Luthiers
Moze Mossay was given a guitar as a gift from his father when he was a kid and he fell in love with the instrument. Moze sought to understand all elements of the guitar and soon found himself taking the instrument apart and putting it back together. Over the years, he studied the many instruments...
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 worked there until the year 2000. As did his brother, Friedrich, and Klaus, who is their cousin first removed, and...
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 also visit trade shows such as Musikmesse and the NAMM Show to represent the company. With his musical...
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, Hans and Fritz Mönnig, founded the company in 1906. The next generation of four children; Willi, Horst, Hans,...
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 of crafting violins. His grandfather made mandolins and on his mother’s side, the Stöhr family, were bow makers...
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-law, Otto Müller, was supplying bow frogs for bow makers in the region of Schönbach and Markneukirchen. After...
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...
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...
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...
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,...