Wilfer instruments
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.
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