Emanuel Wilfer

[Gregory Dale Beasley]

Hi all.

I recently purchased an Emanuel Wilfer made in 1984. This Bass is a Hybrid (carved top).

It had some issues when I purchsed it but after getting it repaired set up it is doing fine. I had to get a new fingerboard installed but I think it was worth it.

Can anyone tell me more about these Basses especially regarding the history of the company?

[Ken Smith]

Hi all.

I recently purchased an Emanuel Wilfer made in 1984. This Bass is a Hybrid (carved top).

It had some issues when I purchased it but after getting it repaired set up it is doing fine. I had to get a new fingerboard installed but I think it was worth it.

Can anyone tell me more about these Basses especially regarding the history of the company?

Read this Thread on the Wilfer basses (http://www.smithbassforums.com/showthread.php?t=13).

There have been several Wilfer's that have made Basses since just after the first war. The Juzek family contracted them as early as the 1920s to make basses for their import brand 'John Juzek'. Robert Juzek ran the company in NY using the name of his brother John who was an actual maker but not THE maker of the Basses or of 99.99999% of the violins that came over either. In recent years Bobby Juzek, the son of Robert and nephew of John stopped using the Juzek label in the basses made by Emmanuel. In the beginning the name I saw on the top line models was Anton Wilfer. Basses made after the 2nd war were from Wenzel Wilfer whose labels were in only the top models and left that way when sold. I have owned one of each from Anton (1936) and one from Wenzel (1966 or earlier).

Emmanuel seems to be the 3rd and final Wilfer name associated with their imported basses but are usually branded in the back. Bobby Juzek told me personally that because John Juzek NEVER made a Bass, he decided to sell the basses as Wilfer's from now on and NOT re-label them anymore as Juzek's. I don't exactly know when this started but if branded Emmanuel Wilfer in the back or labeled inside, why rock the boat. It may have been a mutual decision because of the branding.

Now, as far as what your bass needed, I have seen many modern German basses with what I would call 'bad shallow neck sets' and thinner than desired fingerboards. It's either just their style or they don't know any better.

[Gregory Dale Beasley]

Cool thanks.

The Fingerboard on my Bass was coming off and had been setting that way for 15 years. It had warped. Other than the minor tweaks my Luthier said the Bass was in great shape and should serve me well for many years to come.

I thought I saw somewhere there is a new Wilfer in town, Roland or something like that?

Where is this Shönbach? I don't see it on a map anywhere.

[Ken Smith]

Cool thanks.

The Fingerboard on my Bass was coming off and had been setting that way for 15 years. It had warped. Other than the minor tweaks my Luthier said the Bass was in great shape and should serve me well for many years to come.

I thought I saw somewhere there is a new Wilfer in town, Roland or something like that?

Where is this Shönbach? I don't see it on a map anywhere.

The new name is Luby, just across the German border from Markneukirchen.

Your Bass I think is from Bebenreuth in northern Bavaria, where the Wilfers moved to after WWII. Hofner and Framus moved there as well by then.

[Roy Keys]

I have some familiarity with Wilfer instruments. A brief biography of Anton Wilfer can be found below. Note that modern Luby is the former Schoenbach. I have never seen a Wilfer instrument apart from a guitar which my father purchased in Montreal in 1951. I recently had it set up by Alois Fogl. The guitar is one of two Wilfer made in Mittenwald before coming to Canada. The Framus company was founded by Friedrich Wilfer, also of Luby, and possibly a cousin of Anton. There was a large resettlement of German families from the Sudetenland after WWII, and there may have been other Wilfer instrument makers among them. Information on Framus and its history can be found here: <http://www.framus-vintage.de/modules/infos/info.php?katID=10932&cl=EN>
Cheers,

Anton Wilfer. Violin maker, b Luby, Czechoslovakia, 30 Apr 1901, d Montreal 31 Aug 1976. He studied and practised violin making in his home town before travelling in 1946 to Mittenwald, Bavaria, to perfect his work with master craftsmen. In 1951 he moved to Montreal and opened a workshop, Anton Wilfer Co Ltd. He made about 75 violins, 15 violas, 10 cellos, and 3 string basses. Wilfer worked together with his sons-in-law, Alois Fogl and Ewald Fuchs, who took over the management of the shop in 1976 and concentrated mainly on restoration. Fogl (b Mistroveice, Czechoslovakia, 20 May 1925, naturalized Canadian 1955), who also studied in Luby, specialized in the making of bows (about 24 by 1978) and the building and repair of violins. He settled in Montreal in 1949. Fuchs (b Luby 9 Sep 1932, naturalized Canadian 1961, d Montreal 17 Apr 1991) studied for three-and-a-half years in Mittenwald and worked 1950-5 in Switzerland before settling in Montreal in 1956. He made violins, violas, cellos and guitars.

[Ken Smith]

There is Anton I and Anton II as well as Wenzel I, Wenzel II, Wenzel III and many many other Wilfers. I have had basses labeled from both Anton Wilfer and Wenzel Wilfer, I, II or III I have no clue. All were nice German made basses, modern of their time. Emanuel died in 1921 so I have no idea who runs this current firm of the same name who's basses post date those of Wenzel. An Albin Wilfer might predate them all. Because of Anton's move to Canada, he is not listed in the German makers book by Jalovec.

[Roy Keys]

I had no idea there were so many of them! It really was a family affair then. In any case, the guitar is a thing of beauty, so I'm sure the other instruments were superb players too.