A stencil is a saxophone made by a major manufacturer but will have a different name on it. Music stores, schools and other businesses would order a number of saxophones from a major saxophone maker and have their name put on instead of the company that made them. A major manufacturer could also create separate brand names to compete in certain markets or may have purchased a smaller company and kept the name. Whatever the reason, for the most part these stencil horns were built with many of the features and quality of their parent company.

The major saxophone companies that made stencils were Conn, Buescher, Martin. Selmer, Holton and York. Some of these companies were purchased in time and became stencils themselves. There are many ways to tell if a saxophone was produced by a certain company. Tone hole construction, G# key cluster design, key guard design, key layout, octave mechanism type, serial number markings and I’m sure their are more. Speaking of serial numbers most stencils did not follow the parent companies serial number range so it is hard to tell the year it was made.

Let me state right now that this list is not all inclusive. There may be a Conn stencil with a name of Frank Smith’s Music Store that may be sitting in someone’s attic somewhere waiting to be discovered.  I have collected information from many web sites and looked at many auctions. This list is constantly growing but at least it’s a starting point if you see a sax you are interested in and want to know who probably made it. You will notice that some stencils like Wurlitzer and Lyon & Healy are listed more than once. This is because at one time or another they were made by more than one manufacturer. In that case you’ll have to do more research to find out which one it is.

BUESCHER MADE
American Artist
American Capitol
American Premier
American Triumph
Artist
Bundy
Cafaro Special
Carl Fischer
Cole & Dunas
Crusader
Ditson
Elkhart
Elkhorn
Getzen
Harwood Professional
Jenkins
Legionnaire
Lyon & Healy
Lyons Monarch
Royal Artist
Sherwood
Silvertone
The Yankee
USA
Vega
Vocotone
Weymann
Windsor
Wolverine
Wurlitzer

CONN MADE
Abbott Premier
American Hagar
American Perfecto
American Triumph
Bandmaster
Beaufort American
Bruno
Carl Fischer
Cavalier
Commonwealth
Concertone
Continental Colonial
Elkhart
Grand Opera
Gretsch
Hamilton
Harry Pedler
Harwood
Horace
Jenkins
Kalashen's Kleartone
La Pacific
Lefleur
Liberty
Olympian
Pan American
Perfection
Pride
Sears & Roebuck
Supertone
Symphony
Tom Brown
Varsity
Vega
Velvetone
Virginian
Werlein Special
Whitttle Zenith
Wm Meyer American
Wurlitzer
Xcelo

COUTURIER MADE
King
Lyon & Healy

HOLTON MADE
Gretch
Rudy Wiedoeft

KING MADE
American Standard
American Scholastic
Gladiator
Vega

MARTIN MADE
Abbott Premier
American Artist
American Perfection
American Professional
Beaufort American
Blessing
Bruno
Champion
Commander
Colonial
Concertone
Couesnon
Dick Stabile
Dorn & Kirschner
Gary
Gold Star
Gretsch
Harmony
Honercomb
Horace
Indiana Band Instrument Company
Jenkins
Kingston
Knickerbocker
Lyric
Manhattan
Melody Master
Midwest
Oliver Ditson
Pedler
Perfacktone
Reynolds
Sherwood
Standard Artists
Standard American
Supertone
Symphony
Tempertone
Wurlitzer
Vega

MALERNE MADE
Acme
Buffet Dynaction
Carl Fischer
Cartier
Community
Linton
M. Pierre

SELMER MADE
Adolphe
Deville

YORK MADE
Wolverine

Last updated 10/21/2009