History

The founder of the workshop was Hermann Alexander Pöllmann (1864-1937). In 1888, he established his company in Siebenbrunn, a city near Markneukirchen, to concentrate on making double basses. His son, Erich Max Pöllmann (1897-1963) grew up in the workshop and began working with his father in 1911. In 1920, Erich Max decided to open his own shop in the house of his father-in-law, August Ernst Voigt, a violinmaker who was located in Jugelsburg near Adorf Vogtland.

By 1940 E.M. Pöllmann moved back to Markneukirchen and in 1944 he received his master’s degree. Erich was well known as an excellent craftsman. His basses are renowned for their large orchestral sound. Erich Max Pöllmann is also the maker who began the fine ornamentation on the tops and backs of his instruments.

Günter Krahmer-Pöllmann, born in 1938, is the third generation maker of Pöllmann double basses. He is the nephew of Erich Max Pöllmann and the grandson of August Ernst Voigt. Günter worked with his uncle form 1952-1959. After obtaining his master’s degree in 1959, he left the former East Germany and moved to Mittenwald in the Bavarian Alps, where he worked and lived until his death in 2020.

The fourth generation of Pöllmann Master bass makers is represented by Günter’s sons Michael and Ralph. They also grew up working in their father’s shop.