Brüko

Brüko
Brüko is a German Instrument maker founded by Alois Kollitz in 1890 in Rothau, Bohemia and originally producing Violins.

In 1932 Alois Kollitz sons Franz and Josef Kollitz started making Ukuleles and Banjos from the tone woods left over from Violin making. They named this new enterprise Brüko (from "Bruder Kollitz"). After WWII Brüko was built up again in Eltersdorf near Erlangen and in 1990 the company moved to Kitzingen.

Today Brüko are still in business and still in Kitzingen, (and still in the family as it is managed by Franz Kollitz granddaughter Friederike and her husband), though they no longer produce Violins or Banjos (though they do still make sound posts for Violins). What they do produce are Ukuleles of all scales from Soprano to Baritone (though the Baritone is a custom order) plus Soprano Pineapples with 12 frets to the body, and 15 fret Supersopranos and Supersoprano Pineapples. They have made Guitaleles in the past and they considered making Minis in 2010 but ended up only made 3 prototypes.

The Ukuleles they make are all solid wood and these days primarily mahogany and maple, but they do use other woods, both for the regular models and the special runs. Brüko Ukuleles don't use model names but do use numbers to indicate the different wood options. The numbers are consistent so even if that wood is no longer used the model number will remain. Brüko Ukuleles have very little branding on them, sometimes there is a Brüko sound hole stamp, sometimes just a "made in (West - during that period of history) Germany" stamp, but they do usually have a very distinctive wooden bridge and saddle design. They are also quite fond of making the thin bodied "travel" or an arched back, no rear bracing designs of Ukulele.

In the 1960's Brüko made instrument for a distributor in Schaffhausen, Switzerland called Alfons Marcandella who branded them Alma (AL-fons MA-rcandella) Thanks to Alex Mueller for this information And over the years they have acted as OEM for a number of other companies. I know Brüko have supplied Ukuleles for Hilo, Boosey & Hawkes, and Hofner, plus I'm sure others.