Euphony
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:37 pm
Hi
I just found a very rare instrument, made by the Swedish company Eric Petterson. Eric Petterson had a music shop at Linnegatan 9-11 in Stockholm in Sweden between 1923-1974.
Eric Petterson played the clarinet in the Swedish Radio Orchestra before he opened his shop. He is most known for his own design of clarinets under the name E.P. He took the best from the German and French style of clarinets and joined them into his own clarinet. He made two models the "kvalitet 1" and "kvalitet 2". Besides clarinets he also made all kinds of brass instruments. Most of these where based on "Ahlberg & Ohlsson" instruments, another Swedish brand. Ahlberg & Ohlsson was a company that existed between 1850-1958 and lots of instruments can still be found from their more than hundered years of production. They made high quality instruments in an old style - not old at the time of course
. Most were valved instruments, though I have heard they did make some trombones too.
In Sweden the old military orchestras were the ones that needed these old style Swedish valved instruments. In the late 1950-ies the valved tenor called "ventil basun" (Bb-tenor) and the Swedish "Ess kornett" (Eb-cornet) grew out of popularity and were replaced by other instruments like saxophones and high reed-instruments.
These old Swedish instruments were played with "Svenska grepp" (Swedish fingerings). The first valve lowered the instrument a whole step, the second a half step and the third with two whole steps, not one and a half step like modern valved instuments. In the 50-ies this made them unpopular compared to imported valved instruments. At the same time the trombone also became favoured before the old style "Ventil basun" by new players. It all led to the end of all Swedish brassinstrument manufactering. Ahlberg & Ohlsson closed their company 1958 and the much smaller company Eric Petterson quit their production in the shop in Stockholm.
Eric Pettersons music shop lasted a little longer, until 1974. They still made the clarinets but imported most of the brass instruments. The imported brass instruments were sold under their own name "Royal Tone". They also imported some instruments from Germany by the name of "Brass Band" which still can be found at the Swedish aftermarket. All these imported instruments where marked "Imported by Eric Petterson".
The Euphony line was different, it was their own production, but I dont think they draw tubes so they likely imported some parts. What I know is the instruments were put together in the shop in Stockholm. Most of the Euphony instruments are marked "Made by Eric Petterson AB Stockholm. Sweden", but not all. I have an Eb-cornet that does not have this marking.
I had never seen one of their trombones until this last week. It is a very special trombone to me. It has a 7" bell and a .488 bore. It is silverplated and the serial number is 13xx. Here are some pictures. It is a heavy horn that plays with a dark compact tone. It can compete with other imported professional horns of this era. I'm exited to use it for jazz in public when this pandemic is over. I can guarantee it is the most rare trombone in my collection, even more rare than my Williams. I don't know the exact production year but it is probably made in the late 50-ies.
/Tom
I just found a very rare instrument, made by the Swedish company Eric Petterson. Eric Petterson had a music shop at Linnegatan 9-11 in Stockholm in Sweden between 1923-1974.
Eric Petterson played the clarinet in the Swedish Radio Orchestra before he opened his shop. He is most known for his own design of clarinets under the name E.P. He took the best from the German and French style of clarinets and joined them into his own clarinet. He made two models the "kvalitet 1" and "kvalitet 2". Besides clarinets he also made all kinds of brass instruments. Most of these where based on "Ahlberg & Ohlsson" instruments, another Swedish brand. Ahlberg & Ohlsson was a company that existed between 1850-1958 and lots of instruments can still be found from their more than hundered years of production. They made high quality instruments in an old style - not old at the time of course
. Most were valved instruments, though I have heard they did make some trombones too. In Sweden the old military orchestras were the ones that needed these old style Swedish valved instruments. In the late 1950-ies the valved tenor called "ventil basun" (Bb-tenor) and the Swedish "Ess kornett" (Eb-cornet) grew out of popularity and were replaced by other instruments like saxophones and high reed-instruments.
These old Swedish instruments were played with "Svenska grepp" (Swedish fingerings). The first valve lowered the instrument a whole step, the second a half step and the third with two whole steps, not one and a half step like modern valved instuments. In the 50-ies this made them unpopular compared to imported valved instruments. At the same time the trombone also became favoured before the old style "Ventil basun" by new players. It all led to the end of all Swedish brassinstrument manufactering. Ahlberg & Ohlsson closed their company 1958 and the much smaller company Eric Petterson quit their production in the shop in Stockholm.
Eric Pettersons music shop lasted a little longer, until 1974. They still made the clarinets but imported most of the brass instruments. The imported brass instruments were sold under their own name "Royal Tone". They also imported some instruments from Germany by the name of "Brass Band" which still can be found at the Swedish aftermarket. All these imported instruments where marked "Imported by Eric Petterson".
The Euphony line was different, it was their own production, but I dont think they draw tubes so they likely imported some parts. What I know is the instruments were put together in the shop in Stockholm. Most of the Euphony instruments are marked "Made by Eric Petterson AB Stockholm. Sweden", but not all. I have an Eb-cornet that does not have this marking.
I had never seen one of their trombones until this last week. It is a very special trombone to me. It has a 7" bell and a .488 bore. It is silverplated and the serial number is 13xx. Here are some pictures. It is a heavy horn that plays with a dark compact tone. It can compete with other imported professional horns of this era. I'm exited to use it for jazz in public when this pandemic is over. I can guarantee it is the most rare trombone in my collection, even more rare than my Williams. I don't know the exact production year but it is probably made in the late 50-ies.
/Tom