Since 1991, I have been professionally engaged in music instrument making. Handcraft excites, science fascinates. This is the foundation of my long term involvement with this industry and especially in the educational field of the handcraft of instrument making. It is my wish to merge handcraft and science and with this powerful synergy of both poles explore new avenues of instrument making.

Music instrument making has been concentrated in different regions since many centuries and shaped different instrument making traditions. This tradition is an essential element that still strongly influences music instrument making of today. In the course of globalization, I see it as our duty to re-evaluate important quality criteria from the different regions and gently integrate these in internationally established practices.

The State Vocational School of Instrument Making in Mittenwald, at which I am currently employed, is a modern training centre that conveys contemporary traditional knowledge and innovative processes as an important foundation for the further development of the instrument making craft. In the course of my multifaceted career, I have gained an intensive knowledge of many centres of music instrument making and their instrument making culture. This valuable knowledge now flows continuously into my daily activities and deliberations.

The most important prerequisite for all my professional activities is the qualitative aspect. I encounter improvements and changes in an unprejudiced way as long as these are expected to lead to an improvement in handcraft-, artistic- or sound-quality without negatively influencing any other criteria of the overall project. Artistic handcrafted music instrument making culminates in a harmonic synthesis of fine handcraft, artistic aesthetics and sound development potential.

Musical instrument build quality enables the cultivation and active shaping of music culture on a high level.

In this sense, I would like to cordially welcome you!

Yours sincerely
Frederik Habel