Our Story

The von Huene Workshop, Inc. was founded in 1960 by Friedrich von Huene, a pioneer in the reproduction of historical woodwinds for over half a century. Born and raised in Germany, he emigrated to the US in 1948 and served as a flutist in the US Air Force. In 1956 he graduated from Bowdoin College (ME) and began a four year apprenticeship with the legendary flute maker Verne Q. Powell. He began producing his own recorders in 1960 and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1966 for a comparative study of historical woodwinds, becoming one of the first makers to produce copies of original 18th century recorders. Mr. von Huene designed the extraordinarily popular Rottenburgh recorders for Moeck as well as the first high-quality plastic recorders for Zen-On.

After a successful career as a professional chef, Patrick von Huene joined the von Huene Workshop as an apprentice in 1982. For more than a quarter century now he has overseen production for the workshop and his craftsmanship and expertise are legendary (as Dan Laurin put it, "Nobody knows a windway like Patrick von Huene!"). When not carving recorders, he enjoys exotic automobiles, fine cooking and jazz.

Today the workshop is renowned for making some of the finest recorders available in the world. We are also the US repair agents for Moeck, Mollenhauer, Küng, Aafab and others. Patrick von Huene and Roy Sansom offer skilled repairs for all makes and models of recorders.

The Early Music Shop of New England was started in 1980 as the retail branch of the workshop. In addition to our own fine, handmade instruments, we stock a variety of recorders by Moeck, Mollenhauer, Küng, Yamaha and others, a wide selection of used instruments on consignment, accessories, and one of the largest stocks of books, facsimiles, and sheet music for recorders, viols, and other 'early' instruments in the US. If you can't find what you're looking for on our web site, please call Eric Haas for advice or questions.

Ordering: Our business hours are 10 am to 5 pm Monday through Saturday and we are happy to have visitors to try instruments or browse our sheet music. We can accept orders by telephone during that time, or by fax or e-mail any time, or you may place an order on our web site.
Telephone: (617) 277-8690  •  Fax: (617) 277-7217
Email: [email protected]  •  Web site: http://www.vonHuene.com

Payment: We accept Visa, Mastercard and Discover; MA residents must add 6.25% sales tax. Customers outside the US, please note: checks must be in US dollars and drawn on a US bank. We can also accept payment by PayPal ([email protected]), but please contact us to make arrangements.
 
Return Policy: Instruments may be returned within 30 days of receipt for a full refund (less shipping costs) provided they are in ‘like new’ condition. Plastic recorders are NOT returnable.
Sheet music and books may be returned only if defective and only for replacement.