Jazzophone, B-flat
Date1926-1930 ca.
Place MadeGraslitz, Czechoslovakia, Europe
ModelJazzophon
Serial No.none
SignedEngraved on Wa-Wa mute bell: JAZZOPHON / GES. GESCH. (gesetzlich geschützt means "protected by law")MarkingsStamped on valve casings and upper valve caps, respectively: 67, 68, 69, and 30 (fourth valve).
DescriptionNickel-silver-plated brass, mother-of-pearl finger buttons, single loop in saxophone shape with two alternative bells, telescopic tuning slide at leadpipe, main tuning slide at first bow (extending either slide allows pitch change from B-flat to A), four Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½, and change from normal bell to mute bell), bottom-sprung, alignment by one key on nickel-plated brass pistons, tremolo key for wah-wah mute operated by the left hand, water key at main tuning slide, windway 3-2-1-4.
Nickel-silver-plated brass mouthpiece, octagonal on the outside and stamped: 2”
Franz Xaver Hüller (or Müller) in Graslitz, with a branch in Klingenthal/Saxony, registered the jazzophon as a German utility model on August 24, 1926 (D.R.G.M. No. 995.305). The instrument was intended as saxophone substitute for the increasingly popular musical art form jazz in 1920s Germany.
DimensionsHeight: ca. 475 mm
Tube length normal bell: 1298 mm
Tube length wah-wah bell: 1398 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, main tuning slide, first and third-valve slides, second valve slide): 11.9 mm, 11.5 mm, 11.6 mm, 11.5 mm, 11.9 mm
Bore diameter (tuning bit, initial, minimum): 11.3 mm, 11.1 mm
Bell diameter: 114 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1999 from an unknown source.
Published ReferencesSabine K. Klaus, "Jazzophone in B-flat, possibly by Franz Xaver Hüller, Graslitz (Czechoslovakia), ca. 1926-1930," International Trumpet Guild Journal October 2018, p. 62.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 2000
Object number09827
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