Superba 2/II Tenor
Unlike the Superba I, the Superba II tenor is not as linear in its design progression. I have found its features a bit more confusing to track, which is made more difficult by the smaller sample size compared to the Superba I. Furthermore, it is even far less linear than its Superba II alto counterpart. For these reasons I consider this model’s description even a greater work in progress. I hope to find more examples in the near future.
All that said, to date I have found that the Superba II tenor has 4 phases based on important visual characteristics. These 4 phases are described and illustrated below. Additionally however, there are also some features that the Superba II had over its entire 20+ year production cycle at Keilwerth. Those will be illustrated first.
Features common over the entire production run
- Black plastic left thumb rest * (see below)
- Post to body construction
- Lyre holder attached on the left side beside the F3 key
- Bow to bell connected directly (no connecting ring)
- Bow to body connected directly (no connecting ring)
- MOP key buttons with metal edges
- Fixed metal right thumb rest
- Strap ring a simple metal ring
- Drawn & straight tone holes * (see below)
- Hand engraving on bell only
What is the significance of Arabic number 2 vs the Roman numeral II in the engraving?
I asked myself that for years, and I have to say that without someone from JK’s former sax department chiming in for an answer to that question, I suspect we will never know. However, after researching the H. Couf brand for a decade, I have come to the conclusion that there likely wasn’t any significance.
Like on the Superba I, some tenor bells were engraved Superba 2 while others were engraved Superba II—and one even 11. Quite frankly, the model engraving on the Superba II doesn’t follow what we’ve seen in the other tenors, or even the altos.
Based on the research I have done to date, unlike on the Superba I tenors and altos, we see the Roman II on the earliest horns (56xxx) right up until circa 74xxx. The first horn I have documented an Arabic 2 in is Superba 2 tenor 74990. The last documented Arabic 2 is in tenor 75964. (There may have been some before/after, but I haven’t seen them. Superba 2 tenors don’t appear nearly as often as their Superba 1 cousins.)
Why did the engraving ultimately switch from II to 2 to II again? Oh, and what of the bell engraved with two, Arabic 11s to denote 2? I have a couple of theories, but theories are not proof. Ultimately it may well have came down to a decision by H. Couf himself—who was very involved in virtually all aspects of the horns that bore is name.
Phase 1 – features
- Black plastic G# key touch
- Single round metal bar as bell to body support brace
- Lucite clothes guard (common on JK horns)
- Old-school, JK-shaped right pinkie keys
- High F# key shaped & located where it was on the JK Toneking
- Chromatic F# key located on the side of the body. Shaped like those on the vintage JK horns. (shown in pic above with high F# key)
- G# trill key
- Rolled tone holes
- Latest serial # seen to date: 56412
Defining features for Phase 1 tenor
Other than the serial number indicating one of the first years of H. Couf production, there appear to be two features that indicate we are seeing the first iteration of the H. Couf Superba II tenor
- The Lucite pant guard seen on JK saxophones.
- Rolled tone holes normally associated with the Superba I only.
Superba II # 56xxx – lacquer
Phase 2 – features
- Black plastic G# key touch
- Single round metal bar as bell to body support brace
- Metal clothes guard
- Old-school, JK-shaped right pinkie keys
- High F# key shaped & located where it was on the JK Toneking
- Chromatic F# key located on the side of the body. Shaped like those on the vintage JK horns. (shown in pic above with high F# key)
- G# trill key
- Drawn & straight tone holes
- Serial # range seen to date: 63125 – 65029
Defining features for Phase 2 tenor
There are two very distinct features that allow us to see that we’re looking at the first minor evolution of the Superba II tenor:
- The pant guard is now metal as opposed to JK’s traditional Lucite.
- The tone holes are now drawn and straight. This is the norm from this point onwards for this model.
Superba II # 63125 – lacquer
Phase 3 – features
This is the period when things get quite confusing and rather convoluted due to some changes that were introduced mid-phase, but that in my estimation are not important enough to warrant their own classification.
- Black plastic G# key touch
- Single round metal bar as bell to body support brace until circa 72xxx.
- Single round metal bar shaped to fit around hinge tubes as bell to body support brace. Earliest seen to date on # 74990, and then remains for the rest of the model’s production cycle.
- Metal clothes guard
- Old-school JK-shaped right pinkie keys. Last seen on #68730.
- Rounder right pinkie keys appear first seen on # 71552, and then remain for the rest of model’s production cycle.
- High F# key shaped & located where it was on the JK Toneking
- Chromatic F# MOP button key with tone hole on the side of the body
- Serial # range seen to date: 68258 – 75964
Defining features for Phase 3 tenor
Despite the confusion of the Superba II’s, Phase 3’s features, besides the serial number there are two things that will immediately tell you that what you’re looking at is a Phase 3 tenor:
- There is NO G# trill key anymore. It was dropped for the Phase 3 horns.
- The chromatic F# key is still on the side of body, but now has a MOP button key.
Superba II # 68730 – lacquer
Superba II # 74990 – lacquer
Phase 4 – features
- MOP G# key
- Single round metal bar shaped to fit around hinge tubes as bell to body support brace
- Metal clothes guard
- Rounder right pinkie keys
- High F# is a semi-oval MOP key
- Chromatic F# is on the back of the body and is a MOP button key
- Serial # range seen to date: 801xx – 81518
Defining features for Phase 4 tenor
Unlike the Superba I, the Phase 4 Superba II had a some important of new features added to it.
So what was so different in the last JK-made iteration of the Superba II? Three features found in the Phase 3 Superba I models:
- The G# key now had a MOP key touch.
- The high F# key became a semi-oval MOP.
- The chromatic F# was moved to the back of the body tube and was operated with a MOP button key.
Superba II # 80138 – lacquer
Superba II # 80793 – lacquer
NB: Of course there have to be exceptions. Here are the ones I have found to date:
- Tenor 80793 has a lacquered brass left thumb rest. It is the only Couf I have come across with this feature. Presumably someone had the stock black thumb rest replaced at some point in time.
- Phase 1 Superba II tenors have rolled tone holes. This goes against the commonly held belief that Superba IIs have only straight tone holes. Although we are not talking about a lot of horns when we compare this to the total number of Superba II tenors produced, it is still worth mentioning that for about the first two years of the model’s production, they had rolled tone holes. It is also worth noting that this appears to correspond with what I have found in the Phase 1 Superba II altos.
Many thanks go to the following people:
I want to acknowledge the incredible work done by Steve Sklar. Steve has been researching and writing about H. Couf saxophones for years before I came along. By generously allowing me to springboard off his materials, Steve has saved me countless of hours.
Thank you Steve. You are a great colleague, and I very much appreciate and enjoy our work together on the Woodwind Forum!
I also want to thank Brian at Get A Sax, Roberto from Robertos Winds, Mark from USA Horn, Paul from PM Woodwind, as well as Chadd from World Wide Sax, for allowing me to use their images throughout all these H. Couf saxophone pages. Beautiful images are vital to illustrating the beautiful horns that Herb Couf helped the Julius Keilwerth Company design.
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