{"id":4981,"date":"2012-07-23T19:49:15","date_gmt":"2012-07-24T02:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/version5\/?page_id=4981"},"modified":"2022-07-31T10:20:28","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T17:20:28","slug":"jk-nauheim","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/version5\/vintage-saxes\/european-made-saxes\/julius-keilwerth\/jk-nauheim\/","title":{"rendered":"JK – Nauheim"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Julius<\/a>
Logo used during company’s time in Nauheim, Germany Photo by: H. Kahlke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Company\u2019s Beginnings In Nauheim, West Germany<\/span><\/p>\n

On January 29, 1947, the Julius Keilwerth Company started its operations in Nauheim. Their startup was at first very humble\u2014in the laundry room of the B\u00e4ckerei (bakery) Stelzer at Bahnhofstr. 9. There they employed 5 people, and did saxophone repairs only. Then in 1949, the company moved into a new building at K\u00f6nigst\u00e4dter Str. 101. Later the company also opened and maintained a subsidiary division on Helwigstrasse in Gro\u00df-Gerau.<\/p>\n

Julius was helped along in his efforts by his son Josef (1919 \u2013 1982), who was trained as woodwind instrument maker, as well as his brother\u2014who was also named Josef, and had been the plant manager in Graslitz. Julius’ brother was very good at attracting new performers, and getting famous saxophonists of the day to switch to Keilwerths. It also wasn’t uncommon to see entire saxophone sections of radio station orchestras, or popular big bands, playing on Tonekings.<\/p>\n

The First German-Made Julius Keilwerth Horns<\/span><\/p>\n

The early Nauheim-made J.K. saxophones were very simply built, for want of materials and tools. (Remember Julius Keilwerth left everything behind when he and his family fled Graslitz.)<\/p>\n

The first German-made Keilwerth horns had left-sided bell keys again, with a simple brass ribbon-style<\/em> key guards on the bell, as well as on the low C and Eb keys. <\/p>\n

\"Julius<\/a>
Early Nauheim-built tenor with left-sided bell keys that had metal key guards. Serial #: 21492 Source: eBay.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The early Nauheim horns also had soldered tone holes, because Julius didn’t have access to a machine that would draw tone holes.<\/p>\n

\"Julius<\/a>
Soldered tone holes on a 1947 The New King alto saxophone. Source: wws.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However not everything changed radically. The famous J.K. logo was only slightly re-jigged<\/a>, with an inverted triangle replacing the “G” in the original<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What’s In A Name? Something To Go To Court Over<\/span><\/p>\n

In the early 1950s, a legal battle flared about who had the right to use the name Toneking<\/em>. Amati claimed that they also had the right to use it, since they were the legal successor to the name. (After their takeover of the Keilwerth company in Graslitz.)<\/p>\n

Not only did Amati use the name Toneking, they also used the Keilwerth logo, as well as Keilwerth serial numbers\u2014as evidenced by this Amati-made Toneking baritone, serial #30390.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n

 Source: tclaw99 on eBay.com<\/span><\/p>\n

It took until 1955, for the European Court of Justice in The Haag to rule that Julius Keilwerth was the only one who could legally use the Toneking name.<\/p>\n

The disputes between Keilwerth and Amati soon ended, and animosities were evidently forgotten, since in the 1960s, J.K. cooperated again with its Czech competitor. However, for a period of 10 years (1945-1955) there were saxophones produced by both J.K. and Amati, that carried the Toneking name. Therefore if you’re looking for a vintage Toneking, you have to be careful what it is you’re buying.<\/p>\n

Keilwerth and Armstrong<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time when Armstrong was the distributor for Keilwerth in the US, and Keilwerth for Armstrong in Germany, all the necks for J.K. horns were produced by Armstrong, because they were superior to what Keilwerth was making. The Armstrong necks were cut from brass, soldered, and then corrected through hydraulic inflation, to be within a 1\/10 mm range. This ensured that all the necks were identical. Only when the partnership with Armstrong ended, did J.K. start producing its own saxophone necks again.<\/p>\n

Nauheim-Made J.K. Models<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2003, Gerhard Keilwerth (Julius’ grandson) spoke to Uwe Ladwig about the differences in Post WWII Julius Keilwerth horns. According to Gerhard, these were the distinguishing features of the different models.\u00b9<\/p>\n