Hans Reichel was a German guitarist, violinist, and experimental luthier born in Germany in 1949. Reichel began playing violin at age seven and guitar at fifteen, citing The Beatles, Frank Zappa, and Jimi Hendrix as early influences. After studying design and working as a font designer in the late 1960s, they returned to music and released the debut album Wichlinghauser Blues (1973). They recorded numerous solo projects and duets with musicians including Rüdiger Carl, Tom Cora, and Fred Frith. Reichel is most famous for inventing the daxophone, a wooden instrument played with a bow that produces vocal-like sounds. In 1997, Guitar Player magazine named them one of the “30 Most Radical Guitarists”. As a type designer, they created the FF Dax typeface, which achieved wide use in advertising and marketing. Reichel died in 2011.
