Grafton saxophone
Encyclopedia
The Grafton saxophone was an injection moulded, cream-coloured acrylic plastic
alto saxophone
with metal keys, manufactured in London
, England
by the Grafton company, and later by 'John E. Dallas & Sons Ltd'. Only Grafton altos
were ever made, due to the challenges in making larger models (i.e. the tenor
) with 1950s plastic technology. Production commenced in 1950 and ended after approximately ten years. However, a few last examples were assembled from residual parts circa 1967. All tools, machinery and jigs required to manufacture the Grafton were sold for scrap and subsequently destroyed in 1968.
living in London
, the saxophone was named after "Grafton Way", his address during the late 1940s. The basic saxophone design was patented in late 1945. Creation of the first non-working prototype took place in 1946, and commercial production commenced in 1950. The selling price of the Grafton was £55 i.e. approximately half the cost of a conventional brass saxophone at that time. Contemporary marketing literature described the Grafton as a "Tone poem in ivory and gold". The decision to make it mainly from acrylic glass
like perspex was motivated not by a belief in any special acoustic qualities, but simply because of its much lower cost and ease of production. The serial number on a Grafton appears in an unusual location: it is stamped onto the main body of the saxophone (and highlighted in black) at the front, approximately 2 cms above the front F key which is operated by the player's left hand. Serial numbers run to a maximum of five digits. Serial numbers running up to at least 13,571 are known to exist.
Grafton saxophones have a very distinctive appearance due to their 1950s Italian style. The mechanical action of Graftons has an unusual "spongy" feel to it, without the quick, "snappy", positive feel of other more conventional saxophone actions. The plastic technology used in the Grafton dates from the late 1940s and is therefore nowhere near as robust as the injection moulded plastics used in the 21st century.
. As a result, any component parts made of plastic can easily crack, fracture or snap off during normal use. Not only do Graftons use a non-standard spring mechanism to operate the action, but spare parts are unavailable. Not surprisingly, Graftons are challenging and expensive to overhaul or repair when compared to saxophones made entirely of metal e.g. Selmer
or Conn
. For these reasons, and their comparative rarity, it is unusual to see a Grafton being played by performers in the 21st century. As a general rule, Graftons are now regarded purely as collectors' items i.e. for display purposes only. This is because they are fragile and very easy to damage, which detracts from their monetary value.
. While in Toronto
, Charlie Parker and “the quintet” were scheduled to perform at Massey Hall
, but Parker had pawned his saxophone - some sources say to buy heroin. A sales representative for Grafton (or the owner of the company, depending upon from whom one receives the story) asked Parker to use a Grafton for a Massey Hall gig in May 1953. Although Parker was under exclusive contract to use only one type of saxophone whilst gigging in the United States, outside the U.S.A. he was free to use any sax he wished, including this Grafton. The recording of Parker (credited as Charlie Chan
due to contract issues) can be heard on the CD "Jazz at Massey Hall" with Bud Powell
, Dizzy Gillespie
, Charles Mingus
and Max Roach
. The Grafton saxophone that Parker used (serial number 10265) was sold at the Christie's auction house in London
in September 1994 for £93,500 sterling, though this was because of its association with a famous jazz musician rather than the instrument itself having any special merit. The buyer was the American Jazz Museum, located in Parker's home town of Kansas City, Missouri
.
jazz
composer, saxophonist and clarinetist John Dankworth
was an early endorser. The Grafton company provided him with two altos, specially customised to his requirements. During the Festival of Britain
in 1951, the "John Dankworth Seven" (with Dankworth playing a Grafton) performed at the newly-opened Royal Festival Hall
in London
.
used to play a Grafton (that he purchased in 1954) originally because it was the cheapest saxophone he could replace his first tenor with after it was broken. In the late fifties and early sixties, Coleman was sometimes known as "the man with the plastic horn". However, Coleman subsequently replaced his Grafton with a white-lacquered Selmer
alto instead.
s now exist which are much more durable, not to mention the possibility of using carbon fibre composites (or even Kevlar
/Twaron
) for component parts requiring extra strength.
