My first own steps

Waldorf's questions

One day I was sitting at my workbench in the voicing room, busy voicing recorder headjoints, as my boss appeared with a bamboo recorder in his hand.

A Waldorf Steiner school had asked whether the company would build such recorders: rather simple instruments with only four finger holes and a very narrow windway - pentatonic instruments for beginners.

He was not that interested. All the more exciting, I felt when he asked me if I would like to have a go at it.

So, my first recorder copy was not after Bressan, Denner or Kynsecker, but after a bamboo recorder. I was able to find the appropriate tools within the company stock, and after a couple of attempts I had an instrument that actually sounded and was in tune!

I knew that making a recorder " in series" was not possible just by hand carving. Many people in the factory supported me in constructing a number of components: A simple device to make the windways, a milling device for the labium, a sawing device for mouthpieces. I was allowed to use some things "off the peg", such as the blocks, which I just had to modify slightly to fit these recorders.

Of course necessary: my own company!

The time had come to make a price offer to the retailer that supplied all the Waldorf Steiner schools.

That meant registering a business, learning about bookkeeping and everything else...

At that time, being a self-employed flute maker meant having passed a master craftsman's examination. Of course, I was a long way from that!
One niche was called arts and crafts. You were allowed to do that back then without any prerequisites. Sometimes it's important to name things creatively.

And of course I also had to set up an office. I already had a typewriter - I still needed carbon paper for carbon copies and, above all, my own stationery and a nice logo! That's when my "SB", which is still used today, was created - still without the ears of corn.

The first recorders of this design were still turned by hand - each one a little unique in its shape. If I remember correctly, the price back then was around 25 DM per piece.

It soon became clear that this would not work. I was allowed to turn on the copying machine after work, and the price had to be a bit more reasonable.

I made these instruments for many years - throughout my apprenticeship and for a long time afterwards. There were more and more - the recorders were popular with the Waldorf schools and they seemed to be good.

Even at times when I didn't really know where I was going professionally, they may not have been my main source of income, but they provided a solid foundation.

We'll come back to that time later...