Believe that Halsenbach was the 'holy grail' for everything Wersi.
Have their buildings been taken over by somebody else?
OrganFax Community » General Discussions
HALSENBACH
(13 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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Hi JLOW,
I must go around in a haze of oblivion.... I saw your post and "Googled" Halsenbach, only to find to my horror that the Wersi company appear to be in trouble...... I had absolutely no idea :-(
I DO hope things can be resolved, especially for all the loyal Wersi customers out there.... It's so sad to hear of another organ manufacturer struggling..... some people are still reeling from Technics coming to an end a few years back. Fingers crossed there will be a solution to their difficulties.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi All
Wersi are now owned by Musicstore, http://www.musicstore.de/en_EN/GBP/WelcomePage thus the Halsenbach factory is no longer required, as all products will now be manufactured in the Far East, with just the development continuing in Germany.
Current production will consist of the Pegasus Wing and Software Packs for OAS 7 instruments. (Full details have yet to be finalised by the company)
A New Website is under development which can be seen here http://www.wersi.net/ and further details here http://www.wersiclub.co.uk/
Full support for existing owners is to be maintained.Bohm, Orla and Lowrey have now moved into the vacated Halsenbach premises.
Bill
Posted 2 years ago # -
Oh PHEW!!! That's a relief to hear things are still keeping going..... Even though I don't own a Wersi, I still feel a huge wave of nostalgia every time I hear the name mentioned, and think about the past and present players of this fantastic instrument.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Being the tender age of 47, am I right in thinking that in the early 70's or maybe even the late 60's (That would make me between 8 &10) that Wersi Organs were only available in a kit form in this country that you bought and assembled yourself so to avoid certain import duties? When I say kit form I dont just mean assembling the cabinets but assembling the boards, power supplies, amps any everything.
I seem to remember as a young boy my father drooling over a Wersi in an electrical store (Not music shop) that was assembled and on display in the shop window. In his younger days he was a real electronics genius and he built his own organ so I can understand why he was so keen to get his hands on one. Can anyone confirm if they were originally only available in kit form?
Phil.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yes indeedee. Remember visiting the man who imported these parts which had to be built up into an analog wersi - they exciting times especially when you saw the completed instrument with all it's many many controls. Still have an opportunity to play one in good working condition at a friends house - great to use the numerous drawbars with the extension of pitches outside the usual nine.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi Phil
Wersi were available in kit form 1969 to about 1990 (I built an Alpha and later an Arcus) and were great fun to build.
By 1990 technology had moved on to the use of SMT (Surface Mount Technology) chips which required specialist (Expensive) equipment to solder, and so no longer suitable for DIY, thus kits were discontinued.Bill
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi,
just a quick one guys... to set the record straight as there appears to be a few untruths floating around the rumour-mill.The three WERSI buildings are owned privately by Reinhard Franz (Original WERSI creator) and it is actually a commercial business centre for small and medium sized business. His son-inlaws successful metal works occupies building 2 and they produce metal work and facias for many different companies including the Access Virus synths.
Building 3 (Where WERSI was located in the first business block and also includes the famous auditorium) also houses many other businesses (a music school too).
Orla, Bohm and Lowrey have not taken up residence in any of these properties. It is a fabrication and completely untrue.
In building one, the Replay Service team operates its business from one of the business suites. They have a showroom and a workshop for repair and sale of older WERSI and organ models.
MusicStore have brought the company name and rights to OAS and things are underway with them operating the WERSI brand. Naturally this takes time and their first priority is to manufacture the Pegasus Wing. They have also laid out a commitment and service to the existing OAS range publicly
New software will be developed in Germany, and the WERSI staff are involved with this.
I hope this helps clear matters up. :-)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi Robert
Thank you for confirming what has been said above about Wersi, (Sometimes translating the information from German documents does occasionally produce slight errors.) it’s reassuring to know a member of Wersi UK is keeping tabs on what is going on.Regarding Orla, Bohm and Lowrey, I realise I did not make it clear that it was a dealer of these products that had moved into the vacated Wersi premises, http://orla-deutschland.de/ not the manufactures themselves. (Whoops)
Anyway we just have to wait to see how it progresses. (It looks reasonably promising so far)
Bill
Posted 2 years ago # -
No worries... the move by the other distributor is good news. I knew about this happening, but no manufacturing will happen there as its down in Italy and the USA. As it has always done, Halsenbach will play host to an organ community. I'm sure that the new business that has moved into the premises will love it there. It's a cool place and absolutely massive.
Plus the whole area is beautiful and who knows maybe some summerfestivals will continue at Halsenbach.
Good stuff.
Posted 2 years ago #
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