- Mike Keller
In 1887 the company was renamed "York & Son" in recognition of JW York’s infant son, Charles E. (SW)
In 1894 York hired workmen from Courtois and Besson (S21), so they were obviously involved in brass manufacture of some sort, yet only two instruments have come to light bearing the "York & Son" name, and then only as agents. It is my assumption, then, that any brass manufacturing was under another name, such as the two "DeMaer" cornets surviving, which list "York & Son" as agents. One has no serial number, while the other is marked 6039. Langwill has no mention of any "DeMaer", either in Paris as claimed, nor anywhere else (NLI).
In 1897 Alfred J. "Bill" Johnson becomes company foreman (SW, MK).
In 1898 the company is renamed "York & Sons" in recognition of JW York’s second son, Frank W. (SW). The oldest "York & Sons" instrument that I am aware of is a "Weldon Model" cornet bearing serial number 1168. It then seems reasonable that IF the company was already serializing their products, they must have restarted in 1898. They could not have started this run any earlier due to the name change. The numbering seems consistent beyond this point, so I have chosen to begin this list with the "York & Sons" marked horns. This sequence continues until the plant is closed.
The company, with experienced personnel, is well positioned to have an established run rate as it enters the twentieth century, not only having the main office and factory in Grand Rapid, Michigan, but also a branch office in Chicago (YMJ). In fact, the 1898 edition of York’s Musical Journal contains references to York having built and sold Eb soprano and Bb cornets, band and orchestra horns, baritone and slide trombones, and Eb and BBb basses. Soloist Steve Crean "agrees to select and test all Cornets made by us", and it also describes hiring a Mr. W. A. Goble as head of a testing department and being responsible for testing each BBb bass, Eb bass, baritone, and slide trombone (YMJ). Production, however, cannot overrun the 1903 milestones.
In 1903 the "Professional" model cornet was announced and put into production (1). The earliest such cornet on my information base is numbered 7699.
There is also cornet numbered 8497, which engraved as being presented on Christmas, 1903, so it was undoubtedly made before that date.
The oldest instrument having the High/Low Pitch change loop engraved "pat July 12, 1910" on my information base is a euphonium numbered 24356. They would not know of the actual status change of the patent (and therefore marked "pending") until July 12, 1910, so that any horn so marked could have not been made before the July date.
York advertised that "1912 was largest volume year in the 30-year history of the company, but 1913 will be larger" (2)
In 1913 came the announcement of the Al-Tru cornet (3), the oldest of which I am aware is numbered 36738.
The "York Couturier Wizard" Cornet should have been produced after Couturier’s patent (Sep 23, 1913) and prior to starting his own business in 1916.
In 1926 the company name changed to York Band Instrument Company (S24), and the first such engraved instrument that I have recorded is numbered 87787, which now corresponds to the 1926 date.
York was awarded two saxophone patents concerning tone holes in the later part of the 1920s: 1690862 and 1673195. York alto saxophone 92259 is reported to have unusual tones holes, and the marking "pat. apld. for". These patents were applied for in 1925 and 1926. and granted Nov 6, 1928, and Jun 12, 1928, respectively.
Instrument 91818 was made in 1928 and was dated though contact by Dr. Swain with the original owner.
"Bill" Johnson’s Airflow design patent for trumpets and cornets was filed Nov 24, 1939, and issued Apr 2, 1940. The earliest such horn that I have recorded is cornet 120612, which now corresponds to 1939. Cornet 120815, which also corresponds to 1939 is also constructed to this design including a reverse-rolled rim, but is not marked "Airflow". The latest horn marked "Airflow" is trumpet 124155, which now corresponds to 1940. In December, 1940 York was sold to Carl Fischer Musical Instruments. (SW) but Bill did not transfer his design patent along with the company (6) the result of which I can only assume is the cause of conventional cornets being engraved with the "Airflow" name in the 1950s.
In 1950 serial numbers were in the 150,000 range (S10).
In 1957, a cornet and a trumpet, both with the number 207xxx, were chosen by the original owner at the plant from current production, per the 2nd owner.
In 1970, York is sold to Tolchin Instrument Company (S24).
In 1971, Tolchin Instrument Company closed the factory. (SW)
Proprietary rights were ultimately purchased in 1976 by Boosey and Hawkes. (SW)
Dr. John Swain’s site had given the following information about particular instruments:
- 109xxx @ ca. 1933: An instrument with this approximate serial number was dated through contact with the original owner. (note: this number would have actually been ca. 1935 using his own list, so I can only assume that the date was printed in error, and is properly 1935)
- 112xxx @ ca. 1937: An instrument with this approximate serial number was dated through contact with the original owner.
