Bernatone Alphornbau

A short 15-minute bus ride brought us from near our hotel in Unterseen to the village of Habkern for a tour of the Bernatone alphorn builder. It was incredibly informative to see the machines, tools and techniques of building an alphorn. I also had a chance to try playing an alphorn. (See video below.) I purchased an alphorn mouthpiece made of olivewood.

Bernatone Alphornbau Journal

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Bernatone in Habkern

Consulting about a new alphorn mouthpiece

Many mouthpieces to choose from!

Video

Video clip of my attempt to play a few notes on an alphorn

Here is a collection of some old alphorns

The alphorn mouthpiece on the far right is the olivewood one I purchased at Bernatone.
The 3 mouthpieces to the left are some of my early attempts to turn my own alphorn mouthpieces. The mouthpiece to the left of the one I purchased is also made of olivewood. I was able to try my own mouthpieces on a Bernatone alphorn. The mouthpiece I made out of walnut (far left) sounded pretty good! I learned how to improve my design and technique.