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

Stamps, GDR, 1977

Violin maker, Markneukirchen, unveiled 1970

Violin maker, Luby, unveiled 1927

Violin maker, Bubenreuth, unveiled after 1947

Willie · January 30

... or I'll better finish with this post.

The footnotes of the above Wikipedia article showed this very interesting source "Oesterreichs Cremona"

("Austria's Cremona"), the English version starting at page 29:

https://www.digitalniknihovna.cz/mlp/view/uuid:17404a90-4633-11df-8084-0030487be43a?page=uuid:cfc6e880-4633-11df-ba5f-0030487be43a

Willie · May 11

Fleamarket again tody. Only sold the Höfner flattop, a pair of Maracas, a cheap Ukulele and a pair of straplocks. Although there were several interesting guitars, I resited and bought nothing.:

Höfner 457 S, very good condition, fantastic playing. Pickup of Danish origin according to the seller, bridge obviously not original too.

Unidentified guitar, maybe made by one of the Markneukirchen builders. Unfortunately I cut off part of the headstock.

And a very fine made and good playing guitar. The seller, a luthier, is sure about Markneukirchen origin. Unusual headstock. There is a logo on the upper right side of the top, but it cannot be read. I thought of "Musima", but it does not seem to fit. Any idea?