Page 1
| Max Keilwerth | Hohner President Saxes | Features | Tone holes | Finish options | Engraving | A rare stencil |
I first started researching Hohner President saxophones back in 2010, when I got my first President—tenor #104xxx—from its original owner in Vancouver’s West End. At the time very little about the brand was published in German, let alone English.
Hohner saxophones were designed by, and made under the supervision of Max Keilwerth, who was the brother of Julius and Richard. As I was doing research on both him, and all the various saxophones he was responsible for, I was contacted by German saxophone historian, writer, and professional musician, Uwe Ladwig.
Uwe writes for Sonic Sax & Brass, and he was kind enough to send me some research he had conducted on a variety of German saxophone manufacturers—including Max Keilwerth and Hohner.
What follows is what I’ve been able to piece together using Uwe’s research as a base, and then building upon it since 2010.
I have catalogued hundreds of Hohner President saxophone images, and seen thousands more. I have also carefully poured over all of these images in order to come up with the following comprehensive President information.¹
Max Keilwerth
Max Keilwerth learned his craft with Franz Than in Graslitz, Sudetenland. According to sources in both German and English, Max Keilwerth started making saxophones with his brother Julius in the early 1920s. They worked from a home-based workshop, and mainly manufactured saxophones for Oscar Adler and FX Hüller. Max became instrumental in the development of FX Hüller’s saxophone department.
In 1925, Max left the family business and began working for himself. (Updated Max Keilwerth page in the works.) He continued providing saxophones for FX Hüller and Adler until the early 1930s. After the creation of the collective company named Amati, he also worked briefly worked for them. In 1949, Max began working for Hohner in Trossingen, Germany.
It is worth mentioning here that President, as well as the German spelling Präsident, is a name that Max engraved on some of the saxophones that came from his shop in Graslitz. I have even seen a late-model MK-made President (tenor 7302), with an early version of eyebrow key guards.
Hohner President saxophones
At Hohner—a company more commonly thought of for harmonicas and accordions than saxophones—Max Keilwerth headed up the saxophone department, which employed between 15 to 30 permanent people during its 20 years of saxophone production. Hohner made alto and tenor saxophones from 1949 until approximately 1972. Although some sources state that production stopped in 1967, the high serial numbers of known horns indicate that indeed production continued after Max Keilwerth’s death in 1968.
An introduction to the various phases of President saxophone production
Based on 15+ years research into the brand, I have been able to break down the Hohner President’s saxophone evolution into the following phases, which I refer to by name throughout this section. The details of the various phases will be explained and illustrated in the following pages. (And yes, this was all reviewed and much of it updated in 2025. 😉 )
This listing is just a primer to give you an idea of what years/serials/terms I’m referring to.
Phase |
Serials |
Circa |
Phase 1 |
Pre 25xx |
1949-52 |
Phase 2 |
25xx – 12xxx |
1953-60 |
Transitional |
107xx – 12xxx |
1961-63 |
Phase 3 |
13xxx + |
1964-74 |
Hohner President Features
The saxophones that Hohner made had a number of features which made them quite unique. While some features were only used for a short time, others were utilized consistently over almost the entire production run.
Tone Holes
Soldered/bevelled
One area that varied significantly over the 20 year production run was the style of the tone holes. The earliest Hohners had soldered tone holes. A very early model tenor—serial number 21XX—shows that they were also bevelled.
Drawn/straight
In approximately 1953, drawn tone holes made their first appearance. However, after years of researching the brand I have discovered that unlike what we first believed, rolled tone holes were not necessarily the first that Hohner produced. Alto 2425 has drawn, straight tone holes.
To date I have not come across any early tenors with drawn, straight tone holes.
Drawn/rolled
The earliest alto I have come across that has drawn and rolled tone holes is # 2502.
Tenor 2215 is the oldest tenor I have come across so far, with rolled tone holes. It is also the oldest with a two-tone finish. More on that below.
Drawn/Straight – again
In approximately 1963—approximately #12XXX—Hohner switched to straight tone holes. This then continued until the end of the model’s production run. This is tenor 12346.
Finishes options
Although a much earlier, English brochure only lists 3 finish options for the Hohner Presidents, according to a 1958 German brochure, Hohner offered 6 finish options for the President:
Nickel plated
Gold lacquered (corrosion resistant)
Gold lacquered body, with nickel-plated keys
Quadruple, semi-matt silver plate, with gold-plated inner bell
Semi-matt silver plate, with gold lacquered keys
Quadruple, sand-matt silver plate, with gold-plated inner bell
Other finishes
I have spent years pouring over eBay and other online listings looking at Hohner President saxophones. In the hundreds of ads I have come across, not counting the custom finishes that were clearly done after purchase (like purple and black lacquer), I have also noted the following apparent factory finishes that were not listed in any of the brochures:
Silver plate (sans gold wash bell)
Engraving
Given the hundreds of Hohner President saxophones that I have catalogued, or otherwise looked at images of, if there were a multitude of engraving options you would think I would have come across them in the last 15+ years. To date I have only seen the following variations in engraving:
By far the most common engraving
Seen extremely rarely
What’s missing in the engraving? In a word: “President”
To my knowledge Hohner never made anything other than President saxophones. The only saxophones sold under the Hohner-only name are cheap, Asian-made junk horns that you can frequently find on eBay. Clearly this horn is not one of them.
Perhaps the engraver had one too many beer on his lunch hour before engraving this alto in 1961? 😉
What’s this, a stencil of a Hohner President?
So far I have only come across 3 stencil horns that were made from the Hohner President. All were labelled Ault Artist, and were only a few digits apart in serial #. The one below is the first I saw, while the second is in much more pristine shape and appears like it was hardly played. The third was a tenor and had dents in the body tube, but the lacquer was in remarkable shape.
It is worth noting I have seen a couple of other Ault Artists, but they were not Hohner stencils. I have yet to ID their manufacturer.
¹ I have written only that which I have direct knowledge of, or that has been cited either through Uwe’s research, or on trusted, informational websites. I have chosen not to include information from saxophone forums. Much of the information on both German and English sax forums such as Saxwelt and Sax On The Web, is really nothing more than quotes and requotes from informational websites.
I want to thank Uwe Ladwig for generously sharing his research with me. It was originally published in der deutschen Fachzeitschrift—German music journal—SONIC sax & brass. I hope that I have managed to capture the meaning and the intent of it well.