Hofner Bass

Mike Anderson remembers hanging out with his best friend in the 8th grade and hearing him play an original song.  Mike was hooked and wanted to focus on music and worked on it every day. Over the years he began writing music and picked up the bass, his first from Sears.  A contracted artist at age 17 under the legendary "Bumps" Blackwell, led Mike to a decades long musical journey as an accomplished songwriter, musician, promoter, manager and consultant, and where you will find him today, in the non-profit sector, working with under-served youth in the music program RYTMO (Reachin

Christian Benker has been an influential leader in the German musical instrument manufacturing industry. With fresh ideas and marketing skills he helped Hofner reinvent itself during the 1950s and 60s. Christian worked alongside Mr. Hofner, the inventor of the widely popular Beatle bass and Mr. Hofner’s daughter, Gerhilde, who Christian would later marry. The couple worked together to keep the company growing and producing innovative projects.

Gerhilde Benker served as president of Höfner Music, the company founded by her grandfather Karl Höfner in 1864 in Eger, Germany. A pioneering woman in the music products industry, she led one of its most innovative and influential firms with vision and grace. Her father, Walter, invented the iconic Höfner bass — known worldwide as the “Beatle Bass” after a young Paul McCartney adopted it. The endorsement of the instrument by the most popular band in the world created a demand unlike anything the company had ever experienced.

John Connolly established the Connolly Music Company (originally Connolly & Co., Inc.) back in 1970. Best known for distributing such brands as Thomastik-Infeld and König & Meyer, the company remains a family owned enterprise, with John's son, Jake, now at the helm. In 1954 John was hired by William Gratz as general manager of his wholesale business, which distributed products such as Hofner, Paesold, Bohm & Meinl, Kohlert, and Thomastik-Infeld. The company was sold to John after Mr. Gratz’ passing in the 1960s.

Dieter Fischer comes from a family of luthiers and started working for Höfner in Bubenreuth when he was 14 years old. He continued working for the next 56 years for Höfner, of which 30 years were as a plant manager. Dieter learned his craft from several luthiers in the company and from his dad, Willi Fischer, who built guitars for the stringed instrument maker, Otto Joseph Klier. Dieter was witness to the boom years driven by the Beatles bass and even built this world famous guitar until he retired in 2015. 

Uwe Kruger grew up singing old German folks songs with family in Switzerland. Picking up the guitar at eight years old, he later played with his brother, Jens, on street corners. His love of country and bluegrass music developed while listening to military radio stations as a kid. Uwe has always felt a strong connection with Bluegrass music and the stories that they tell. Once he moved to the United States, he started to feel like he was becoming a true musician and learned so much playing with artists like Doc Watson and Tut Taylor.

Ernst Lang married Paula Prüller 1958 in Luby, Czech Republic, formerly named Schönbach, and both came from families involved in the production of musical instruments. Ernst Lang’s father, Rudolf, made violins and violas while Paula’s father, Andreas Prüller, owned a company producing purflings for violins, cellos, and guitars. After World War II, the Czech government started nationalizing production facilities and Paula and Ernst Lang’s parents were recruited to work at Cremona in Luby where they both eventually joined the company.

Paula Lang’s father, Andreas Prüller, owned a company in Schönbach that produced purflings for violins, cellos, and guitars. After World War II, the Czech government began nationalizing production facilities, and due to his experience in applying varnish to string instruments, Andreas Prüller was recruited to work at the government-owned Cremona company, which produced musical instruments. Paula began working at Cremona in the office, where she was responsible for inspecting instruments for export. She married Ernst Lang in 1958, and ten years later the couple was allowed to move

Earl Matzkin was arrested by the East German Army in 1985 for trying to pass the Berlin Wall that divided the country without the needed visas in order to visit the Petrof Piano Company.  Earl had high hopes for exporting the piano to the United States, but was unaware of what was required to enter the country.  He was able to proceed and in fact had great success in exporting the Petrof instruments to the US for several decades.  Earl had foresight and guts!

Paulo Nogueira is the co-owner of Americo Nogueira LDA along with his brother José. Their store in Portugal originally opened in 1860 and in 1947 their father began working at the store. In 1965 he purchased the store and renamed it, after himself, and began focusing on selling the popular musical instruments of the day, including home organs and guitars. Paulo grew up in the family business and found he had a real passion for the music industry and its people. He and his brother take pride in carrying on the family tradition of running a friendly neighborhood music store that enc

Herbert Riedl was born into a family of violin makers and grew up on the street where Höfner produced guitars including the world-famous Beatles bass. With his friends he earned money stacking wood behind the factory and later became a journeyman at Höfner. He stayed with the company, building guitars for 22 years. During his time at Höfner, he experienced first-hand the boom that Bubenreuth enjoyed during the heyday of guitar building in that area of Germany. Herbert takes special pride in creating miniature violins and guitars in his free time, which are testimony of his extraor

Wolfgang Schnabl is a luthier in Bubenreuth, Germany and has been particularly successful in creating cellos. After learning the craft at the state vocational school for instrument making in Mittenwald, Bavaria, he spent time in the atelier of renown luthier Premysl Spidlen in Prag and in Ottawa with Joseph Kun, who created the Kun shoulder rest. In the early 90’s, Wolfgang joined his father Reinhold’s workshop in Bubenreuth. Wolfgang Schnabl has won important awards for his cellos and sites world renowned musicians among his clientele. 

Klaus Scholler is the President of Karl Hofner GmbH & Co KG, established in 1887 and now celebrating its 125th anniversary. Over the years Höfner has produced many ground-breaking instruments including the iconic Hofner Violin Bass guitar. Played by Paul McCartney, it has, unsurprisingly, also become known as the Beatle Bass. Klaus started his career at Hofner as Product Manager and has, during his time as President, continued the Höfner tradition of developing innovative designs and products coupled with a programme of staff training to increase product quality and customer c

Ewald Sommer’s grandfather, Ignatz Sommer, started building machine heads for stringed instruments in 1911. Early on, he supplied Höfner with his products for basses, guitars, mandolins, and zithers. Once the company resettled in Bubenreuth after World War II, Höfner’s successful Beatles bass became a success story for the Sommer company, who supplied the tuners for the bass. This bass, with it's unique design of the metal parts, was produced until 2018. The forms for traditional instruments such as the zither were retained and incorporated into the new designs of electric guitars

Norbert Stumpf was elected the mayor of Bubenreuth in 2014 and actively promotes the legacy of his town as an important center for stringed instrument production. At the end of World War II, hundreds of families involved in the production of stringed instruments settled in Bubenreuth. Even though the heyday of instrument production may be over, and companies such as Höfner and Framus have moved on, the tradition, with luthiers and bow makers as well as suppliers working in Bubenreuth is alive. Norbert Stumpf’s grandfather worked at Winter, a company that produces bags and cases fo

Joachim Winter is the president of the Jakob Winter Company, a family business since it was established in 1886. The company supplies accessories like cases and violin bows, as well as a long line of stringed instruments and wind instruments. Joachim and his wife purchased the company and brought the business back into the family to proudly carry on the traditions of servicing the music products industry. They have also expanded their business to include products for other industries as well as their private label products such as musical instrument cases, which harken back to the