Now that we are in the age where giants go extinct, we’ve seen the estates of large movers and shakers within the PPM ecosystem move out of the private sphere to come up for grabs. Anyone who wants an object their favorite musicians once owned has the chance to bid on it. Thus our earthly remains disperse to the four winds at one point or another.
Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk cast a very long shadow on modern music. And now his plethora of musical instruments [and stylish shoes…] are up for bidding in an auction that happens tomorrow in Nashville, at 10 a.m. CST [GMT-6]. Florian’s large collection of musical instruments and personal effects include things from his VW bus to an animation flipbook of the Kraftwerk robots.
As his musical origins as a Jazz player revealed, he had countless musical instruments and many of them were not electronic in nature. If you want woodwinds and strings, his auction may be your sweet spot. Let’s take a look at a few highlights to get a feel for the man.
GERMAN PASSPORT
One of the most personal effects possible is a Passport. Florian’s German passport is up for bidding
PERSONALLY DEDICATED KRAFTWERK 2 LP
How many of us actually own a pressing of “Kraftwerk 2,” much less one dedicated and signed by Mr. Schneider to his mother?
PLEXIGLASS OBOE
Florian had a large collection of plexiglass woodwinds, but because I’m an oboe man, we’ll feature this one. But there’s flutes and saxes galore if you’re curious.
EMS “SUITCASE” SYNTHI
If you’ve got a spare $20-30K laying around, why not indulge in your fetish for the famed EMS Synthi and unleash your Inner Eno™? Even non-celebrity owned versions of this unit will set you back a fair amount of coin.
CV-TO-MIDI INTERFACE
If you are a synth gearhead, here’s something of immense usability, if you don’t already have one! Florian’s CV-To-MIDI interface to make all of those vintage analog synths cluttering up your music room more usable in the modern DAW era! Only 5 bids at $300 right now!
HOHNER GUITARET
Here’s an obscurity that I have never heard of in 62 years of music obsession. A Hohner Guitaret. As near as I can tell it’s something like an Electric Kalimba [which would be a good band name, yes?]. There are two and they are both currently vaulting the $1K mark.
MICRO SEIKI DDX-1000 TURNTABLE
Look at the stabilizing feet on that turntable! There’s no cartridge or headshell, but details, details!
KLING-KLANG SENNHEISER VSM-201 VOCODER IN ANVIL CASE
Now we’re at the meat of the collection; Florian’s vocoder! He had many, but this is still in its anvil case. Seven bids at $25K currently. It’s the closest thing to owning a piece of Florian’s soul.
“QUIET” SIGN FROM KLING-KLANG STUDIO
Own a piece of the actual Kling-Klang studio. The red “QUIET/RUHE” sign when sessions were rolling! Currently 25 bids at $12,500 for the privilege.
MOBIUS FUTURE RETRO SEQUENCER
Need a sequencer? Here a modern MIDI unit to help generate those synth loops that are required to make what I refer to as “Autobahn Music.” Non ironically.
TELEFUNKEN VOLKS TRAUTORIUM
What about a rare, 1930, proto synthesizer from the fine folks of Telefunken? I’d not heard of the Trautorium but apparently only 30-50 units were produced. And Florian had one. If you have to ask, “how much?” you’re not meant to own it.
KORG RYHTHM 55 DRUM MACHINE
Here’s a good, old fashioned, analog drum machine! From the good old days where we didn’t have to live under the tyranny of samples! But it’ll cost you. $2,250 at 12 bids currently.
FENDER 400 PEDAL STEEL GUITAR
Florian actually had numerous guitars but this one being a pedal steel [possibly the one used on “Ananas Symphonie” from “Ralf + Florian”] make this unit far more interesting.
KLING-KLANG STUDIO TUBE MIXING CONSOLE
If you want full analog purity in your signal path, you probably need this actual tube mixing console from Kling-Klang Studios! It’s been fully restored and ready to rock. 12 bids at $10K, currently.
KLING-KLANG LARGE RACK OF AUDIO EQUIPMENT #3
It contains 17 different devices, too numerous to list here! But full details on the auction site.
“POCKET CALCULATOR” COLOR US PROMO 7″ + FLIP BOOK
I have one of these, which cost me $2.00 in 1983. But it was not owned by Florian Schneider! And the devil is in the details. This record, also comes as a two-piece lot with this KRAFTWERK flip animation book of The Robots from “The Mix” era.
“KLASSENTREFFEN” SCREEN-WORN WIG
In 2001, Florian acted in the movie “Klassentreffen” as part of an ensemble of real musicians playing a band in the film. And he was rocking this wig in the role. A steal at 5 bids/$100 currently!
KORG PS-3100 POLYPHONIC SYNTHESIZER
Florian seemed to love Korg gear and here’s a polysynth that had textured metal over its wooden cabinet. Florian was probably making a statement about purity of form with that metal cladding!
MIU MIU DRESS SHOES + CHELSEA BOOTS
And finally, Florian has many pairs of ultra-stylish shoes to contemplate if you also believe that clothes make the man! They are all pointed and you probably want them all. I don’t know if you can tell at this size, but the stripes on the Clelsea Boots are metallic in nature.
There are hundreds of lots available as this only scrapes the surface. If you are curious, or need some Florian DNA samples for your unregistered Macro-Clone™ lab, now you know where to look as we learn all about this electronic pioneer. DJ hit that button!
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Post-Punk Monk 
A number of items are of interest – particularly that Kraftwork 2 LP. A few of the instruments and other promotional material as well. The current bidding however relegates me to wishful thinking of course.
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postpostmoderndad – I’m lucky enough to have a JPN ‘79 1st edition of the first two Kraftwerk albums.
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i hate you….
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