On Dec 19, 2004, at 8:24 PM, Snaruhn@xxxxxxx wrote:
Hi all,
I´ve just learned that the oldest harp factory of the world, Seydel & Söhne
in Klingenthal, Germany, is bankruptcy. I´m from Germany and therefore,
this report touches me, of course. Some details:
Yes, I heard about it 7 months ago.
Seydel & Söhne was founded in 1849 = 10 years before Hohner started the harp production. Though Seydel & Söhne never could compete with Hohner the firm made excellent music instruments.
In all fairness, Seydel slipping behind the iron curtain during the "Re-birth" of harmonica playing (1944-1994) didn't help. IF they could have shipped to the west, I think things might have been different.
Years ago I had the
opportunity to visit the factory in Klingenthal, Saxony. One have to know
that Saxony was a province of the communistic governed East-Germany
before the German reunification in 1990 with all the consequences of a
totalitarian regime.
OK, I answered before I read this far.
When I visited the firm I was already busy in customizing chromatics and so I bought a 12-hole Seydel Chromatic de Luxe and took it apart to examine the construction. Huuuh, I felt compassion as a citizen of West-Germany to learn all these problems an East-German firm had to master during this dark time.
I can imagine. While Germany (in general) is known for fine craftsmanship, the east wound up in a slump and the products I have seen from eastern bloc countries tended (at least at one time) to be on the structurally massive and very robust but somewhat "clunky" side. I mean really, a 2 1/4 lb (I kilo) alarm clock which ticks louder than a torpedo...for goodness sakes, how DOES one get to sleep?
The outer finish of the harp wasn´t bad but the constructional details of
the model, comparable with Hohner´s former Chromonica II, revealed
questionable economy measures. So, the reedplates were of course
nailed and one nail simultaneously served as an axle for the slide spring.
Jeez
The chamber walls of the comb of peer wood were so thin that the plate nails had hardly place enough etc.
At my visit the firm, still working with machines driven by transmission
belts!,
had 20 employees shrinking to 8 nowadays.
Sounds like Pittsburgh Pa. Once the steel capital of the world (highest production), the mills never modernized and as functions on the machines would break, they weren't fixed and that function was either ignored, or the function was taken over by another old decrepit machine. I watched it happen. In ONE generation, Pittsburgh went from over 8oo,ooo to 3oo,ooo. It is a service oriented town now because several large corporations are still headquartered there, but the jobs pay WAY less now.
RIP Seydel & Söhne
Yes, it's sad. It's the end of an era. After surviving several MAJOR wars, to have it end like this.
smo-joe
Siegfried
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