Hofner Bass
Uwe Kruger grew up singing old German folks songs with family in Switzerland. Picking up the guitar at eight years old, he later played with his brother, Jens, on street corners. His love of country and bluegrass music developed while listening to military radio stations as a kid. Uwe has always...
Paulo Nogueira is the co-owner of Americo Nogueira LDA along with his brother José. Their store in Portugal originally opened in 1860 and in 1947 their father began working at the store. In 1965 he purchased the store and renamed it, after himself, and began focusing on selling the popular musical...
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 long line of stringed instruments and wind instruments. Joachim and his wife purchased the company and brought...
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 years were as a plant manager. Dieter learned his craft from several luthiers in the company and from his dad,...
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, Rudolf, made violins and violas while Paula’s father, Andreas Prüller, owned a company producing purflings for...
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 in Mittenwald, Bavaria, he spent time in the atelier of renown luthier Premysl Spidlen in Prag and in Ottawa...
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 production facilities and due to his experience in the application of varnish to string instruments, Andreas Prüller...
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, and zithers. Once the company resettled in Bubenreuth after World War II, Höfner’s successful Beatles bass...
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 stacking wood behind the factory and later became a journeyman at Höfner. He stayed with the company, building...
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 II, hundreds of families involved in the production of stringed instruments settled in Bubenreuth. Even though...