Moosmann: more than 30 years of experience

Bernd Moosmann took over the old-established company of “Kohlert” in 1983 and started the new company of “Kreul & Moosmann” together with a business partner.

Bernd Moosmann has been sole shareholder and executive director since 1987 and has traded since then under the name of “Bernd Moosmann – Meisterwerkstätte für Holzblasintrumente GmbH”. The production was originally just bassoons and contrabassoons, but in 1992 he began production of clarinets with German fingering system in B flat and A alongside the bassoons. Production was based in his father`s workshop in the historic center of Waiblingen until 1993, at which point Bernd Moosmann moved into his current premises in the “Eisental”, enterprise zone in Waiblingen, which combines production facilities, office and space for visitors in one modern building.

The company sells its instruments in five continents and is represented at many international music fairs and congresses.

In 2003 the company celebrated its 20th anniversary – fittingly with a gala concert of the “SWR 3 Swing Fagotett” in the “Bürgerzentrum Waiblingen”. The celebration of the 25th anniversary jubilee took place at the Musikmesse 2008 in Frankfurt.

Portrait of Bernd Moosmann

  • Born in 1957 in Waiblingen
  • 1972: apprenticeship as an woodwind instrument maker at his fathers’ workshop
  • 1975: finished the trade test and awarded first national champion at “Leistungswettbewerb der Deutschen Handwerksjugend”
  • 1981: finished the examination for the master craftsman`s certificate
  • Married to Margrit Moosmann, they have 2 daughters: Tanja and Claudia

Innovations

1984 Bernd Moosmann created and built a contrabassoon to Subcontra Ab and presented it at the conference of the International Double Reed Society (IDRS) in Graz. In 1992 Bernd Moosmann began the production of clarinets with German fingering system. Three years later he included the unique ball bearing pivot system in the newly developed professional bassoon Model No. 222.

Promise of quality

Instrument-making is probably the craft in which tradition and modern technology enter into their most fertile relationship. It is in Bernd Moosmanns` workshop, in Waiblingen, where the harmonious and lively amalgamation of these two elements is mastered to perfection.Mature mountain maple wood is worked in the traditional manner and fitted with the titanium – coated metal bocal, itself the result of a complex process. This yields bassoons whose timbre elicits the approval of even the staunchest traditionalists.The mountain maple wood, from which Moosmann bassoons are made, comes exclusively from Bosnia, where the climatic conditions make the wood extremely dense. The annual rings are tightly packed – ideal for the sustained, warm bassoon sound to which our customers attach so much importance. The models 92/96/100 are made of smooth Bosnian mountain maple and the models 150/200/222 use selected flamed curly mountain maple.

Successful apprenticeship for trainees

Bernd Moosmann learned and studied the trade in his fathers` workshop, and has been passing on his knowledge and experience in building bassoons and clarinets for several decades. Many of his trainees have obtained distinctions at “Leistungswettbewerb der Deutschen Handwerksjugend”, three of them received the award for national champion in the category of “manufacturing woodwind instruments”. His daughter Tanja also undertook her apprenticeship in his workshop and has been working since 2006 as an instrument maker in the family business.