| Schaller GmbH | |
| Type: | GmbH (private limited company) |
| Industry: | musical instrument hardware |
| Founded: | 1945 |
| Hq Location City: | Postbauer-Heng |
| Hq Location Country: | Germany |
| Owner: | Dr. Lars Bünning (owner and CEO)[1] |
| Num Employees: | about 100 |
| Website: | schaller.info |
Schaller GmbH is a German manufacturer of musical instrument hardware, based in Postbauer-Heng near Nuremberg, Bavaria, which designs and produces guitar tuners, bridges, tremolos, strap locks and other guitar accessories. The company has been owned by Dr Lars Bünning since 2009.
The company was founded in 1945 by Helmut Schaller (1923–1999), a toolmaker and radio master mechanic. His radio repair shop prospered in the 1950s, and a department was formed dedicated to the development of amplifiers and loudspeakers. This was so successful that the company was restructured and renamed "Schaller Electronic".[2]
By 1953, Schaller had begun manufacturing at Feucht guitar components such as pickups and switches for Fred Wilfer's guitar company, Framus, in Bubenreuth, Bavaria.[3] Other German guitar manufacturers such as Höfner, Hopf and Hoyer became customers, and by the 1960s, American guitar makers, including Fender, Gibson, C. F. Martin and Ovation were using Schaller products on their guitars and basses.[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Schaller extended its product range to tremolos (1961), bridges (1962) and machine heads (1966). The company's M6 tuning machine was the world's first fully enclosed, self-locking precision tuner.[10]
In 1968, Schaller moved to a site at Postbauer-Heng and set up a new production facility.[11] The product range was expanded in the 1970s to include M4 bass tuners, various bridges, including TOM bridges for Gibson guitars, and numerous other variants of pickups.[12] Schaller also created many of its own products, including a novel, double-locking tremolo system designed in 1977 by Floyd D. Rose.[13]
The company ceased production of loudspeakers, amplifiers and reverb units at the beginning of the 1980s and focused on producing metal components for guitars. In 1981, Schaller designed and patented a locking device[14] which provided secure connection of strap to guitar. This became the company's most successful product.
The product portfolio expanded steadily during the 1980s and 1990s. Violin accessories and spinning machines for strings and ball ends were added, but the newly introduced products did not achieve the same success as the guitar components.[15] This expansion ended after the deaths of Helmut Schaller in 1999 and his son René Schaller in 1998.
From 1999 to 2006, the company was run by a community of heirs. Grete Schaller (1926–2007), Helmut Schaller's widow, attempted to lead the company but did not generate new impetus, provide ideas for new products or modernise the production facility, which led to the company stagnating.[16]
In August 2006, the Schaller company was legally and financially restructured. It was renamed as a limited liability company (GmbH) by a partnership. Dr. Lars Bünning became managing director of the company in December 2006. In January 2009, Dr. Bünning took over the shares of the GmbH belonging to the Schaller family, and has since acted as both owner and CEO. Further restructuring occurred after 2007.
The production of pickups by Schaller was discontinued in 2017.
The shift towards machine heads and metal hardware resulted in the company being renamed from "Schaller Electronic" to "Schaller GmbH".All Schaller products are manufactured in the Schaller factory in Postbauer-Heng. Schaller customers are both guitar manufacturers and musicians.