Small Keyed Bugle by James Keat for Graves & Co.

In the 1840s, the Eb soprano keyed bugle was the most popular solo brass instrument in American bands and most of the surviving examples were made by Graves & Co. in Winchester, New Hampshire between the years of about 1842 and 1849, my counting over twenty, and almost a dozen more after the shop was relocated to Boston. However, the brass instruments made in Winchester before 1842 were made and signed by James Keat as this one is. For more on the relationship between Keat and Graves, see my page on their Bb keyed bugles.

There is about a dozen instruments known that were made by Keat, most of them being Bb keyed bugles, and we previously didn’t know if he had made any in Eb or other higher pitches. It shouldn’t have been too surprising to find out that he did make these, but the first photos sent to me of this bugle looked quite odd. The relative position of the curves in the tubes looked a bit unplanned and some of the keys looked like they didn’t belong. Not surprisingly, it had been restored previously, but we have to understand that very few in the business of repairing brass instruments have any experience in keyed bugle design. I recall my early view of keywork on bugles as being without systematic design.

The owner of this bugle, the illustrious collector and performer on historical instruments, Dr. Henry (Dr. Hank) Meredith, contacted me with questions about what was original besides the engraved signature and what was modified or added later. I would have much preferred to have seen it before the recent restoration. It is definitely not altered from one of Keat’s keyed bugles in Bb, but the proportions are quite different from the Eb keyed bugles made by Graves & Co. by 1842. The next photo shows it next to one by E.G. Wright with the same proportions as those by Graves & Co.

It came with a small circular crook that put it in approximately D, so we both wondered if that was the intended pitch. The instrument was so far from being playable that he couldn’t determine anything more.

I am familiar with a very early example of a Bb keyed bugle by James Keat in Mark Elrod’s collection in which the bend of the bell and mouthpipe vary from the standard enough to be very noticeable (fifth photo). My experience in bending the relatively large diameter bell makes me guess that is what resulted in the longer bell with the curve at a length of slightly smaller diameter tubing. In Keat’s later Bb bugles, the proportions are more “normal” looking.

In this small bugle, the joint between the bell and mouthpipe, not seen in any other keyed bugle by Keat or Graves, led us to believe that this may have been a prototype, made a bit too long at first and then shortened at that joint. That would also explain the beginning of the mouthpipe being so far back of the bell curve as well.

This bugle is 15 3/8” long, 14 1/4” to the bell curve. The bell diameter is 4 15/16”.

Our knowledge of this tiny slice of history has substantial gaps. We know that James Keat purchased one half of the second floor of the Graves & Co. factory in 1837. Dr Robert Eliason reports this in “Graves & Co Musical Instrument Makers” and states that Keat may have worked for Graves & Co. before purchasing his own shop. Then in 1838, he travelled back to London, presumably both for family and business purposes. He returned at the end of December, 1838. We have no firm evidence that Keat started producing brass instruments immediately after (or before) taking possession of his new shop space or if that had to wait until he returned from London, but here I attempt to parse what is known.

On November 1, 1838, Marsh and Chase, a music store in Montpelier, Vermont took out advertising in several Vermont newspapers, stating that they were selling "Good Musical Instruments…Manufactured by Graves & Co., Winchester, N.H.” including “C & E Keyed Bugles and French Horns, Bass, Tenor and Alto Trombones". I would be surprised if Keat or Graves was able to manufacture all of these instruments by that date, but can’t deny the possibility.

In a letter (reported by Dr. Eliason in the 1978 Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, “Letters from Graves & Co. to Marsh & Chase”) in February, 1838, they stated that they can supply “French horns, bass horns or any other instruments that we do not manufacture”. This indicates that they were selling instruments from other makers, presumably imported from Europe, but no mention of keyed bugles or trombones. An earlier letter, dated October 13, 1837, includes a list of instruments available from Graves. It includes one each, alto, tenor and bass trombones, a Bb keyed bugle with 8 keys and an Eb bugle with 7 keys. Considering all this evidence, it seems likely that James Keat was making Eb keyed bugles by 1837 and possibly earlier.

Henry Sibley had been making Eb keyed bugles in Boston starting by 1836 and Graves and Keat must have been aware of this. This may have inspired Keat to design his own. James Keat’s early attempt just did not compare to Sibley’s and was not continued, even though his Bb keyed bugles were superior and continued to be made by Graves & Co. after his untimely death. All the Eb keyed bugles that are known made made by Graves & Co. after Keat’s death follow Sibley’s design.

Once I had it in my hands, I was able to determine that keys 3, 4, half of 6 and 7 were original, as were all but one key mount and three of the tonehole chimneys. None of the springs or screws were original. Not surprisingly, the original mouthpipe shank and mouthpiece were missing. I made the set of shank and bits based on those that survived with a couple of very early Graves bugles.

When it was playable again, the first few notes were very promising, but keys 6 and 7 did not produce the (written) E and F that they are supposed to. With alternate fingerings (key 5 for E etc.), it can be played in Eb, but it seemed almost like learning a new system. I tried playing it with the crook in D, which made it possible to play E and F with the correct keys, but the tone quality seemed to suffer on most notes. Once he had the restored bugle back, Dr. Hank mostly agreed, but spent a lot of time testing it in all pitches from E-natural to Bb. He found that he could play it with some difficulties in all keys and suggests that this was Keat’s intention. The key placement does not seem ideally suited for one particular tuning, making idea worth considering. Regardless of the utility for performing, this mysterious bugle has very important historical value. We will probably never know for sure if it is a prototype, or (less likely) the only Eb keyed bugle made by James Keat. With luck, another example will surface in the future for comparison.