Over the last couple of days I crunched the data on the five—yes, you read that right, 5—bass saxophones that I have managed to collect data on that are stencilled with the name: H. Couf.
Since my sample size was so small, it was pretty easy to write up and publish the newest H. Couf section on the Bassic Sax website: a page on the H. Couf Supbera I & II bass saxophones.
The H. Couf bass saxophones were made by the Julius Keilwerth company in Germany for Herb Couf, and were stencils of the Toneking, and then later the Toneking Special.
What were the findings?
I must admit I was very surprised by what I found once I collated the data on these 5 horns: The differences between the Superba I & II were merely cosmetic. The MOP key touches were different. That’s all.
However, what was even more surprising, was that the Superba II even existed at all. Based on its serial #, it was from 1974, before Couf offered basses in the lineup.
H. Couf bass saxophones: the unicorns of the bass saxophone world
If you’re serious about wanting to know all you can about H. Couf saxophones, I encourage you to look at this page. You will not find anything like it anywhere. There is a comprehensive database; lots of colour photos; and a comparison/contrast of all the 5 Superba I & II bass saxophones I have found in my 25 years of bass saxophone research.
My personal experience & thoughts about the Superba I/Toneking Special bass saxophone
Here is how I described owning and playing the Superba I for the last 4 years, on the new H. Couf bass page I published today:
I can tell you from personal experience, once you play a JK bass, there is no going back. I sold my Buescher, and I don’t miss it for a minute. This is a very early review I wrote about the horn after I first got it. (It should be updated a bit.)
The long-wrap Keilwerth has all the tonal advantages of the big, beefy-sounding vintage American style bass, but with some modern build qualities—intonation improvements; no more bass quirks that require alternate fingerings; and super-easy E3 and F3 altissimo through overblowing the E2 and F2, making the extra palm keys unnecessary—that blow the current crop of short wrap, and cheap Asian crap away…
