Keilwerth factory visit

[Claus]

I will visit the Keilwerth factory next Wednesday (7.5.). If there is anything special you would like me to find out about Keilwerth, please let me know.

I will give a report next week.

Claus

[Big Nick]

I've got a tenor EX90 (946** , 1990) that I've had from new. I like it a lot.
I recently tried a new EX and it seemed like a completely different sax. Still good, but different.
Perhaps you can ask them exactly what's changed in the last 13 years.

[Riff]

What are they doing about sticking pads? Especially the Bis key, and Low C#. To a lesser degree high F# and G#(the G# lifter arm doesn't always come through)

[Randall]

Big Nick,
It is a totally different horn if it is produced lately...most likely an Amati stencil.
I was just at the JK factory 3 days ago. If you want a JK, get an SX90 and don't worry with the rest of the models....

[Giganova]

Claus,

good luck and have fun at the factory! Keep us posted what you see there. Just one idea: after I decided I want a Keilwerth SX90, my dealer called the factory and they sent him a brand new horn with a discount of EUR 1000.- Maybe you wanna get a horn while you're there :-)

There was a discussion here that the JK pads are very sticky and that Stephan Boesken, a former JK employee, is re-fitting their horns with better (i.e. less sticky) pads. Can you ask them about their opinion? Thanks!

[Stephan]

Hi Claus,
I just noticed this thread.
Please come and see me at my work shop which is five minutes away from Keilwerth.
Randall has been with me last week and I gave him a tour arround the JK factory.
Call me on 06152 69975 or just ask at Keilwerth how to get to my place.

Bis dann,
Stephan

[Claus]

Hallo Stephan,

prima Idee. Wenn sich das zeitlich einrichten läßt, komme ich gerne mal vorbei!

Gruss

Claus

[Riff]

So Claus,
How did the tour go?

[Claus]

Sorry, I am a bit late with my promised report, but here we go...

Wednesday, the 6th of May was a beautifull day with lots of sunshine and 28 degrees Celsius. So we were in a sort of "holiday mood" when we set of for the three-hour drive to Nauheim near Frankfurt. "We" were 7 saxophonists including our teacher Markus.

We arrived at the Keilwerth factory at 12:00 am and since our appointment with Mr. Engel from the factory was not before 13:30, we went for a walk and looked for a restaurant where we had a very good lunch at a reasonable price. It seemed to be the only place in the vicinity. We saw a number of faces we later re-encountered at the factory.

At 13:30 Mr. Engel expected us and gave us a guided tour through the factory. I asked his permission to take pictures with my digital camera which was given (I will post those pics on my website later and let you know). First of all we were suprised to learn that only 80% of the production process is performed in Nauheim. The initial stages of forming the brass and the galvanazition are done in Marktneustadt (former East Germany, approx 500 km from Nauheim). That means that the instruments (or rather their unfinished parts) travel a lot which doesn't seem to be very effecient.

Apparently they do NOT share any factory ressources with B&S, who are also situated in Marktneustadt. It is a very competetive business.

There are about 45 people working in Nauheim, if I remember it correctly, and you can see immediately how much manual labour is involved in creating these fine instruments (the EX,SX and SX R lines are produced in Germany, the cheaper ST line isn't).

http://www.hamacher-online.de/keilwerth/work.jpg

http://www.hamacher-online.de/keilwerth/work2.jpg

sorry, I have to pause here because I have to take my 7-year old son to his football match. I'll complete the report later... (including the visit at Stephan Boeskens place)

[Claus]

ok, the football match was lost 2:6 and after a bit of consolation for my son I can now finish my report

Actually, when we went though the factory, we saw Stephan Boesken, but we only found that out later when we payed him a visit at his shop later in the afternoon.

We were shown by Mr. Engel all the different stages of the production process, from soldering together rods, keycups etc, cleansing in the ultrasonic bath, laquering, engraving, polishing, fixing felts and corks, final assembly and eventually the test playing of the finished product. To my surprise, the engraving was the most "automated" part. Unless there are special customer orders for the engraving, it is all done by a machine.

When you look around, it is really interesting. Old wooden trays that would be marked as e.g. "G key for tenor" with hundreds of identical parts on them.
http://www.hamacher-online.de/keilwerth/parts.jpg
There are corpusses standing or hanging everywhere and it is quite a friendy atmosphere (at least from an outsiders point of view).

We talked about pads and about the problem of stickyness and we got the same answers from Mr. Engel as we did later from Stephan Boesken: it seems that the leather is treated differently from what they used to do with it in the past. The reason is environmental regulations that prohibit the use of certain chemicals which can cause cancer. The leather pads now available are not so well suited for making saxophone pads. This is a problem not only Keilwerth has, but most of the major companies. The problem is enhanced of course on the SX R models, because with the tone hole rings the pads have a better chance to stick :idea:

I must take another break here unless I want to have a row with my wife who claims I am not contributing to the homework - which is true...

[Claus]

At the end of our factory tour, we were led to a soundproof room where we could testplay as much and as long as we wanted.

They had brought in a couple of tenors for us (Nickle Silver SX R, Black Nickle SX R, Gold Laquer SX R and a Silver plated SX)

http://www.hamacher-online.de/keilwerth/tenors.jpg

Later they also brought a black bari and a soprano.

http://www.hamacher-online.de/keilwerth/bari.jpg

The "Testroom" was quite amazing. I wish I had something like that at home. You could electronically simulate all kinds of acoustic environments.

[Riff]

Great report Claus. Thanks for the pictures and the explanation of the sticky pads.
Looks like you had a great time! 8)

[Claus]

Hello Riff,

yes, that was a wonderful day. After we had finished our factory visit (and after a long stop at the nearest Italian ice cream sop) I pursuaded my friends not to drive home immediatly, but to locate Stephan Boeskens shop (sorry, I forgot to take pictures there).

It is only 5 minutes away from the factory. Although Stephan was a bit surprised by the number of visitors that flooded his home he showed great hospitality and we had a long and pleasant talk, during which he answered patiently to dozens of questions.

He showed us a Mark IV tenor he had just overhauled and also a brand new B&S Medusa Alto, the quality of which he seemed quite impressed with.

Stephan is also currently working on making his own (black leather) pads, of which he showed us a prototype.

Stephans prices, be it for repairs/ overhauls or for new instruments, may not be the lowest you can find. But if you see how much pride he puts into his work I think the money is well invested. I am sure that no instrument leaves his shop that doesn't meet the highest standards. When you read his bio and see the certificates on the walls of his shop, you will know that his knowledge and craftmanship are the result of great efforts and hard work. And also he is a very nice guy.

Stephan, thanks again for taking the time!

[Bootman]

Thanks for the pics, it looks as though you have had a fantastic time visiting the factory.

[bobsax]

Love that search button- This was the only thread with "Factory" in the title in the Keilwerth section.

Here it is 5+ years later and I'm wondering if anything has happened at the factory since this report? Links to other threads that may not have factory in the title would also be appreciated.
---thanks--

[heath]

What caught my eye in this thread was the statement that JK engraves their horns with a machine.

Do they still do this. Is that why their engraving is so shallow and barely noticable?

[SearjeantSax]

i thought that the words and script on the bell were machine done but the actual engraving was hand done?