For me, forming material is one of the most beautiful activities. To work a block of wood in such a way that it becomes something. Something beautiful, something useful.

Planing that the chips fly, grinding, filing, rasping - dust sticks to my sweaty skin, little hairs stand up when I stroke over the smooth maple surface. The production itself, an act full of emotion and feelings.

Brachial combined with gentleness - the forming caused by the use of force is finished by gently brushing the oil into the structure.

And then metal - have you ever smelled metal? Iron shavings smell, freshly sawn, a fragrance for me. Brass - one of the most beautiful alloys, not only optically. A versatile material that I love because of its wonderful properties. Milling, cutting, bending, driving, forging, turning and drilling - what else is possible? Let's try casting.

Yes I love wood and metal and the processing. To make musical instruments is twice as good: You build something, something that has its own voice, a sound, a timbre, a life of its own.

The construction, the building itself, is exciting. But I know of no more exciting moment than stringing the instrument for the first time. My hands shake, even if I am sure that the instrument can hold the tension of the strings. But how will it sound? Do the frets fit, how does it feel in the hand? What was it like the very first time?

I can rightly claim that all the instruments presented here are made with the feelings described above. I am sure I can hear this when they are played, I will feel this when I play them.

New challenges are waiting - what will follow in the next years? Certainly a lot of joy, fun and many a failure from which one learns.

And now some words about SCHAMAY, because we work in a team. SCHAupp and MAYer - The names of two people whose approaches cannot be more different, or is that not the case at all? But if that's the fact - it is precisely this partnership and friendship that is the genius. A perfect duo in the planning phase and choice of materials - well-rehearsed in building, and probably also in making music.

In expectation of many more years of joint work, the work of the last few years are presented here.

Alex MAYer, October 2018