Instrument Makers

Part 1

The Art of the Musical Instrument Maker

Encyclopédie méthodique — Paris 1795

A 1795 encyclopedia captures brass and wind instruments at a moment when their language, character and expressive roles were understood rather differently.

By Anonyme

Part 9

Instrument Makers in USA

Yamaha Music Products

In Grand Rapids, Japanese precision met American manufacturing, as Yamaha balanced imported components, skilled craftsmanship and the demands of a growing brass instrument market.

By Stephan Suter

Part 8

Instrument Makers in USA

Getzen

Two devastating factory fires, rapid reconstruction and a growing export market shaped Getzen’s rise in Wisconsin, where craftsmanship met industrial ambition.

By Stephan Suter

Part 2

The Art of the Musical Instrument Maker

Encyclopédie méthodique, Paris 1795

In 1795, musical instruments were thought to need no further invention, yet their materials, construction and acoustic possibilities remained open to experimentation.

By Anonyme

Part 3

The Art of the Musical Instrument Maker

Encyclopédie méthodique, Paris 1795

By Anonyme

Yamaha, an ambitious giant

Behind the rise of a future industrial giant lies an unexpected lesson in craftsmanship, cultural exchange and the discipline that reshaped wind instrument making.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Instrument Making and the Ear

From hearing physiology to workshop testing, E. Ferron links instrument design, acoustics and perception, where no two ears judge sound in quite the same way.

By Emile Ferron

Part 6

The Trumpet in the USA

Diverse makers

As trumpet makers rethink their standard instruments, Monette, Malone and Blackburn bring leadpipe design into a new dialogue between players and workshops.

By Thomas Stevens

Part 6

Instrument Makers in USA

Holton (G. Leblanc Corporation)

In Elkhorn, Wisconsin, traditional craftsmanship meets industrial production, while Holton confronts the delicate balance between innovation and musicians’ conservatism.

By Stephan Suter

Renold Schilke at Frankfurt

Interview

Jean-Pierre Mathez reports on Renold Schilke’s views at Frankfurt, addressing fair organisation, maker–musician collaboration, and shifting market dynamics shaped by demand and quality criteria.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Part 7

Instrument Makers in USA

Martin (G. Leblanc Corporation)

In 1970s Wisconsin, industrial efficiency transformed brass instrument production, yet traditional craftsmanship still had a place on the factory floor.

By Stephan Suter

Steve Lewis, Hornmaker

Old World Craftsmanship plus New World Technology

In 1980s Chicago, Steve Lewis joined Old World bench craft to modern precision, building horns one by one around the player, the metal and a distinctive sound.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Brass instruments from the musical town of Graslitz

From 18th-century Graslitz to postwar Bavaria, brass makers rebuilt a vanished musical industry around Miraphone, preserving craft through exile and industrial change.

By Rudolf Limmer

The history of the big York-Hirsbrunner Tuba

The instrument maker's point of view

A legendary orchestral tuba became the starting point for rethinking how craftsmanship, industrial methods and musical results rarely follow the same path.

By Peter Hirsbrunner

Five generations of mouthpiece specialists

From Höchstädt to Markneukirchen and beyond, five generations of Schmidts shaped brass mouthpiece design through craft, anatomy and evolving orchestral demands.

By Werner Christoph Schmidt

Part 1

Instrument Makers in USA

American brass making in the mid-1980s stood between workshop tradition and industrial change, with ten firms offering a striking cross-section of the trade.

By Stephan Suter

United Philharmonic Orchestra Vienna

A tonal concept unites the brass section

By Gerhard Zechmeister

Václav F. Cerveny (1819-1896)

Famous instrument maker

A pioneer of brass design: V. F. Červený shaped modern wind instruments—challenging Adolphe Sax and defining the rich sound of the Austrian school.

By Vaclav Hoza

The stamps on Sax instruments

Sax instrument stamps reveal makers, addresses, patents and distinctions, giving collectors concrete clues for dating instruments across three generations.

By M. Haine, I. De Keyser

Editorial

Behind a musician’s instrument lies a quiet industrial battle, as European, American and Japanese makers compete to shape the future of brass playing.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

On the sensitivity of brass instruments

Metal, pressure nodes and temperature shifts shape response, timbre and tuning, as Emile Ferron links instrument acoustics to the player’s imprint.

By Emile Ferron

Part 5

Instrument Makers in USA

S. W. Lewis Orchestral Horns

For Steven Lewis, building a horn begins with playing it: craftsmanship, acoustic compromise and observation shape instruments made for musicians rather than theory.

By Stephan Suter

The contrabass sackbut

a modern copy

A reconstructed 17th-century contrabass sackbut revives forgotten low brass practice, from Venetian polychoral music to modern performance challenges.

By Richard Lister

Part 3

Instrument Makers in USA

C. G. Conn Ltd. Abilene, Texas

In Abilene, automated production and workshop skills meet under a familiar name, as an American brass maker seeks to regain ground lost over the previous decade.

By Stephan Suter