Brass Instruments
Eberhard Rahm started out as a flute maker in 1976 and was in charge of the former Erlbach Flute company. 1991 Schreiber & Sons put him in charge of the production, when they opened a small workshop in Erlbach, East Germany with 13 people, right after the reunification. Step by step the...
Josef Lausman proudly followed in his family’s footsteps. In the small German village of Nauheim (near Frankfurt) he made mouthpieces, primarily for trumpets and trombones for many years until his retirement. The small factory may not be well known to players by name, however, since their products...
Dieter Kühnl is the president of Kuhnl & Hoyer. The brass instrument company (name a horn and chances are they have made it) began after World War II in the small town of Markterlbach, near Neustradt an der Aisch, Germany. Dietor recalls with pride working with his grandfather and father in...
Philipp Alexander is proud of his musical past. His family formed Musik-Alexander in Mainz, Germany in 1782. They began as brass instrument makers and later opened a music store while continuing the making of horns. One of the company’s milestones took place in 1909 when they introduced the now...
Denis Wick was only 25 years old when he became the principal trombonist for the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). Over the next 30 years, he played with the LSO and other world class orchestras on stage and recordings. Along the way, he felt a need to improve the mouthpiece he was using, so he...
Charles Urban knows horns! As the former president of American Plating, he has worked with all of the top brass instrument makers in perfecting the art of plating instruments. Chuck is also very proud to have been in the music products industry, having made many friends along the way. He is also...
Ziggy Kanstul knew more about brass instruments than most people. As an important part of the manufacturing end of the FE Olds Company, Ziggy became an expert on model designs, the specifications for each and every product, and the measurements of the horns made by their competitors. He later...
Flip Oakes is the designer of the Wild Thing series of trumpets and cornets. Although Flip is a master of many musical instruments including the clarinet and saxophone (for which he was widely known during most of the 1960s and 70s), the trumpet later became his main instrument. He established the...
Patrick Selmer is proud of his family’s long and important history as instrument makers in France. The company produces many of the finest band and orchestra instruments in the world and for decades were leaders in design and craftsmanship. Selmer Paris continues to focus on innovations and under...
Roberto Weingrill Jr. spoke during his Oral History interview about the early days of his family’s business and the many changes that have occurred over the years. His great-grandfather moved to Brazil in the 1890s to establish his own instrument company. Weril Instruments was established just a...