Hammerschmidt in Burgau, Germany

Clothes guard

Clothes guards were far from universal on Klingsor/n saxophones, as well as their stencils. The earliest horn I saw photos of a clothes guard on was an Velvetone alto #01615. The latest was Klingson alto #04913.

Interestingly enough, despite these guards appearing so early in Klingsor/n saxophone production, there is no mention of them in the catalogue from 1961. There also seems to be no consistency to their use. Some Version A horns with similar serials have them; others don’t. Some stencils have them; others don’t. 

Vevetone alto #01615 Source: paperdragon860 on eBay.com

Klingsor tenor #03555 Version A

Klingsor tenor #03987 Version A Source: R-Inghilterra-Strumenti-Musicali on eBay.com

Hüttl De Luxe alto #04xxx Version A stencil

Unusual finishes

Tenor 0128

This Klingsor is remarkable for a number of reasons:

1. It the only one with this particular finish I have seen. Although it is hard to tell from the photos, the tenor is indeed silver plated with a sand-matt finish. The other features listed for this finish though (gold plated inner bell engraving burnished) are clearly not present. 
2. The Plexiglas key guards are not shaped like any others I have seen in my years of researching the brand. Could they have been replaced? Sure, but given its less-common engraving, I am more likely to think this might have been a custom order.

Tenor 0191

Here is another fairly early Klingsor tenor that has a finish that might have been a custom order. Although the photos are of poor quality, the keys show an incredibly clean finish. There is no evidence that the keywork has been replated/relacquered. 

Serial number list

According to both Günther Dullat and Uwe Ladwig, Hammerschmidt does not have a serial number list for its saxophones. Despite this, based on the limited data available, Uwe was able to cobble one together.

It is by no means to be considered entirely accurate, but it does give owners a rough idea of when their horns may have been made.

Stencil horns made for others

Once Hammerschmidt started up saxophone production in their Burgau plant, they offered their horns to other companies. As is true for most European stencil makers, the horns that companies received were the same high-quality, current production models that the company was using for its own name brand—Klingsor/n—altos and tenors. That’s why we see everything from Version A to C in the stencil set, with the most common being the Version B variants.

These are the names I have to date, that have been stencilled on Hammerschmidt-made saxophones.

• Admiral
• Artist Professional
• Convair
• DABICO
• Genton
• The Gracin
• Hüttl
• Lafleur Deluxe
• La Sete
• LE MEILLEUR DU MONDE
• Lipson
• Melody Superior
• Rockwell
• Silvertone
• Velvetone

Many of these horn can be found in Bassic Sax Pix.

Demise of the Klingsor/n

In the 1970s, as cheap saxophones from Japan started flooding the market, European saxophone makers found themselves getting squeezed. Much like the Hohner President, the demand for these more expensive Hammerschmidt-made Klingsor/n saxophones waned significantly as players started to make the switch to Yamaha and Yanagisawa. This waning in demand is obvious when you look at the serial number chart.

In the last 12 years of production, Hammerschmidt made <1000 saxophones. According to Uwe Ladwig (p. 176), this was because during the last years of its saxophone era, the company used up old parts, and the partially assembled horns that they had in their inventory.

Hammerschmidt saxophone gallery

Pete and I have amassed what is arguably the largest online gallery of Hammerschmidt Klingsor/n saxophones and a variety of their stencils. This can be found on the Bassic Sax Pix site. New examples are added as we come across them.

Hammerschmidt database

In case you want to sift through all this Hammerschmidt data for yourself, I have created a table with all the data contained in the original Excel sheet I created to collate this mountain of info. As I find more examples, this database will continue to grow.

At the time of creation, June 26, 2025, there were already 118 Hammerschmidt-made saxophones entered—ranging in serials from 032 to 04913.

If you have  Hammerschmidt-made saxophone that you could contribute to this ever-growing database, please reach out to me. Thank you!

Sources

Musik-Haus Hammerschmidt Das Unternehmen

Wayback Machine Musik-Haus Hammerschmidt price list

saxophonemuseum.online

Uwe Ladwig. Saxofone: Ein Kompendium. Fifth edition, 2017, pp. 176-178

Günter Dullat. Faszination Saxophon: Der Saxophonbau Auf Destschsprachigem Gebiet. First edition, 2016, pp. 187-192