SCHWENK & SEGGELKE international

In 2012, when Jochen Seggelke began his collaboration with the Hochschule der Künste Bern (College of Arts in Bern) in the effort to invent a new contrabass clarinet, he met the CEO of the Blashaus Martin Suter, who has since relocated from Zug to Luzern. Martin is famous for his French bass clarinet necks and, assisted by two employees, he repairs and optimizes a variety of woodwind instruments at his workshop.

When the project ContrabassclarinetExtended arose from the previous developments of the contra bass clarinet, Martin Suter and Jochen Seggelke founded the company Clarinet Solutions GmbH. It comprised the research works of the Fachhochschule Biel (Technical College in Biel) conducted by Professor Daniel Debrunner, Hochschule der Künste Bern (College of Arts in Bern) conducted by Ernesto Molinari, the company SCHWENK & SEGGELKE and the Blashaus.

The Blashaus has since been SCHWENK & SEGGELKE’s central base in Switzerland. Their newsletter informs customers and interested musicians alike, when Jochen Seggelke will be visiting next. Clarinets by SCHWENK & SEGGELKE are available for testing and, depending on availability, immediate purchase. Martin Suter and his team can answer all questions regarding our instruments.

Después de 20 años en Xàtiva como reparador de instrumentos de viento, Jorge Parellada trasladó su taller a Beniganim en 2012. Desde 2021 el taller se llama Martín Olarte – Schwenk&Seggelke España, y es nuestro distribuidor exclusivo y servicio técnico oficial. Trabaja en colaboración con el Quartet Llevant, que es uno de los mejores cuartetos de clarinetes de España y funciona como embajador de nuestros instrumentos.

Hace tiempo que Jorge viene participando en nuestros seminarios y recibiendo formación en nuestro taller de Bamberg. También hemos colaborado con él para ampliar su taller, proporcionándole la maquinaria y herramientas adecuadas para ser nuestro servicio técnico en España. Por tanto, podemos garantizar un servicio perfecto para todos los clientes españoles de Jochen Seggelke.

Jorge también es fabricante de zapatillas para instrumentos de viento, bajo la marca SLP (Spanish Leather Pads), que están disponibles en dos versiones: la versión tradicional con núcleo de fieltro tejido y la versión llamada Gold JS, con núcleo de silicona y una base de fibra de carbono. Ambos tipos están recubiertos con una fina piel de cordero de calidad superior fabricada en España y con un suave tratamiento de hidrofugado libre de cloro. Nosotros no hemos encontrado zapatillas de una mejor calidad que éstas, por lo que, desde 2015, las estamos utilizando para nuestros instrumentos Schwenk&Seggelke en combinación con las zapatillas de silicona Clarissono.

The clarinetist Marta Sikora has been repairing clarinets since 2010 and was, inter alia, trained by Timo Rantanen in Finnland. Throughout her training and while still working as an educator, she focused more and more time on her craftsmanship and has been working primarily in this field since 2018. Since taking part in our seminars and trainings in Bamberg, Marta has been our professional partner for all repair works and overhauls in the region Poznan in Poland, a metropolis with 500.000 inhabitants. We are very proud of the fact that the clarinetists of Poznan’s orchestras play our instruments.

Since getting to know Charles Neidich and his wife Ayako Oshima at ClarinetFest 2007 in Tokyo, we have worked together on many topics of interest to the clarinet world: from historical replicas to the initial development of our French bore series (Model 1000), to questions about mouthpieces, accessories, thumb rests… Practically everything that's close to the heart of a clarinettist!

Contrary to the immense distances within the USA, we are bringing Germany closer by stepping up our collaboration with Artena Music, who have over the last few years established themselves as your competent, local USA-based partner offering information about our products and instruments, as well as small-scale servicing work. When it comes to issues that require our know-how and equipment, Artena Music will ensure the safe passage of your instruments direct to our workshop in Bamberg, and back.

After becoming a professional saxophonist, Timo Rantanen played in the Finnish military big band and underwent further training to become an instrument repairer. After having met Jochen Seggelke in Finnland, Timo took part in the SCHWENK & SEGGELKE seminars and trainings in Bamberg. His workshop at the heart of Helsinki helps us bridge the distance between us and the many passionate musicians in Scandinavia.

Since 1999, we have been working with the company Ishimori in Tokyo, whose owner Tomochika Ishimori has since become our friend. Ishimori-San is a certified repairer and focuses all his energy on the clarinetists playing SCHWENK & SEGGELKE instruments. In his shop in the city district of Shinjuku he displays almost our entire range of clarinet models. Orchestra clarinetists from all over Europe, on their Japan tour, know this specialty shop and appreciate its wide selection and excellent service.

We have been selling his magnificent private label “WoodStone” ligatures for many years now.

In April 2015, Mary Chang and Desmond Fung from Hongkong attended our annual in-house fair. A few years before, they had opened a workshop focussing on clarinet repairs and sales in the metropolitan area. They are both certified clarinetists. Mary also has a degree in business administration and Desmond is a woodwind instrument repairer. Both of them offer professionally organised workshops and project days which reach as far as the southern Chinese provinces which helps us promote our clarinets and equipment.

Through Taiwanese students, who had decided to purchase from us, we came in contact with the company TRIO Music in Tapei, in 2017. Mr. Chia-Yao Kuo has been to Bamberg multiple times. Trio Music’s workshop guarantees that after their long journey, our instruments are being optimally tuned and handed over to the customers in perfect condition. Also, customer wishes can be catered to much better, as the language barrier is no longer an issue.