Lutherie

Markneukirchen: The rise and fall of Germany’s first violin factory

2021-08-11T09:25:00

Markneukirchen factory

A small German town was the setting for an early experiment in violin mass-production. But outside economic forces threatened it from the very start. Arian Sheets traces its history, in this article from the April 2011 issue of The Strad

At the turn of the 20th century,  Markneukirchen was one of the most productive centres of musical instrument distribution in the world. The small German city was best known in the international music trade for its wholesale supply of inexpensive brass, woodwind and stringed instruments and accessories. Although these products are sometimes referred to as factory instruments, almost none of Markneukirchen’s bowed stringed instruments were made in what could reasonably have been called a factory…

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