Getting a little better every day ...
The development of our workshop
Jo Kunath's enthusiasm for making music and his first successful attempts at rebuilding historical woodwind instruments ... cornamuses ... led him to train as a woodwind instrument maker.
In addition to working for the Mollenhauer company, he then made special tools for woodwind instrument making in his first own workshop, which - how could it be otherwise - was located in a garage.
This was followed by the development of pentatonic recorders, which stood out from the mass of conventional recorders due to their consistent reduction and their return to the acoustic laws of a wind instrument and quickly gained a large circle of friends. These instruments still follow the guiding principle: "The simple is not always the best, but the best is always simple" (Heinrich Tessenow).
The construction of combination recorders was another important step in the company's development, which resulted from consistently listening to and asking the wishes of the ever-increasing number of customers.
After Jo Kunath passed his master craftsman's examination at the earliest possible time and thus became the youngest master craftsman in woodwind instrument making for a certain period of time ("youth" is eroding day by day), he now works voluntarily on the master craftsman's examination board and enjoys seeing young master craftsmen on their way to a professional future.
In order to be able to support customers even better, another area was soon added: The Blockfloetensanatorium.de recorders of all brands and manufacturers are optimised, improved, rebuilt, equipped with additional keys and thus optimally adapted to the needs of their owners.
Recorder enthusiasts are generally spread all over the world. With the advent of the Internet, these distances could be overcome more easily and quickly. In 2001, the first websites were created, from which the internet portal Blockfloete.eu has developed. Since 2019, the pages can also be used as an app.
The internet portal gave rise to a worldwide network of contacts with players and artists in the early years. This network led to the founding of the first internet radio station dedicated exclusively to the music of the recorder in 2004: Recorder-Radio.com
After son Sibo also began training as a woodwind instrument maker in 2009 and the continuation of Herbert Paetzold's workshop and the construction of square bass recorders was added to the programme, the space available for the workshop had to be significantly expanded. In 2012, the building of a former supermarket was purchased, which now provides space for the team.
Between 2012 and 2018, the Paetzold by Kunath model range was carefully expanded and perfected in close collaboration with Herbert Paetzold. Currently, the exceptionally lightweight 3D-printed bass recorders are not only making players' wrists happy.
Since 2018, the company FEHR recorder construction has also been part of the Kunath Group. It is a special honour for us to be able to lead this jewel among recorder making workshops, which has set the standards in modern recorder making for decades, into the future.
Together with you, the musicians, Kunath Instrumentenbau can and will achieve a great deal. Would you like to join us? Please let us know your wishes and suggestions. We look forward to hearing from you!
Oh yes, and the Cornamusen kits, which were the catalyst for this development, are now produced in our workshop for the Early Music Shop in our workshop.
The team
- Oleksandr Drovoziuk
- Antje Hochberger
- Denise Kollmann
- Kathy Kolb
- Jo Kunath
- Sibo Kunath
- Steven Kraul
- Estelle Langthorne
- Joscha Rosenbauer
- Caro Schubert
- Monika Stommel