„manu factum“ 

- each Ricco Kühn instrument is a one-off   Although many makers of high-quality musical instruments advertise their products as handcrafted, in the manufacture of brass wind instruments this is often only partly true: in many cases this means no more than the manual assembly of mechanically produced parts.   In common with only a limited number of other workshops, the manufacture of Ricco Kühn instruments additionally involves the manual processing of all tapered components, precisely those parts that are supremely important for response and sound quality.

Consequently, this skilled instrument maker preserves the ability to influence the different characteristics of the material used and to process all sections to best effect.

Our understanding of ‘manu factum’ (crafted by hand) is the creative capability to turn out a custom-made instrument.

I acquired vital experience during my employment with Heinz Börner, successor to the well-known horn maker Oskar Reißmann (who founded his company 1902). The manufacture of high-quality horns and trumpets using relatively simple technology at that time demanded a lot of care and skill. Today, we still use traditional methods of manufacturing that seem to us to be logically connected with the function, sound qualities, and service life of the instruments. Modern technologies are used to promote quality and productivity, but not to set limits on individually creativity.

Each member of our small, highly motivated team works independently in his own speciality. A high level of expertise amongst our team, which for us also includes the theoretical aspects, is a valuable foundation for the sharing of ideas that in turn leads on to further improvements in our range of instruments.

In addition to our computerised measuring station and specialised software for the construction and optimisation of brass instruments, we rely mainly on the knowledge gleaned from collaboration with many outstanding musicians. During recent years, we have been able to use this as a basis to develop a creative partnership, the outcome of which has been top-quality horns and trumpets that offer not only a high degree of reliability for the player but also leave plenty of scope for artistic virtuosity.

The enormous level of craftsmanship as well as the passion with which we attend to even the slightest of details obviously means that we cannot run a high-volume assembly line. Quality and uniqueness of sound will always mean more to us than striving for higher sales figures. I hope that our customers will continue to give us your support and confidence. We rely on your comments, criticisms, and requests to make constant improvements in our instruments. We may not solve every problem immediately, but we are nonetheless capable of much more than you may even suspect…

Ricco Kühn