Otto Ludwig (harmonica maker)
Otto Ludwig (* 1880 in Klingenthal / Sa. , † after 1959) was a German instrument maker and musician.
Live and act
Ludwig grew up in Brunndöbra , today's district of Klingenthal, and comes from the Ludwig family, who had been running a harmonica manufacture under the name of the Ludwig brothers since 1844. Otto Ludwig moved from Brunndöbra to Immenstadt im Allgäu in 1919 .
From 1926 to 1959 he was registered as an accordion maker. He built all kinds of harmonica, mainly the Vienna model and the Styrian harmonica .
Otto Ludwig is particularly important with regard to the development and distribution of instruments with a helicon bass in Bavaria. With the Styrian harmonica or Ziach, as it is often called in Bavaria, he developed a very independent style. So he changed the treble side very conspicuously by forming a cassotto that has never been seen before. The top was pulled up in the area to the side of the keyboard, creating a cavity that looks like a cassotto. In the choice of the tone composition, his Styrian diverged from the usual three-horn set, in that a reedplate set was preferably equipped with lower tones. Registers are unusual for Styrian, but this could also be called a fixed register. For each note or tone, two reeds in the middle register and one an octave lower (LMM) sounded on the treble side. In contrast, historical three-horned Viennese instruments very often had two notes in the middle register and one note in the high register (MMH).
Preserved instruments
- The company Öllerer in Freilassing owns a harmonica from his hand.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ City archive - Immenstadt commercial index
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ludwig, Otto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German instrument maker and musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1880 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Klingenthal / Sa. |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 1959 |