Grafton Saxophone - The Design

The Design

Designed by Hector Sommaruga, an Italian 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.