- 120xxx @ ca. 1929: An instrument with this approximate serial number was dated through contact with the original owner. (note: again, particularly with it’s place in the list, I can only assume that this is in error and is properly 1939)
- 186549 @ 1953: This is based on an invoice for a part for an instrument with this serial number. (5)
Since most of these serial numbers are only approximate, I used them as benchmarks in the same places on my list that Dr. Swain had on his.
As with Dr. Swain, I also used these as assumptions:
- The drop in production for 1915-16 is based on similar drops among the other manufacturers as a result of World War I.
- The slow decline in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s is based on similar fluctuations among other manufacturers. This includes a sizable drop during the years of the Great Depression and a steady growth in the latter half of the 1930’s.
- Few of the manufacturers produced instruments during the last 2-3 years of World War II.
- All of the manufacturers exhibit a dramatic growth in production immediately following World War II.
I have chosen not to address any volume and run rate issues which occurred in York’s contemporary advertising. These were considered by Dr. Swain to be "anomalies". In my opinion, since we know for a fact that York was involved in several tradenames (such as Grand Rapids Band Instrument Co), unlisted brass manufacture (why would they need workmen and a foreman in the 1890’s?) and also other activities (drums (4), woodwinds, and even strings appear in their various catalogs, along with other instruments they made, like bugles) it seems beyond the scope of this list to attempt to reconcile it.
The numbers for 1958-1971 are very subjective. They were created by taking the last number I have obtained in what seems to be an unbroken sequence of serial numbers (up to trumpet 242047), and distributing them until the factory was closed in 1971, regardless of manufacturing source. Certainly there were relationships with Blessing, Boehm and Meinl, and many more manufacturers once Carl Fischer took over the company.
For more information, go to the Detailed Record of York Instruments. This page lists known and reported York instruments as a service to those researching York. The source of the information is listed, and wherever possible, the serial numbers have also been verified visually.
The record, itself, is broken into three sections:
- York instruments from 1887 — 1971, which fit into the 1 — 275000 serial number sequence.
- York instruments which, while they may have numbers that fit into the above sequence, were clearly made much later than their number would indicate. Also included in this list are instruments likely not made in Grand Rapids, some instruments that were at least partially constructed by Blessing, instruments that were made in West Germany by Boehm and Meinl which Carl Fisher imported under the label York Master (9) and other instruments that bear numbers outside the subject serial number range.
- Grand Rapids Band Instrument Company instruments, which, although they had their own serial numbering(7), were made on the same York lines by the same craftsmen(8). Perhaps eventaully we may be able to reconstruct a list for these, too.
- 1. "York and Sons New Cornet," The Music Trades, Vol. 26, No. 4, July 25, 1903, p. 40
- 2. Advertisement, The Metronome, Vol. 24, No. 3, March, 1913
- 3. Advertisement, The Dominant, Vol. 21, No. 6, August
- 4. "Heavy York Band Instrument Business," The Music Trades, Vol XXIX, No. 10, p. 50, March 11, 1905
- 5. Packing list for a shipment to Arne B. Larson, December 12, 1953
- 6. Lou Van Koevering,. "The Manufacturers/York Instruments/Re: York Patents". Online posting. Feb 2nd, 2007, 12:30pm. Horn-u-copia. 16 August, 2007.
- 7. Lou Van Koevering, "The Manufacturers/York Instruments/Grand Rapids Trumpets". Online posting. Nov 26th 2005, 1:22 PM www.horn-u-copia.net. 23 April, 2008.
- 8. Lou Van Koevering, "Stencil Horns/Speculations/York/Pepper?". Online posting. Nov 18th, 2005, 6:14PM. www.horn-u-copia.net. 23 April, 2008.
- 9. R. W. Denney, Jr., "Rick’s Tuba Page/My Tuba Collection". Web page, Mar 9, 2007. www.rickdenny.com. 23 April, 2008.
- S10. Telephone interview, John Swain with Gene Pilszuk, former York employee, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2 February 1984
- S21. Grand Rapids Press, 28 April 1894
- S24. Grand Rapids Press, 5 Dec. 1971
- MK. Kriven, Martin. A Century of Wind Instrument Manufacturers in the United States, 1860-1960, State University of Iowa, PhD, 1961. University Microfilms International
- NLI. Waterhouse, William. The New Langwill Index: a Dictionary of Musical Wind-Instrument Makers and Inventors. Bath, England: The Bath Press, 1993
- SW. Brian Frederickson. Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind. Edited by John Taylor. Gurney, Illinois: Windsong Press, Ltd., 1996
- YMJ. J.W. York and Sons. York’s Musical Journal, Vol, XI, No.1, 1898
Primary Source:
Dr. John Swain
Updated: May 6, 2008
