their own factory, similar to what happened with the Keilwerth family. According to the Lein article, the Kohlert family was no longer even allowed to put their stamp on their instruments 

  It's an unconfirmed fact that Amati used Kohlert and Keilwerth tooling in their first horns, rather than producing anything new: the first Amatis were labeled "Toneking" - a Keilwerth model name - and had the Keilwerth "Best in the World" logo stamped on the back. Some even used the Keilwerth serial number chart!

  I'm not quite sure if Amati just decided to use Keilwerth saxophones as their template for future models, but the "second generation" of Amati horns, such as the "Classic Super" is fairly reminiscent of Kohlert, not Keilwerth, designs.

• 1948: The "last" generation of the Kohlerts migrated ("evacuated" would be more accurate, according to the Lein article) to West Germany: Max Kohlert, an instrument maker, died in 1949. Kurt Kohlert, a businessman, died in 1973. Ernst Kohlert, a musician, died in 1986 or '87. None of the three brothers ever married.

  After arriving in the West, Ernst worked for a short while with instrument makers near F