In 2003, after I posted my first version of my Keilwerth pages on www.saxpics.com, I was contacted by Peter Ponzol. He said he wanted to “clear up” a few things about the Modell Peter Ponzol and his tenure at Keilwerth.
Below, I’ve consolidated my questions into three parts:
* Questions about Peter Ponzol himself, his involvement with Keilwerth and the development of the Modell Peter Ponzol saxophone.
* Questions about the Peter Ponzol sax necks.
* Brand new stuff (2011) regarding the Antigua Winds Pro-One saxophones.
This makes things a little easier to read – after all, these were three separate e-mails.
My additions are in brackets ([ ]) or in deep purple.
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PH: How did you get involved with Keilwerth? What was your position and "mission" there?
PP: I will try and answer your questions without going into my life story. A lot of this information is in a Saxophone Journal interview from late 1992 or 1993.
I was a consultant for the Lyricon in the late 70’s, while living as a jazz and studio player in NYC. I believe that it was 1980 that I demonstrated the Lyricon at the Frankfurt Music Fair. There I met the people from Buffet (which had just been purchased by Boosey & Hawkes). They invited me to come to the factory after the show and try some of their saxophones which I did.
After returning to NYC, I became involved with the US part of the company in an effort to make a Buffet for the jazz market. During an extended 1981 stay in Europe, on a grant from the German government, I began to work on prototypes at the factory in Mantes. There was a problem in that B&H wanted a saxophone for the jazz market and Buffet saw the saxophone world as classical. My prototypes were never realized and B&H sent me to Keilwerth, which was in the same German village as B&H Germany, to see what I thought of the Keilwerth horns. I saw a lot of potential in these horns and B&H had Keilwerth make 100 horns with the Buffet logo and engraving. After realizing that Buffet was never going to change and being frustrated that my ideas were not being utilized, I left in 1985.
I then approached Keilwerth, which was still a small family company to see if they would be interested in my ideas. We redesigned the saxophone they had been making for Conn [the “DJH Modified” horns]/Armstrong [the H-Couf models] by moving tone holes and designing a new neck. The saxophones they had been making were all flat in the palm keys so I suggested making the tone holes larger to raise the pitch. 1986 saw the introduction of the Modell Peter Ponzol for the European market and the making of saxophones with only the Keilwerth name. (By the way, I moved to Germany in 1981 and was very busy as a jazz player playing all over Europe and with the Jazz Ensemble on the Frankfurt Radio Station HR.) We built an excellent European market for Keilwerth and in 1989, Boosey & Hawkes took over Keilwerth. I worked closely with Gerhard Keilwerth who is an excellent technician. I would give Gerhard an idea and on my next visit to the factory he would have some possibilities for me to try. My position was that of consultant and tester: I would go in the factory once a week to test my models and in general check on the production. We also did many workshops throughout Europe.
I began making mouthpieces in 1985 and we tied both products into our workshops. My model came with a Ponzol mouthpiece, a different neck which was personally chosen by me for each instrument and I did all the final testing on all Ponzol saxophones and the guarantee card bore my signature. As I mentioned, the G# mechanism, adjustable palm keys and F arm with adjusting screw were all developed on my model.
Being a jazz player, of course my goal was to make first a good saxophone and second [to make] one that was aimed at the largest market. During marketing studies we found that classical saxophone represented 3% of the world market in 1985. I was never able to get Keilwerth to change the size of the bow which I feel causes the sound to spread too much. We made a prototype with a smaller bow that I thought was fantastic, but it was never put into production.
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B&H did not like using my name on the saxophone and had no desire to make further major changes to the saxophones, so I became too expensive and my involvement with the company ended in March, 1993. I then returned to the US after a wonderful 12 years in Europe. The Modell Ponzol became the SX90, but without real rolled tone holes [the SX90R “uses tonehole rings which are soldered on to the standard drawn toneholes” (link to this quote is no longer available)] and with a different neck [, however] I would not like to make a comparison between my model and the new Keilwerth saxophones.
PH: I’ve heard a bit about your custom necks. How did you get started doing this? What do you think about using wood as a material for a sax, particularly for a neck?
PP: […] I learned with Keilwerth and Buffet how important the neck was and made many notes about various experiments. Remember that I had a factory at my disposal so every time I had an idea I received a prototype for testing. Seeing that the current method of making necks is good for production, but not always the best for the instrument, I decided that there was a good market for necks that would play better than the factory necks.
I am a strong believer in the neck being the same material as the body of the saxophone.
In principal, the ideal saxophone would be one piece, but it is totally impractical. I have experimented with necks of different materials and find a mismatch in the overtones.
As to wooden necks, I think that it is asking for problems. I made about 100 wooden mouthpieces and know very well the problems of wood and moisture. In theory the material should have no influence on the sound and I strongly believe that. However, different materials have different resistance and this causes you to play differently in order to compensate for more or less resistance.
