Julius Keilwerth

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Julius Keilwerth is a German Saxophone manufacturer, and was established in 1925. It made saxophones under the Conn and Armstrong brands, and until recently was little known.

This changed in 1986, with the collaboration with Jazz saxophonist and instrument designer, Peter Ponzol. He acted as a consultant for Keilwerth, refining and redesigning their saxophones for the jazz market. By the end of the 80s, Keilwerth had a ground breaking instrument in the SX90R series with endorsements from leading jazz musisicians such as Branford Marsalis, Courtney Pine, James Moody and David Liebman.

In 1989, Boosey and Hawkes took ownership over Keilwerth, merging the company with Schreiber in 1996. The Schreiber & Keilwerth company was sold to The Music Group in 2003. As of 2006 The Music Group had been broken up, and Schreiber & Keilworth is under new ownership.

Now, Keilwerth is one of the main contributors to the professional saxophone industry.

The vice-president of the W. T. Armstrong company for many years, Herbert Couf, stencilled three models from Keilwerth under the model name "H-Couf". They were produced from aproximately 1965 til 1988 and consisted of the "Superba I", "Superba II" and "Royalist". These instruments were built in West Germany and largely corresponded to previous Keilworth models, the Toneking Special and the Toneking, and roughly to the Keilwerth New King model. The horns were initially sent to Herbert Couf, later to the company W.T. Armstrong. Besides these horns, there were other saxophones produced under the label name "Armstrong", for which Keilwerth supplied the body. Later "Armstrong" saxophones were built by the Armstrong company alone, consisting of student-model instruments only. The "H-Coufs" were also stenciled for Conn under the name "DJH Modified".

The models compare as follows:

- The New King (student model) = H. Couf Royalist (alto and tenor)

- Toneking (professional model) = H. Couf Superba II (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass)

- Toneking Special (professional, top model) H. Couf Superba I (alto and tenor)

The Superba I was the top model with rolled toneholes and sophisticated keywork. The Superba I and Superba II were both pro models and featured a high F# key, while the Royalist was the intermediate model, without high F# key.

The Superba I and II were essentially custom-order horns and you could get just about any feature you wanted on them, hence the low A bass, black lacquer, custom engraving, etc.

The H.Couf Superba I alto, teamed with a Selmer soloist E mouth piece is the signature saxophone of influential saxophonist Elizabeth Hickman ( Riot, Andrew Nolte and his Orchestra, The Bruce Coombs Big Band , Joining the Chorus and famous jazz combo, Elizabeth Hickman-alto, Jason Ziino-tenor, Nick Servinis-drums and Alex Servinis-bass ), who delivers a warm, rich and ambient tone. This is a perfect example of the sound which can be aquired from the H-Couf Superba I.