What do you call a maker of wind instruments?

Good question. To be honest, I'm not sure if there is a specific word. Bagpipe players avail themselves of the services of a pipemaker; clarinet players go to a clarinet maker, trumpet players to a trumpet maker, and so on.


A maker of wind instruments, Casey Burns, calls himself an artisan wind instrument maker.

There are several other sites that discuss these craftspersons, such as the book, The Amateur Wind Instrument Maker


I propose ahenoficer for the maker of brass instruments and chalumier (pronounced /ˈʃaly.mje/ from chalumeau, a 12th Century reed pipe) for the maker of woodwinds.

Those with more expertise in Latin and French might correct me.

EDIT a commentator with the disturbing name of Coleopterist urges me to make it explicit that these words are my own coinage; as far as I know, there is no synonym in current use.

FURTHER EDIT: Peter Shor reminds me of the Gallic inability to pronounce the last letter in any word and that /ʃalyˈmjɛʁ/ would only be the correct pronunciation for chalumière, a distaff maker of woodwinds. Corrected.


I'm currently researching people who build unusual instruments for my PhD, and so far I haven't found any other word for "instrument builder" as widespread and popular as "luthier", or the "______ maker" for each specific instrument, neither in English nor in Portuguese or French, for that matter.

I have stumbled across the word "tambourier" for a drum maker, but am not sure whether it's actually used. Feeling Musique, a well-established wind instrument shop in Paris, for instance, uses "Luthier of wind instruments" as a term for the professionals who do this type of work.