Luigi Bruti was an accordion champion as a teenager and was asked by the Siel Musical Instrument Company to demonstrate their latest products. It was the beginning of his life long career...
Carlo Lucarelli graduated with an electronics engineering degree in 1963, marking the beginning of a distinguished career. After three years with GTE in Milano, he joined the music produc...
Giuseppe Vecchietti, known throughout his career as Beppe, primarily worked for three companies over his long career. All three were located in the same Italian Marche region by the Adria...
Alessandro Onerati and his brother, Christiano, run the music store with their family name in Florence, Italy. The Onerati workshop was established in Florence in 1980, specializing in wi...
Cristiano Onerati remembers working closely with his father to learn the finer points of repairing musical instruments. He enjoyed the experience and wanted to make sure repairs remained...
Joachim Winter is the president of the Jakob Winter Company, a family business since it was established in 1886. The company supplies accessories like cases and violin bows, as well as a ...
Otto Werner grew up surrounded by music. His dad, a violin maker in Schönbach, produced violins at home and sold them in Markneukirchen while his aunt worked at Junger Company, the main p...
Jürgen Voigt comes from a long tradition of musical instrument makers in the region of Markneukirchen starting as early as 1756. His grandfather and great-grandfather were bow makers and ...
Norbert Stumpf was elected the mayor of Bubenreuth in 2014 and actively promotes the legacy of his town as an important center for stringed instrument production. At the end of World War ...
Ewald Sommer’s grandfather, Ignatz Sommer, started building machine heads for stringed instruments in 1911. Early on, he supplied Höfner with his products for basses, guitars, mandolins, ...
Wolfgang Schnabl is a luthier in Bubenreuth, Germany and has been particularly successful in creating cellos. After learning the craft at the state vocational school for instrument making...
Frank Schlegel was born in 1967 to a family of musical instrument makers in Markneukirchen. Like so many families in this region, he and his father, Klaus Schlegel, carry on the tradition...
Carola Schlegel is director of the International Instrumental Competition in Markneukrichen. This juried contest is held every year with the alteration of string and wind instruments. As ...
Carsten Göpf has combined his passion for playing the trumpet with an affinity for engineering in his profession as the plant manager for the brass factory at Buffet Crampon in Markneukir...
Dieter Fischer comes from a family of luthiers and started working for Höfner in Bubenreuth when he was 14 years old. He continued working for the next 56 years for Höfner, of which 30 ye...
Herbert Riedl was born into a family of violin makers and grew up on the street where Höfner produced guitars including the world-famous Beatles bass. With his friends he earned money sta...
Walter Paulus is president of Werner Paulus GmbH, which is located not far from the town of Bubenreuth and produces bow parts of the finest quality. Starting in 1920, Walter’s father-in-l...
Wilhelm Mönnig, his brother Friedrich, and cousin first removed Klaus are owners of Gebrüder Mönnig which produce high quality woodwind instruments in Markneukirchen. Their grandfathers, ...
Klaus Mönnig worked for 60 years at the Gebrüder Mönnig company, where he was responsible for tuning and voicing oboes and bassoons. As well as being an accomplished musician, Klaus would...
Friedrich Mönnig started to build oboes, clarinets, and bassoons in 1955 for his dad, Willi Mönnig’s, company. Later he became head of the production of flutes at Gebrüder Mönnig and work...
Paula Lang’s father, Andreas Prüller, owned a company in Schönbach producing purflings for violins, cellos and guitars. After World War II, the Czech government started nationalizing prod...
Ernst Lang married Paula Prüller 1958 in Luby, Czech Republic, formerly named Schönbach, and both came from families involved in the production of musical instruments. Ernst Lang’s father...
Jochen Keilwerth’s grandfather founded the Julius Keilwerth Saxophones company in 1925 in Grasnitz. Once one of the largest saxophone producers in Europe, Keilwerth also produced trumpet...
Max Junger is the director of Pyramid Junger GmbH. He carries on the family tradition of string making in the 6th generation. Founded in 1850 as A. Osmanek Musikinstrumenten & Saitenf...
Matthias Hellinger and his brother, Andreas, own Rohema which was founded in 1888 by Eduard Robert Hellinger and produced batons, drumsticks, and percussion instruments. The company was s...
Manfred Gleissner is a part of Gleissner tonewoods, which is known for supplying high quality tonewood to luthiers around the world. Grandfather Anton Gleissner founded the company with h...
Walter Glaßl is leading the Walter Geipel Company known for producing rosin for string instruments in Bubenreuth, now in the third generation. The company was founded 1908 by Walter Geipe...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Harry Sargent was a jazz drummer based out of Memphis, Tenn...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Donald Mills was an original member of the Mills Brothers, ...
Karlheinz Götz was proud of his musical heritage. His grandfather, Conrad August Götz, was the founder of the C.A. Götz Company back in 1884. The company, which was located near Markneukr...