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
alto saxophone
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
with metal keys, manufactured in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
by the Grafton company, and later by 'John E. Dallas & Sons Ltd'. Only Grafton altos
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
were ever made, due to the challenges in making larger models (i.e. the tenor
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
) with 1950s plastic technology. Production commenced in 1950 and ended after approximately ten years. However, a few last examples were assembled from residual parts circa 1967. All tools, machinery and jigs required to manufacture the Grafton were sold for scrap and subsequently destroyed in 1968.
The Design
Designed by Hector Sommaruga, an ItalianItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
living in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the saxophone was named after "Grafton Way", his address during the late 1940s. The basic saxophone design was patented in late 1945. Creation of the first non-working prototype took place in 1946, and commercial production commenced in 1950. The selling price of the Grafton was £55 i.e. approximately half the cost of a conventional brass saxophone at that time. Contemporary marketing literature described the Grafton as a "Tone poem in ivory and gold". The decision to make it mainly from acrylic glass
Acrylic glass
Poly is a transparent thermoplastic, often used as a light or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It is sometimes called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate...
like perspex was motivated not by a belief in any special acoustic qualities, but simply because of its much lower cost and ease of production. The serial number on a Grafton appears in an unusual location: it is stamped onto the main body of the saxophone (and highlighted in black) at the front, approximately 2 cms above the front F key which is operated by the player's left hand. Serial numbers run to a maximum of five digits. Serial numbers running up to at least 13,571 are known to exist.
Grafton saxophones have a very distinctive appearance due to their 1950s Italian style. The mechanical action of Graftons has an unusual "spongy" feel to it, without the quick, "snappy", positive feel of other more conventional saxophone actions. The plastic technology used in the Grafton dates from the late 1940s and is therefore nowhere near as robust as the injection moulded plastics used in the 21st century.
Fragility
The basic problem with Grafton saxophones is that they are brittleBrittle
A material is brittle if, when subjected to stress, it breaks without significant deformation . Brittle materials absorb relatively little energy prior to fracture, even those of high strength. Breaking is often accompanied by a snapping sound. Brittle materials include most ceramics and glasses ...
. As a result, any component parts made of plastic can easily crack, fracture or snap off during normal use. Not only do Graftons use a non-standard spring mechanism to operate the action, but spare parts are unavailable. Not surprisingly, Graftons are challenging and expensive to overhaul or repair when compared to saxophones made entirely of metal e.g. Selmer
Selmer Mark VI
The Selmer Mark VI is a professional model saxophone that is generally considered the Selmer Company's finest saxophone. Although tastes in saxophones differ the Mk VI design is universally regarded as one of the best saxophone models ever produced by any manufacturer...
or Conn
C. G. Conn
C.G. Conn Ltd., sometimes called Conn Instruments or commonly just Conn, was a United States manufacturer of musical instruments, especially brass instruments. In 1985 their Strobotuner division was bought by Peterson Electro-Musical Products, who continue to service their line of products.Assets...
. For these reasons, and their comparative rarity, it is unusual to see a Grafton being played by performers in the 21st century. As a general rule, Graftons are now regarded purely as collectors' items i.e. for display purposes only. This is because they are fragile and very easy to damage, which detracts from their monetary value.
Charlie Parker
The most notable player of a Grafton saxophone was Charlie ParkerCharlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
. While in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Charlie Parker and “the quintet” were scheduled to perform at Massey Hall
Massey Hall
Massey Hall is a venerable performing arts theatre in the Garden District of downtown Toronto. The theatre originally was designed to seat 3,500 patrons but, after extensive renovations in the 1940s, now seats up to 2,765....
, but Parker had pawned his saxophone - some sources say to buy heroin. A sales representative for Grafton (or the owner of the company, depending upon from whom one receives the story) asked Parker to use a Grafton for a Massey Hall gig in May 1953. Although Parker was under exclusive contract to use only one type of saxophone whilst gigging in the United States, outside the U.S.A. he was free to use any sax he wished, including this Grafton. The recording of Parker (credited as Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan is a fictional Chinese-American detective created by Earl Derr Biggers in 1919. Loosely based on Honolulu detective Chang Apana, Biggers conceived of the benevolent and heroic Chan as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes, such as villains like Fu Manchu...
due to contract issues) can be heard on the CD "Jazz at Massey Hall" with Bud Powell
Bud Powell
Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell was an American Jazz pianist. Powell has been described as one of "the two most significant pianists of the style of modern jazz that came to be known as bop", the other being his friend and contemporary Thelonious Monk...
, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
and Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
. The Grafton saxophone that Parker used (serial number 10265) was sold at the Christie's auction house in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in September 1994 for £93,500 sterling, though this was because of its association with a famous jazz musician rather than the instrument itself having any special merit. The buyer was the American Jazz Museum, located in Parker's home town of Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
.
John Dankworth
EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
composer, saxophonist and clarinetist John Dankworth
John Dankworth
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE , known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist...
was an early endorser. The Grafton company provided him with two altos, specially customised to his requirements. During the Festival of Britain
Festival of Britain
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition in Britain in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give Britons a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote good quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities. The Festival's centrepiece was in...
in 1951, the "John Dankworth Seven" (with Dankworth playing a Grafton) performed at the newly-opened Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Ornette Coleman
Ornette ColemanOrnette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
used to play a Grafton (that he purchased in 1954) originally because it was the cheapest saxophone he could replace his first tenor with after it was broken. In the late fifties and early sixties, Coleman was sometimes known as "the man with the plastic horn". However, Coleman subsequently replaced his Grafton with a white-lacquered Selmer
The Selmer Company
Henri Selmer Paris company is a French family-owned enterprise, manufacturer of musical instruments based in Paris, France in 1885. It is known for its high-quality woodwind and brass instruments, especially saxophones, clarinets and trumpets...
alto instead.
Ade Monsbourgh
Monsbourgh was given an acrylic alto saxophone by the Grafton Saxophone Company UK, during the Bell Second Tour C1951-1952. The multi-instrumentalist is perhaps best known for his work with Graeme Bell’s band with which he twice toured Europe and England in the 1940s. These tours had a significant impact, as did Monsbourgh’s own playing. Indeed, he was offered a job in the band of English jazz musician Humphrey Lyttleton but turned it down. Back in Australia, he played in Len Barnard’s band, became a resident guest musician at the Melbourne Jazz Club and later played and recorded with Nevillle Stribling in Lazy Ade's Late Hour Boys and Adelaide composer Dave Dallwitz. Wrtiting in the Oxford Companion to Australian Jazz, Bruce Johnson said that Monsbourgh, also known as “The Father” or Lazy Ade”, was “one of the most original and influential jazz musicians Australia has produced”. “His distinctive approach, both in terms of timing, harmonic line and, especially on alto, his timbre, is central to what is widely, if controversially regarded as the ‘Australian’ or ‘Melbourne’ jazz style.” Johnson also said that Monsbourgh has been copied “more productively than any other Australian jazz musician, including by overseas musicians”. In 2003, Monsbourgh won the Graeme Bell Career Achievement Award at the inaugural Australian Jazz Awards.Legacy
As of 2010 there are no manufacturers of plastic saxophones, with the exception of Vibratosax. It would be very difficult to predict the tonal qualities of a modern plastic saxophone without first making a prototype and testing it. However, it is certain that a plastic saxophone made in the 21st Century would be much more robust than the Grafton. This is because plastics technology has advanced significantly since the 1950s. Superior polymerPolymer
A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...
s now exist which are much more durable, not to mention the possibility of using carbon fibre composites (or even Kevlar
Kevlar
Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires...
/Twaron
Twaron
Twaron is the brandname of Teijin Aramid for a para-aramid. It is a heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibre developed in the early 1970s by the Dutch company AKZO, division Enka, later Akzo Industrial Fibers. The research name of the para-aramid fibre was originally Fiber X, but it was soon...
) for component parts requiring extra strength.
External links
- Review of the Grafton alto saxophone
- Detailed account of overhauling a Grafton saxophone
- Additional information regarding the Grafton
- Video of Charlie Parker's Grafton saxophone at Christie's auction house - (played by Peter KingPeter King (saxophonist)Peter John King is an English jazz saxophonist, composer, and clarinettist.- Early life :Peter King was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, on August 11, 1940. He took up the clarinet and saxophone as a teenager, entirely self taught...
) - Video of Loren Pickford playing a Grafton saxophone
- Video of Gerald Dunn playing a Grafton saxophone
- Video #1 of Grafton saxophone repair process
- Video #2 of Grafton saxophone repair process