Chernobyl and the night train though GDR

Becoming a master craftsman - not that easy

In Germany, the law on craftsmanship is a bit of a tricky thing.
Back then, in order to run your own workshop, you had to have a master craftsman's certificate. Up to that point, I had somehow “wriggled my way through” - that was no longer possible.

Master recorder maker - there was no such thing. It was called “master woodwind instrument maker” (always fun to get that into a “profession” field on any form).
And as a master maker, you were expected to make an oboe, a modern flute, a solo clarinet or something like that. I had built simple clarinets once during my apprenticeship - but my interests took me in a different direction - and among these established masters, the recorder was simply not considered an instrument to be taken seriously (none of them were able to make such an instrument).

My chance came when a new examination board was established in Kassel and my boss was asked to join. His condition: Historical wind instruments - those with only a few keys - had to be accepted.

So I was included. The documented reconstruction of an ancient original instrument was to replace an elaborately constructed key mechanism. There had to be a bit of metal on it, and I was also permitted to make some of the necessary tools myself.

Re-encounter with Denner

I decided for a bass recorder based on a model by J. Chr. Denner. This was Jacob's father - with whom I was already well acquainted.

The original instrument is in the Berlin Museum of Musical Instruments. Nowadays it's almost next door to me. Back then, it was like traveling halfway around the world.

Today, it takes me a good 3 hours to travel from Berlin to Fulda. Back then, it was a train journey through East Germany - with border controls and slow routes. It was an overnight journey when I wanted to make an appointment at the museum.

I arrived at Berlin Zoo station a bit tired and had breakfast there until the museum opened.

And there I was able to dedicate time to this historical treasure!

There was a small room in the library, I presented my measuring tools - they had to be non-metallic to avoid damaging the valuable material. So I measured, drew, and when nobody was around, I was even able to play a few notes to get an impression of the sound character of the old recorder.

There was a lot to reconstruct - time had left a lot of damage behind.

It was an impressive encounter with the old Mr. Denner senior!

What does a master craftsman's examination have to do with Chernobyl?

Nothing really - and yet the memory is still all too present in my mind.

A master craftsman's examination is not just about building a masterful instrument. It's also about knowledge of business management, training and the like. There were evening classes for everyone: plumbers, bakers, car mechanics - and recorder makers.

And then one evening, on the way home, I got caught in the rain. All we knew was that after the explosion at the - now Ukrainian - Chernobyl nuclear power plant, everything was dangerous. Forest mushrooms, everything that grew outside, and also the rain.

And I got caught in the middle!

I had known for some time that nuclear power was no good. At that time, even people who had previously been fervent advocates of this wondrous technology began to think twice.

At home, I first took everything off and took a shower.
That helped to at least calm me down mentally.

Wood from the wash boiler

Now it was time for the masterpiece!
One problem: Building a high-quality recorder actually takes a very long time. The material has to rest and “settle” again and again. For a masterpiece, however, there is a fixed time limit.

So I had to “trick” a bit The material - Canadian sycamore maple - had to be impregnated well. Usually that takes a long time. I did it a little differently: there was an old, wood-fired wash boiler in our cellar. I dragged it out to the garden. Instead of washing water, I filled it with linseed oil, fired it up - the fire extinguisher always within reach - and literally boiled the wooden blanks in the oil.

The result was an excellent impregnation - and the heaviest instrument I ever built. The oil had soaked into every last pore.

I turned, carved, filed, soldered (for the key), constantly having people look at my fingers.

Finally, I had the younger brother of the precious old piece in my hands. And it actually sounded a bit like the “old” one, only a little smoother. It didn't have a frayed labium or a crack in the foot like Daddy Denner's precious piece in Berlin.

In the end it turned out to be a very good examination.

 I was a master woodwind instrument maker!