Old German archtops

Willie · January 13

Herbert Kurt Wurlitzer, 1910 - 1986, violin maker and luthier from Erlbach (near Markneukirchen on the German side of the "music corner"). Not much information to find. He was apprenticed to violin maker Max Heischkel in Erlbach and probably worked for Oswald Bachmann (Osbama) before running his own workshop since 1953. Member of the MIGMA cooperative.
http://lacquercracks.dk/herbert-wurlitzer/
https://germanjazzguitars.de/herbert-wurlitzer.html
https://musikinstrumentenbau.eu/viewtopic.php?t=3214

Willie · January 15

Totally overlooked (overheard?) that the Wurlitzer video is in German. In short:
The wood is maple. The pickup is a Rellog that is integrated into the floating end of the fretboard, the pickup jack has been rebuilt from vintage two-pole at the back of the neck joint to a modern plug at the lower side, the volume control knob on the pickguard is new. The neck width at the nut is rather narrow 41 mm. The guy calls the sound of the guitar "nasal" and presumes this might be supported by the resonance of the tailpiece, adding a "tinny" component as required for Django's music.

BillDaCostaWilliams · January 16

Thanks Willie for your explanation - the automatic translation was a bit hit and miss.
Guitar sounds pretty nice.

Willie · January 25

Helmut Hanika (Soli), 1932 - 2020. Another luthier from Schönbach/Luby whose family migrated to Bubenreuth after WW II. He learnt violin making with his grand father Anton Mayer, who also made mandolins for Framus. In 1953 Helmut started his own workshop under the "Soli" brand and focussed on archtops, later he concentrated on making classical guitars of high quality. In 1993 his son Armin took over, Hanika classical guitars still have an excellent reputation.

http://www.schlaggitarren.de/home.php?text=hersteller&kenn=11

https://www.hanika.de/en/home.html

Helmut Hanika in younger years:

Helmut and Armin Hanika:

Soli "Record", 50s

Soli "4558 Solo"

Willie · January 30

I'll finish my internet research with this post. Main result for me was that almost every luthier mentioned came from the "Musikwinkel" Markneukirchen/Schönbach/Erlbach near the saxonian/bohemian border". Here is one last quote from the "Musikwinkel" Wikipedia article, translated via internet machine:

Musiwinkel.pdf