Schaller GmbH is a German manufacturer of musical instrument hardware based in Postbauer-Heng near Nuremberg, Bavaria. It designs, produces and sells guitar tuners, bridges, tremolos, strap locks and, other accessories primarily for guitars. Schaller was founded in Feucht near Nuremberg in 1945 by Helmut Schaller as a radio repair shop. Since then, Schaller has developed into one of the foremost regarded suppliers for the music instrument industry. Dr. Lars Bünning has been the company's owner since 2009. History The Schaller company was founded in 1945 by Helmut Schaller (1923 – 1999). Helmut Schaller was a toolmaker and a radio master mechanic. His radio repair shop prospered in the 1950s. During that time another department was created, dedicated to the development of amplifiers and speakers, which turned out to be so successful that the entire company was restructured and renamed to "Schaller Electronic". Echos and reverb devices were soon added to their portfolio. By 1953, Schaller had begun manufacturing electronic guitar components such as pickups and switches for Fred Wilfer's guitar company Framus in Bubenreuth, Bavaria. A couple of years later, other German guitar manufacturers such as Höfner, Hopf and Hoyer also became customers. By the 1960s American guitar makers including Fender, Gibson, C. F. Martin and Ovation started to rely on Schaller products for their guitars and basses. At the same time Schaller extended its portfolio to tremolos (1961), bridges (1962) and machine heads (1966). The "M6" tuning machine made a mark as the world's first fully enclosed and self-locking precision tuner. In 1968 Schaller moved about 15 kilometres from Feucht to Postbauer-Heng into a new site. A new production facility was set up in order to meet the rising demand for Schaller products. The product portfolio was constantly expanded in the 1970s. The "M4" bass tuners, various bridges including the "TOM" bridges for Gibson guitars and numerous other variants of pickups ("Golden 50", "S6", "T6" etc.) were added. In addition, Schaller was coming up with many product designs on its own. Renowned guitar makers therefore came in touch with Schaller and were convinced to equip their guitars with components by Schaller. In 1977, Floyd D. Rose uttered the idea of a double-locking tremolo system. After a joint workshop (that lasted for about three months) Schaller was able to develop this novel tremolo. The first prototype was produced soon after. Due to the lack of demand, at the beginning of