Over 75 years of excellence for music

Difficult beginnings after World War II

At the end of 1945 the company was initially founded as a one-man operation on a very modest basis. At the age of 22, Helmut Schaller (1923-1999) began working as a toolmaker and radio mechanic in a nine-square-meter workshop after the end of the Second World War.

For Schaller - as for a whole generation - the year 1945 marked a profound turning point - and a new beginning in German history. The country to which Schaller returned from captivity in 1945 was largely destroyed. This was one of the results of the twelve years of Nazi rule and the Second World War caused by the Nazis, which had lasted for almost six long years. The Allied war opponents had reacted to the National Socialist aggression with many thousands of air strikes. Half of the living space was bombed, the roads were hardly usable, coal was scarce and the last war supplies were used up. Germany's economy and infrastructure had collapsed. In addition, there were millions of war returnees, refugees and displaced persons. Many millions had died through or during the war. Millions of people who survived had suffered unspeakably. How did you build a new economy, a new country, a democratic-free state in the heart of Europe under these conditions?

Tackle it and start over

Most people wanted to leave the war behind them as quickly as possible, they wanted to get down to business and build something new. Helmut Schaller was definitely one of those who wanted to get started now. He had served as a soldier in the Wehrmacht for several years, had become a prisoner of war in the US and set to work immediately after his release. Because Schaller's hometown Nuremberg was in ruins, he looked in the area for a way to turn his business idea into reality. He found what he was looking for in Feucht near Nuremberg and began building a new life in an old farmhouse in the center of the village.

Know-how and ingenuity

Schaller was well prepared and equipped for this. After all, he had trained as a toolmaker at Diehl in Nuremberg before the war. In addition, he was able to specialize in high-frequency technology during his military service in Halle and Magdeburg. So the business idea was obvious. After all, he had the technical qualifications and the know-how to open a radio and electrical repair workshop. His passion for tinkering helped him with heavy repairs and, given the prevailing lack of spare parts, over some hurdles. At the same time, Schaller successfully made up for any outstanding exams and, as the culmination of his efforts, was awarded the title of radio mechanic in 1946. In a short time he had built up a permanent customer base with repairs to electrical appliances. These customers remained loyal to him when, in 1948, he was able to expand his business to include a retail outlet for radio and electronic equipment that could be bought again after the currency reform. In addition, he built a furniture store in Feucht and a mechanical manufacture in toolmaking.

Social Commitment

At the same time, he took part in building a new social order. His political home was the newly founded Christian Social Union (CSU). Since the 1950s he was represented in the district assembly of Nürnberger Land and in 1958 even won a mandate from the state Bavaria assembly.

Hollywood guitar

For several years, the "Electro-Acoustics Department at Fred Wilfer KG" was headed by the "Fa. Radio Schaller ”. The latter became the market leader in Europe, as a Framus press release from 1957 proudly stated. Schaller was able to take the first important steps with electronics for lapsteel and Hawaiian guitars. His pickups were also of great importance for archtops, i.e. jazz guitars or as they were called back then in Germany: strike guitars. The two young entrepreneurs, Schaller and Wilfer, finally achieved a brilliant coup with the “Hollywood” guitar model. In the meantime, so-called “solid body guitars“, which had been developed in the USA, began to gain popularity. With the various “Hollywood” models, German electric guitars came onto the market for the first time, which aroused the curiosity of the public thanks to the well-chosen model name that promised the “American way of life” that was longed for at the time.

The crowning glory: machine heads

The English jazz guitarist Ivor Mairants summed up the importance of the Bavarian company for the music industry, which had advanced from a small radio business to the most important European guitar accessory supplier within fifteen years. Ivor Mairants - a connoisseur of the music business and equally virtuoso musician - praises the Schaller company in his 1980 autobiography "My Fifty Fretting Years": "Helmut Schaller [...] being a fine engineer, had produced amplifiers, pickups and guitar leads, but his ace card was in the production of geared machine heads. These were giving Grover machine heads a very good run and, in fact, overtaking them. ”In 1966, machine heads were added to the portfolio for the first time. The "M6" tuner was the world's first fully encapsulated and self-locking precision mechanism. From 1967, brand manufacturers such as Ovation, Gibson and Martin used Schaller machine heads. Fender also switched to Schaller machine heads in 1976 and is still in business relationship with Schaller today.

Sprawling and disoriented

Until the death of Helmut Schaller in 1999 and his son René Schaller (1953-1998), the product portfolio was constantly expanded (e.g. with violin accessories, cables and much more). Even special machines for strings were developed and built in-house. However, with all these efforts it was no longer possible to build on previous successes. In the years after Helmut Schaller's death, a community of heirs ran the company together with the widow Grete Schaller (1926 - 2007), but without being able to provide sustainable impetus for new products. On the contrary: The company accumulated debts and got into precarious financial difficulties. Thanks to many years of experience and know-how, the workforce alone was able to ensure the high quality of the products and ensure the survival of the company. Your stamina cannot be rated highly enough.