A straight line is a matter of perspective.
Initially trained by Steinway & Sons in Hamburg as a piano tuner/technician, I was offered an interesting job with a small yet very innovative piano workshop in Auckland, New Zealand. Jenkin Piano Service offers a wide range of services and I was involved in the rebuilding of old grand pianos, as well as tuning pianos for institutions and private customers. I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on a grand piano that was a feature art piece that later represented New Zealand in the Venice Biennale.
I had always played the guitar (solo and in a band) and, during my time in New Zealand, I remembered my dream of becoming a luthier. It was then that I built my first guitar, a model OM, under the supervision of Paddy Burgin and David Freeman. And thus, I found myself realising my long held dream.
It was time to move back home to Germany to focus on guitar building. In 2011, I started working with Heiner Dreizehnter, a successful luthier of 30 years, who offers a wide range of string instruments, from guitars to mandolins, bouzoukis to fretless accoutic bass guitars.
For two years, I built guitars for Heiner Dreizehnter and also started developing and building my own designs.
At the end of 2013, I became self employed in piano tuning and at the same time, started building up my own guitar workshop in Emmendingen, in the wonderful south west of Germany. From mid 2014, I started building guitars out of my workshop.
You are welcome to visit me there.
I wish for you and I, both, to be filled with inspiring music, and to have a lot of fun playing the guitar.
Wilm Stötzel
