Couesnon Instrument Models

Couesnon History

Couesnon (pronounced QUE-NON) is a model that has been around for quite some time. This is one of the several "conglomerates" of small French manufacturers.

Couesnon was "estabished" in 1882 when Amedee Auguste Couesnon, the son-in-law of P.L. Guatrot, took over the directorship of Guatrot-Durand et Cie (read "Guatrot-Durand and company"). Guatrot, you may recall, was previously the seller of the Sarrusophone and was, thus, A. Sax's bitter rival.

Couesnon was "reformed" in 1931, as Couesnon S.A. (read: "Couesnon, Incorporated") with the inclusion of L'Association Generale des Ouvriers, Feuillet, Guichard, Lecomte, I. Lot, Massin & Thibouville, Triebert, Marquet, and "several others". About this time, there seems to be a gap of a few years in their saxophone manufacture, and when it was started again, the design was completely different -- but not patented (the last Couesnon saxophone patent is dated 1935, and a new one doesn't appear until 1976). I believe it was at this point that Couesnon started to concentrate on their brasswind manufacture.¹

Probably the most important thing to note is that Couesnon, in a joint venture with Dolnet & Pigis, created one of the first "modern" keywork patents on March 11, 1888 (FR189198) -- this was a patent that:

• Detailed a mechanism to allow the F/F# keys to close the G# key
• Detailed a mechanism that allowed the low Bb key alone to sound a low Bb
• Detailed a repositioned low Eb that could be fingered with the right hand pinky
• Detailed the G# trill key
• Increased the keyed range of the saxophone to altissimo F