Amati tenor saxophone serial numbers

Home » Museum » Serial Numbers. True Tone - Buescher Manufacturing Co. Year Range Serial Range - - New Wonder - Chu Berry Year Range Serial Range - - - - - - - - - - - - F-mezzo soprano Keyed in F, the F-mezzo design is a unique hybrid between the Chu Berry and the Naked Lady with same side bell keys.

Basic design is of the Chu Berry family. Year Range Serial Range - - KING H. Year Range Serial Range - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Super - "Cigar Cutter" Year Range Serial Range - - - - Super non-cigar cutter Year Range Serial Range - - Super - Radio Improved Year Range Serial Range - - Balanced Action Year Range Serial Range - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Selmer Balanced Action "Dorsey" There were two series of Dorsey horns. The first series was made in with serial numbers 24xxx and the second in with serial numbers 27xxx Year Range Serial Range - - - - U.

SML Rev. A Year Range Serial Range - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rev. B Year Range Serial Range - - - - - - - - Coleman Hawkins Model Year Range Serial Range - - - - - - - - - - - - Super Model Year Range Serial Range - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rev. D Year Range Serial Range - - - - - - - - - - Gold Medal Mk. I Year Range Serial Range - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Gold Medal Mk.

II Year Range Serial Range - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - King Marigaux Year Range Serial Range - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - One supplied components to another. It is not inconceivable a sax could have parts and components from a number of different makers in the area, and even be sold under an English or American name.

This partially explains why Saxophone historians have such difficulty determining the lineage of specific saxophones from this region. There was some grumbling by a few ethnic Germans with the founding of the country of Czechoslovakia in Prior to this time the German speaking residents in the Sudetenland were members of the German speaking Austrian Empire, and the Czech speakers were a minority in the Empire.

However with the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the ethnic Germans in the Kraslice area and other parts of the Sudetenland became a minority in the new Czech speaking Republic. Amendments enshrined in the Czech constitution guaranteed the German speakers the rights and privileges they always had enjoyed. Under this tolerant policy the Instrument makers of Kraslice prospered and developed between and There was a conscious effort by the National Government in Prague to encourage the use of the Czech Language, Education, and Culture into the Sudetenland areas.

As well ethnic Czechs were encouraged to settle in these predominately German speaking areas. Unfortunately in Hitler came to power in Germany. Sudetenland was the mountainous border region and it was heavily fortified by Czechoslovak Army with forts and other defensive measures to protect the country from military invasion.

With the Nazi occupation, the Czech army was forced to withdraw to the un-defensible central plain. Since the country was militarily indefensible, the Czechs reluctantly surrendered. From a military point of view the Nazis had a superior air force and navy compared to the Czechs.

However with the seizure of the Sudetenland defensive lines, and the military assets of the Czech army, the Nazis vaulted into first place as having the most advance mechanised weapons of war. Nazis seized from Czechoslovakia thousands of tanks, wheeled vehicles, trucks and artillery pieces which were used very prominently and effectively in the conquest of Poland and France during the next 12 months.

In the Kraslice area, all musical instrument factories were forced to switch over to Nazi war production, primarily making components for aircraft.

As a side note, no ethnic Czech men served in the Nazi Armies, they were forced to work in German industries yet a significant number of young men from the Kraslice area who were ethnic Germans were conscripted by the Nazis and died in the hostilities. As one can imagine there was extensive political and economic turmoil in the Kraslice and all Europe by The Red Army had effectively destroyed the Nazi Empire in the east.

The economic infrastructure was in dis-array. It only made sense that Keilwerth, Kolhert and Huller should merge into a manufacturing co-operative in The production of the Amati saxophones began in in the former building of the company Julius Keilwerth employing the Czech staff from the companies Kolhert, Huller, and Keilwerth.

Of course this made sense as Keilwerth was a founding member of the Co-operative. Amati operated as a privately owned co-operative until The Communists seized the Czech government, banned all democratic activities and nationalized all industry including the Amati co-operative. The Allied Powers allowed Czechoslovakia in to expel ethnic Germans who supported or collaborated with the Nazis. None of the leaders of the music industry appear to have been in this category.

It was under the Communist regime that many of the management of the Musical Instrument companies left. Unfortunately there products never reached the previous acclaim and success. Julius Keilwerth and other family members also went to West Germany in and established the Julius Keilwerth Company of today. Max Keilwerth left Kraslice in and produced saxophones for the Hohner Company, and Richard Keilwerth left in also for the West Germany and produced woodwinds under the name Richard Keilwerth.

Even though Amati was now operated as a nationalized state controlled enterprise its products were much better than one would expect from a typical communist industrial firm. There were three reasons for this. The workers knew how to build great instruments they had the skills, tools, facilities and the infra-structure.

One third of all Czech homes today have a musical instrument of some type. To produce sub-par instruments would be a national disgrace. They were in fact the basically the same saxophones produced in the s. Amati instruments in most cases were of very good quality and very economical to buy with western currency.

During this period Amati produced stencils for numerous other brands sold on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The fall of Communism meant the end of State owned enterprises. Amati evolved into a modern corporation called Amati-Denak. With this change came an influx of fresh investment capital, which was used to purchase new and improved manufacturing technology.

The saxophone line was thoroughly reviewed and new products were designed and produced. For the latest generation of saxophones Amati used a similar system as Yamaha to designate the various models and this has lead to some confusion in the marketplace. Some people jumped to the incorrect conclusion that the Amati saxophones were Japanese copies. Amati had no reason to copy Yamaha or any other brand as Amati and its predecessor companies had been designing and producing award winning state of the art saxophones for 90 years at this point!