Mester Juhász Zoltán

The maker

A master maker and repairer of brass instruments. He passed his master craftsman examination in 1998, and in 2018 he received the Hungarian gold-laurel master title. He works in Budaörs, Hungary, building baroque and natural horns – and repairing to this day.

How he came to brass

Since there was no place in the string and plucked-instrument branch, I ended up a brass instrument maker and repairer – and I came to love it. Yet this trade was always looked down on a little compared with the other instrument-making trades, because it is hard, machine-hungry, oily, dirty work. Not as elegant as, say, making a violin.

Juhász Zoltántudas.hu, 2020

The material

I make the instruments from yellow brass. Unfortunately brass to the Hungarian standard is not suitable, because it contains too much zinc – and then the material corrodes far sooner. I usually source the material from a “non-ferrous-metal Canaan” near Nuremberg.

Juhász Zoltántudas.hu, 2020

Career

In the trade
more than 35 years (2020)
Master craftsman examination
1998
His own company
DUOLA Bt., since 1998
Instrument factory, Budaörs
managing director, 2001–2006 · 3,000–3,500 instruments a year
Showroom
completed in 2012
Gold-laurel master
2018
Historic Brass Society
listed among period horn makers

In preparationThis career summary is still being extended.

Courses and exhibitions

The website of the Schweizer Naturhorntage – the Swiss natural horn course at Beatenberg – states that thanks to his support, even beginners without an instrument of their own can take part: he supplies the loan instruments for the course.

He exhibited as “Juhász Naturhorns” at the International Horn Academy in Balatonfüred, Hungary, in 2020 and 2021, and he is listed among the exhibitors at Horntage Staufen in 2026.