At different times, the Heckel Company has produced bassoons, contrabassoons, Heckelphones (they invented this instrument), clarinets, clarins, Heckelphon-clarinets, basset horns, saxophones, flutes, oboes, oboe d´amores and English horns. According to the family:
Heckel has used model numbers to designate types of instruments. The complete model designation consisted of a numeric model number followed by an optional series of alphabetic modifiers which indicated variations in the basic instrument model. For example, a model 17 was (is?) a Boehm system clarinet, and a model 17es is the same instrument extended to low Eb.
The following is a list of model numbers and instruments listed in their 100th Anniversary Catalog (1931):
Model # | Instrument |
---|---|
1 | Piccolo Clarinet (in Ab or G) |
2 | Clarinet (in Eb, D or C) |
5 | Clarinet (in Bb or A) |
7 | Clarinet (in Bb or A) |
10 | Clarinet (in Bb or A) |
11 | Clarinet (in Bb or A) |
14 | Clarinet Part-Boehm (in Bb) |
16 | Clarinet Boehm (in Bb or A) |
17 | Clarinet Boehm (in Bb or A) |
18 | Alto Clarinet (in F), the Heckelphone-Clarinet in Bb and the Bassethorn |
19 | Bass Clarinet (in Bb) |
20 | Contrabass Clarinet (in Bb) |
21 | Flute-German system (long foot joint) |
23 | Flute-German system (long midjoint) |
24 | Flute-German system d'amore in A |
28 | Flute-Boehm |
32 | Piccolo-German system |
33 | Piccolo-Boehm |
35 | Oboe |
36 | Heckelphone (in Eb, F and C); also the Musette (in F) |
37 | Oboe d'amore |
38 | English Horn |
41 | Bassoon-German system |
42 | Bassoon-German system with French system left thumb |
43 | Contrabassoon-German system |
44 | Contrabassoon-German system with French system left thumb |
91 | Saxophone-Sopranino in Eb |
92 | Saxophone-Soprano in Bb |
93 | Saxophone-Alto in Eb |
94 | Saxophone-Melody in C |
95 | Saxophone-Tenor in Bb |
96 | Saxophone-Baritone in Eb |
100 | Heckel-Clarina (in Bb and Eb) |
For many years Heckel has used a logo which shows a line-drawn globe with the inscription HECKEL and BIEBRICH around the globe (Biebrich is the area in Weisbaden where the factory is located). The globe also has a bassoon "laying" across it diagonally, with the boot in the "Southeast" corner and the bell in the "Northwest" corner.
When Angelika (Reiter) Luccetta and Ralf Reiter began controlling some of the company's functions (circa 1993) they decided that changing the bassoon to "lay" from "Southwest" to "Northeast" was a change they wanted to make. The logo now has this new look.
On the company's website there is a company logo with an actual Heckel bassoon "across the globe". Company sources state that they believe that they recall that this instrument's serial number is somewhere around 14300.
View the legal statement.