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Five generations of family tradition
Founder of the family-run business Richard Uebel (right) with Kurt (left), Werner (centre) and family
The family run bow-making workshop was founded on March 4th 1892 by Richard Uebel. The student bows that were made by Uebel back then no longer exist nowadays, since no brandstamps were used at that time. Due to that, there are no bows that can be identified as Uebel bows from that time.
Kurt Uebel, son of Richard, became a bowmaker too. Even though there is a brandstamp with the words "Uebel Wolf-Gopplasgrün" that belonged to Kurt Uebel, it is not fully clear whether it has been used or not. Only one bar with the branding of this specific stamp was found, but unfortunately no complete bow.
Werner Uebel, the son of Kurt Uebel, became bowmaker in the third generation of the company. He passed his master's examination in 1952 and revolutionized the bow making of the Uebel workshop in the 1950's. Werner wanted to focus more on high quality work instead of producing large quantities of student bows. It has been quite a challenge at the beginning since profitable orders were missing. Werner Uebel even had to stop the full time work as a bow maker. Meanwhile he worked as an accountant and only crafted bows in his freetime. With his outstanding manual skills, his absolute will and sense for high-quality bows and also his contact with superb musicians, he successfully asserted himself among other well-known bow makers. Musicians and retailers became aware of him and the manufacturing of student bows was completely stopped then.
Master craftsman Werner Uebel in his workshop
Master craftsman Klaus W. Uebel during his master examination time
Klaus W. Uebel initially learned the trade of a toolmaker. Soon he realized that this was not his calling. He rather wanted to continue his family’s bow making tradition. By starting a second apprenticeship and retrained as a bow maker. Klaus Uebel passed his examination for the master's certificate in 1982 and continued the high standard of the Uebel workshop with the greatest care and precision.
Andreas Uebel was born in 1984 in the beautiful Vogtland. After he completed his Abitur and his community service, he was trained at his father’s workshop to become a bow maker in the fifth generation. In 2006 he successfully completed his training and started working as a journeyman at his father’s workshop to gain even more experiences and strengthen his craft. Soon he discovered his passion for bow making. Especially the delicate work, the required sensitivity, the perfection and individuality, that can be expressed in this specific craft fully inspired him!
In 2013 Andreas started his qualification as a bow making master craftsman in Markneukirchen. Even though the training as a master craftsman is no longer required, he consciously decided to do so anyways. Andreas Uebel wanted to prove that this qualification benefits the high-quality bow making and craftsmanship. Especially these two years full of new perspectives and important topics regarding the bow making have been extremely helpful to improve his work even more.
Andreas Uebel has been awarded as one of the best master graduates of all trades in the chamber district. He received the honorary certificate for excellent achievements at the master celebration of the Handwerkskammer Chemnitz on September 19th in 2015 and is officially working as a master craftsman since then. His qualification provided the basis to participate at various competition in e.g. Amsterdam and Mittenwald, where he achieved good results as well. To improve his work even further, he attended advanced trainings and completed internships at the workshops of well-known bow makers (for example in Vienna).
Andreas Uebel with his honorary certificate for outstanding achievements
Master craftsman Klaus Uebel (left) with his son Andreas (right) and his wife Bettina (centre)
By studying the work of very good and old original submittals of French and German bows and having conversations with experienced musicians, Klaus and Andreas learned what was necessary to create the perfect bow and gained the knowledge they needed for further developments within their craft. The perfect function of historical bows inspires them both to break new ground and to constantly improve their designs. Maintaining a regular contact to well-known contemporary bow making colleagues is another aspect that is very important to Klaus and Andreas which influences the steady improvement of their work.
Since 2010 they have been strongly supported by Bettina Uebel, wife of Klaus and mother of Andreas. She is taking care of all kinds of important and helpful To Do's and completes a well organized and good working bow making team.
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