From Waldorf to Denner

"Real" years of apprenticeship

I was able to learn a lot about recorder making in those first two years at Mollenhauer - when I was actually only working as a "semi-skilled worker".

I learned woodturning.
How to voice recorders.
How to develop and build my own simple instruments.
How to run my own small company:
Really a lot for two years.

Now I was finally able to start a proper, well-formed apprenticeship.

At that time, this was only possible in the "classic" field of woodwind instrument making - at Mollenhauer, these were modern flutes, made of metal.

A completely different area of work. Not what I originally intended, but interesting and challenging. Less acoustic work than precision mechanics.
It was about learning to use a file, soldering, polishing. Constructing keys, dismantling and reassembling complicated flute mechanisms.

The "Bild-Zeitung" (in UK it might have been the "Sun") was an important part of the morning break. No, not mine of course - Heaven forbid! One of my colleagues had it every day. And we argued almost every day, passionately and furiously. I think somehow we both enjoyed it these days.
I recently met Otto again at a company anniversary. He also had good memories of that time and our battles. Even though we were worlds apart at times, he became something of a role model for me in terms of straightforwardness and honesty.

Finally, I was ready to build a flute as my apprenticeship diploma. It wasn't ready to be played yet - They wanted to check how the work was done. It must have been quite decent work - I was satisfied, as were the examiners.

Nowadays it's called "freelancing"
Now - what next...?
Recorders?
Flutes?
Or maybe something completely different?

I lived in the countryside. Not a rural community as I had once dreamed of, but an old farmhouse.

Regularly starting work at 7 a.m. - I'd had enough of that for now. So I started trying out a bit of everything.

Voicing recorder headjoints - I could do that at home too. After all, I now had my own little workshop - even with an oven. Nobody really asked about fire safety back then - which was just as well. So: working from home - a livelihood.

By the end of my apprenticeship, I had acquired an area of expertise that I really enjoyed: constructing special mechanisms for people with physical disabilities. One of my highlights was an alto recorder for a player who had lost a hand in an accident. Well, that instrument was surprisingly easy to handle. Of course, it was a challenge for me to learn to play it reasonably well. She was then much better at it.

Continuing to make such things - that was quite simply appealing. And so I was at Mollenhauer again and again. Not at 7 in the morning - I was able to make a choice.

There were also, of course, my Waldorf pentatonic recorders - the demand grew and grew.

Once I had had enough of the somewhat lonely countryside life, I found an apartment and workshop in Fulda. At this time, the flutes also caught up with me again - I had a few customers for whom I kept repairing and overhauling flutes.

I had a good range of activities.

But it was the recorders that kept calling out to me wanting me to focus on them.

How Kynsecker became well-known

Nowadays, every recorder player knows the name "Kynsecker".
Until the early 80s that was different

At Mollenhauer, the desire grew to offer historic recorders from before the high baroque period - Renaissance recorders or suchlike.

And what was my involvement?
I have to elaborate a little:

I was already somewhat experienced in recorder making, and it was clear to me that I was on fire for it.

The recorder models that were produced had to be cared for, continually improved and any mistakes (which always creep in during production) had to be corrected. And new ideas also needed to be realized.

So a new department was set up at Mollenhauer: "Research and Development".

And this department was: me!

Yeah, that was really exciting. I had time to experiment, try things out and learn, learn, learn!

I had ideas for improvements that were to be implemented in production. Of course, I also experienced some resistance: "Wasn't it good the way we had been doing it all along?" Questions like that came up - of course.

And then: Renaissance recorders - or something like that.

It soon came clear: they should be able to play two octaves if possible. This meant that the old style consort recorders were soon ruled out - they usually only have a limited range of one and a half octaves.

So we researched, studied drawings, measured instruments and finally made a pilgrimage to Nuremberg. Destination: the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

There is the meanwhile world-famous set of recorders by Hieronymus Fanz Kynsecker, with two sopranos, altos, tenors and a bass, in the then unusual pitch of about C# and F#, i.e. about a semitone above what is common today. Or d and g in low pitch? Who knows...

It soon became apparent that this were really interesting instrumentS! However, an exact replica proved unfeasible, even if we adjusted the pitch to the usual 440 Hz. But the concept of these instruments was highly promising.

I took all this inspiration with me and started tinkering. At the following company party, I was able to play along on an early baroque alto recorder in g - an exceptionally charming sound that was still unfamiliar to us at the time!

A soprano recorder was to be part of the program as well.

And so the Mollenhauer range soon included the "Kynsecker" soprano and g-alto - which was already causing quite a stir at the time.

Later, this range was expanded considerably. Alto in f, , tenors, bass, sopranino and Garklein, later also great bass in C - I was no longer able to manage this alone, so other colleagues joined me in this project.

These days I often see this range of instruments at exhibitions - many things have been developed and improved. And I'm happy about it...

Last but not least, the experience with these recorders was the basis for my early baroque models.

Getting to know Jacob Denner

The 80s (today we say: the last century) were a time of an explosive development in recorder making based on historical instruments.

Previously, recorders were called "Studio", "Meisterstück", "Solist", "Flauto Dolce" or whatever else - more and more international exhibitions, where many artisan recorder makers presented their instruments, were becoming crowd-pullers. And the recorders there were usually called "Copy after..."

The richness of the surviving recorders from the Baroque period and earlier was discovered more and more, and everyone studied these instruments. Makers made pilgrimages to the museums, equipped with plastic measuring tools (these precious objects were not to be approached with metal!) and cotton gloves, and with a bit of luck, such as when colleagues from the museum workshop staff were having a breakfast rest, it was sometimes possible to elicit a few notes from these wooden treasures. Despite the ravages of time that had gnawed away at the old recorders, these sounds were like a greeting from a distant past!

Years earlier, my boss at that time had already started working on the copy of a recorder by Jacob Denner - the great Nuremberg instrument maker from around 1700. There are two alto recorders from his workshop in the above-mentioned Germanisches Nationalmuseum. One of them was Bernhard Mollenhauer's prototype.

A lot had already evolved by then. However, there was one problem:
Making recorders demands full attention, requires "staying with it". And if one also has to manage a company "on the side", that can be difficult. An hour now and then that can be squeezed in for the workshop work is not enough.

So one day Bernhard Mollenhauer asked me to take on this subject.
A real honor for a recorder maker who was still in the beginning stages of gaining experience!

I had a lot of space for this work, excellent workshop equipment, and in the meantime I had great musical support and advice at my side in the company.

So I soon made my first Denner copies.

I certainly learned a lot in the years and decades to come.

And every now and then I come across a recorder from that time, and the owners tell me about how much pleasure they had with it.

During the many exhibitions I was able to attend with these instruments, I was constantly gathering feedback and gaining experience from colleagues, and all of this fed into the work on "my" Denner copies - and of course into the "Kynsecker" too.