Friedrich Arthur Uebel was a renowned German clarinet maker who established his own workshop in 1936, building upon the legacy of Oskar Oehler. Known for his innovative professional clarinets, Uebel's instruments became highly sought after and set the standard for German clarinet making for decades. In 2010, the company was revived, continuing the tradition of crafting high-quality clarinets under the FAU label.
German woodwind instrument maker (1888–1963)
Friedrich Arthur Uebel
Friedrich Arthur Uebel with a clarinet made by him
Born
(1888-08-06)6 August 1888
Gopplasgrün, Germany
Died
31 August 1963(1963-08-31) (aged 75)
Markneukirchen, Germany
Nationality
German
Occupation
Clarinet maker
Years active
1908–1963
Notable work
Innovative professional clarinets (Oehler system) under the trade mark FAU
Friedrich Arthur Uebel (6 August 1888 – 31 August 1963) was a German woodwind instrument maker. He was owner of the clarinet manufacture F. Arthur Uebel.
Biography
Friedrich Arthur Uebel was the second son of the woodwind instrument maker Friedrich Gustav Uebel. On 2 September 1936, as F. Arthur Uebel, he founded his own workshop in Markneukirchen, Saxony having previously learned clarinet making with his father
and having completed in 1911 a traineeship with Oskar Oehler [de] in Berlin with whom he worked closely until Oehler's death on 1 October 1936. He took over Oehler's customer base, continued to make clarinets using the Oehler system and registered the trademark FAU in the same year. Although the main focus was on building clarinets of the German system, the company also made Boehm and Reform Boehm clarinets.
F. Arthur Uebel's manufacture was considered the most important German clarinet workshop in the second third of the 20th century and in the direct succession of Oskar Oehler, and was honoured with a "diplôme d'honneur" for a newly made bass clarinet and a clarinet at the 1937 Paris World Exhibition. The most important expert in the company was the tuner Max Schnabel (1893–1979). Numerous respected clarinettists played on clarinets by F. Arthur Uebel.
The cooperation with these and other artists resulted in some remarkable improvements of the mechanics of the Oehler clarinet, some of which became the standard for professional clarinets, and in a clarinet model that set the standard for decades and is still held in high esteem today, the theatre model 702, an original Oehler clarinet, additionally equipped with all the mechanical improvements developed by Uebel and with hand-forged and extra-strong silver-plated keys.
At its best, Uebel employed 40 people, mostly men, and made about 400 clarinets a year. The most popular instruments were the student model 520 with 14 keys and four rings, but especially the more sophisticated model 620 with 19 keys and six rings without the above-mentioned improvements. With the death of Friedrich Arthur Uebel in 1963, the glorious period of this manufactory ended with a serial number of about 17,000.[Well-kept instruments from the time before Uebel's death are still sought after as second-hand instruments today. Of course, a well-preserved Theatermodel 702 fetches the highest prices.
Legacy
In 2010, with the foundation of the company F. Arthur Uebel GmbH by Jürgen Stölzel from Wiesbaden and the establishment of a new production facility in Markneukirchen, a new beginning was made in the manufacture of high-quality clarinets of German and French system under the FAU label. There is a own article on this, which also describes the development of the manufacture in the meantime.
