Gustaw Adolf Paweł Häussler

Gustaw Adolf Paweł Häussler, born in Lübben on 15 January 1850 and died in Kraków on 19 May 1940, was a Polish luthier who spent much of his career in Kraków. His work is significant for understanding the craft of violin making and repair in Poland at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century.

He settled in Kraków, where he soon gained a reputation as a maker and repairer of instruments. He took over the violin workshop from his uncle, Christianie (1802–1867). Leading violinists such as Barcewicz, Sarasate, Ševčik and Huberman entrusted him with their most valuable instruments for repairs and adjustments. He continued to make violins in the old Stradivari manner, and he won a bronze medal at the Kraków Exhibition of 1887 and a gold medal at the National Exhibition in Lwów (Leópolis) in 1894.

He also imported instruments from the Kreuzinger factory in Kraslice, Bohemia, corrected them with great care and labelled them «Gustaw Häussler korygował» («corrected by Gustaw Häussler»). These instruments reportedly stood out for their sound. He is also credited with inventing special pincers for the construction of violins.

His legacy is associated above all with the quality of his repair work and the prestige he earned among the performers of his time, rather than with mass production of instruments.