In 2011, Peter Ponzol partnered with Antigua Winds to produce a new alto and tenor model that has the following, according to http://www.antiguapro-one.com/p1_alto_feat_beta.html:
Ponzol Neck Design
The heart and soul of the new Antigua Pro-One is the Peter Ponzol neck design. This new neck is free-blowing, has lightning quick response, precise intonation and great tone quality. Antigua Pro-One necks are designed and built to meet the strict standards set forth by Peter Ponzol.
Vintage Brass Alloy Body
Antigua Pro-One saxophones are crafted from a special vintage brass alloy material [Vintage Reserve™ Alloy]. It’s generally regarded that the metallurgy of post-war French saxophones gives them a certain tone character that sounds “right.” We analyzed this alloy and found that its properties were a combination of the chemical makeup, as well as the annealing and working processes during the making of the saxophone. We found a source for this alloy from a mill that uses only the highest quality refined ores to create the purest alloys available. Our engineering team then created an annealing process that emulates the acoustical properties of a fine vintage instrument. Vintage Reserve alloy promotes quick and accurate response, wide dynamic range, and centered, well-focused tone. As a result, the new Antigua Pro-One saxophones are at home in any genre or musical setting.
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I’ve heard many amusing things over the years regarding the kind of brass that’s used in making a saxophone, with the majority of comments having to do with the Selmer Mark VI. My personal favorite is that the metal used in the Mark VI was from old WWII artillery shell casings. While I do know, from watching things like How It’s Made, that how you "treat" the metal can make a significant difference in the strength of the metal, there have been no conclusive studies that show that the metal used in a saxophone’s construction affects the tone. See part 1 and part 2 of a couple articles I’ve written for more on the subject. In my opinion — and that of several other players — the best thing to do is not say that horn X is superior because of what it’s made with, but that horn X is just a really good horn. You might also note that a "taste-test" Paul Cohen did on baritone saxophones for the March/April 1997 edition of his "Vintage Saxophones Revisited" column in The Saxophone Journal magazine (page 8) concluded that the Super (Balanced) Action had better tone color.
Hybrid Rolled Tone Holes
The Antigua Pro-One is revolutionary and unique as it is the first hybrid rolled tone hole saxophone. The Pro-One has rolled tone holes for the bell keys and straight drawn tone holes in all other areas to balance response and tone. The rolled tone holes provide a larger contact area for the pads to seal and add needed strength where it matters most. This provides faster, more nimble response from the low notes and a deep rich tone.
I’ve heard that some Conn New Wonder sopranos and sopraninos had the higher tone holes straight and the rest rolled. This was not done because they wanted to accentuate a design feature, but probably because you’re talking about itty-bitty tone holes. Unfortunately, while I colleced a lot of soprano and sopranino pics on www.saxpics.com, I don’t have any really good close-ups of the altissimo stacks on these horns. It is possible, of course, that the rolled tone holes were filed down on some horns at some point. In any event, the main reason why Conn used and the Pro-One uses rolled tone holes is for extended pad life. Check out this excerpt from a 1922 Conn catalog. If you want me to venture an opinion on the Antigua Pro-One’s design, without me even touching the horn, I think that the rolled tone holes on the bell keys combined with the "Trident™ Key Arms" (see below) might help with the problem of leaky bell keys and the fact that you’ve got an awful lot of mechanism you have to mash down to close the bell keys.
Trident™ Key Arms
Double key arms add strength to the low B, Bb and C keys. The Pro-One design carries this feature 2 steps further with the revolutionary Ponzol Trident adjustable arms. This new design, exclusive to the Antigua Pro-One, improves radial rigidity and features 2 adjustment arms to set and balance these critical keys. The difference this new design makes is truly amazing.
Hybrid Bell Diameter
There is a lot of mystique and marketing speak surrounding the bell diameter of the saxophone. This lead our design team, headed by Peter Ponzol to seek to quantify the role of the saxophone bell, remove the mystique and answer the question “what is the best bell size for saxophones?” Our research led us to the optimum bell diameter and shape to obtain the best balance, response and tone.
I was unaware that there was a "mystique" surrounding bell diameters. Definitely a lot of marketing speak, as I know there have been big bell Cannonball horns, P. Mauriat horns and even Antigua, themselves, had a big bell model.
SML was possibly the first company to offer an oversized bell, with their Gold Medal saxophone, back in the mid-1950s, but it really wasn’t a case of, "The Gold Medal is extra great because it has a big bell," it was more, "The Gold Medal is a great horn and it has a big bell."
My opinion is that a lot of manufacturers are trying to get back to a bell that is, uhm, more bell-like. I’ve heard from a couple repairmen that they can remove the bell from (say) a Conn Artist/Standard horn and tap it — and get a bell-like tone. Newer horns just return a dull thud.
Anyhow, there are an awful lot of things you can tweak on a saxophone and the bell is a big and logical target. However, it’d be extremely interesting if Antigua allowed Mr. Ponzol to do what he suggested in the above interview: make a one-piece (straight) horn. I know some folks that’d buy a straight alto or tenor!
Ergonomic Keyboard
An extensive ergonomic study of the saxophone keyboard was conducted by the Antigua Pro-One design team. The purpose of the study was to refine the positions and placement of the keys, making the Pro-One work with the player, making it easier to play fast and difficult passages and promote better feel.
F to F# Bridge Key
We added a bridge arm to the F key of the Antigua Pro-One to facilitate faster action and response in the right hand key section. The Pro-One is designed to have the best feel and response.
Oddly, it doesn’t appear that you get a Peter Ponzol mouthpiece with the new Antigua Pro-One. The Pro-One horns are not cheap: $2500 and $2800, respectively, at Kessler Music (tell Dave that I said "hi"!). The again, a Ponzol neck is $470 and his higher-end mouthpieces are in the $400 range. If both were included with the Pro-One, that’d be extremely attractive: $900 in Ponzol products and get a sax with some Ponzol custom work for $1600 more? Sign me up!
The Pro-One alto is $1000 more expensive than the Antigua 4240. I do think this is a good price for Antigua dipping their toes in the "real" professional market with a horn that’s not just a copy of a Selmer Super 80 Serie II or a Yanagisawa 991, even if a Ponzol mouthpiece is not included. I’d rather like to see some reviewers test the Pro-One against the Keilwerth Modell Peter Ponzol, the Antigua 4240 and the Yanagisawa 991. However, I do start to wonder if the Pro-One is approaching two other rolled-tone hole French-made saxophones: the Couesnon Monopole and the SML Gold Medal.
As a personal comment, I want to thank Mr. Peter Ponzol profusely for "sitting down" for an interview. I also hope he sells a bazillion Pro-Ones.
TheSax.Info Blog 
Hi how are you? Just came cross your info on the ProOne and would like to clarify a few things. First of all the ProOne has a Ponzol neck, its right there in the information you have. Actually I have discontinued my own neck production in favor of the P1 neck I designed for Antigua. That neck will soon be available for Selmer and Yamaha saxophones. There is no Ponzol mouthpiece with the ProOne for the simple reason that it would increase the price by at least $300 and force players to buy a mouthpiece they might not need. The bell is a resonance tube and as such is responsible for the tonal integration of the low notes with the rest of the horn. The size of the bell is incredibly important. I have always been of the opinion that the Selmer bell size is too small causing a pinched sound, while the Keilwerth bell is too big causing the sound to spread and lose its center. Over one year went into the design of the ProOne and for the first time I was given a free hand in design and development. The ProOne has nothing to do with any other Antigua model or any other saxophone for that matter. It is a completely new design. The Trident arms are not a gimmick but one of the few really new ideas to be put on a saxophone. These arms give just the right amount of stabilization to the large pad cups on the low notes so that they can not vibrate or flutter. http://www.antiguapro-one.com read the Downbest review. Thanks, Peter
I’m fairly good, Mr. P. Thanks for responding!
I’m sorry about the neck thing. I reworded it a bit to make what I wrote a bit clearer. It also seems that a gremlin crept in and changed my fonts. I think I’ve got them back to defaults. Anyway ….
I enjoy the discussion of bells because I’m primarily a baritone saxophone player. A little explanation for people that aren’t bari players: baritone saxophones can have a keyed range to low B (for very old baris, that is), low Bb or low A. Most low A horns have a “naturally” slimmer bell, but that also depends on if the extension to low A is conical (like, say, a Yamaha 52/62) or straight, like the Conn 11M and the old Selmer USA/Bundy baritones. A lot of really serious bari players will try horns that were available with both low Bb and low A extensions, like the Selmer Super (Balanced) Action — which is the first low A baritone that was in large production — and say that the low Bb horn has a fuller, richer sound.
I’m probably correct in saying that the first manufacturer that said that the “big bell” made a difference on something other than a baritone was SML with their Gold Medal tenors. This trend has continued with several manufacturers, with the most obvious example being Cannonball with their “Big Bell” models. I really don’t want to talk about how stones affect your tone, ATM, though ….
My opinion on the bari side is more pragmatic than anything else: the low A is extremely useful and I can’t justify the expense in getting, say, a low Bb and low A Selmer Mark VI bari. For a very long while, most other manufacturers thought similarly and only offered low A baritones. Recently, though, P. Mauriat decided to offer a low Bb bari as a “jazzier” horn. Pragmatics aside, I really can’t tell too much difference between low Bb and low A baris of the same make/model. I’ve also had the opportunity to play a Selmer Mark VI low A alto next to a low Bb one and I, again, couldn’t tell much difference.
To get further into the discussion of bells, you have to start talking about where the sound is coming out of on your horn (answer: mostly out of the tone holes immediately below the note you’re playing, but that’s just *mostly*). That quickly gets into a conversation in the form of, “The Mark VI is better because ….” In other words, I think a good horn is a good horn because … it’s a good horn. I think the ProOne’s going to be good because of the folks behind it. I’d like to try one out, sometime. If it’s a seriously good horn, the prices are pretty decent.