He was known in North America as an exporter of violins, violas, cellos, and double basses made and labeled under his anglicized name, "John Juzek," crafted mostly by guilds and various independent makers in the Bohemia region of the Czechoslovakia and Germany border.
The city and country imprint reflects the location of Juzek's shops, mostly in Prague before World War II.
[3][4] Janek Juzek, himself, was a violin maker,[5] and crafted instruments in his own shop in Prague sometime between 1910 and 1920, using wood from torn down houses and churches, when he could find it, otherwise from the Carpathian Mountains, which formed the eastern border of Czechoslovakia.
For the Master Art series, Juzek adopted standard patterns of classic violin luthiers, including: As demand for string instruments in North America]increased, John Juzek purchased violins violas, cellos, and double bases from craftsmen, mostly from Schönbach, and, according to advertising literature of Czechoslovak to build instruments fitting his specifications.
The instruments were sold in North America, mostly in the New York City area, exclusively through Metropolitan Music Co. (originally named Czechoslovak Musical Instruments Company), a New York City firm founded in 1920 by Robert J. Juzek (1894–1975)[8][9] Robert's four brothers were involved in the business in various capacities: Before the founding of Czechoslovak Musical Instruments Company, Robert Juzek had traveled to New York aboard the SS Imperator, arriving March 2, 1920, as a secretary for the Czecho Slovak Commercial Corp., located at 59 Pearl Street, New York City, a Czechoslovak exporter of orchestral instruments.
[14] Some of the Master Art Copy violins and cellos imprinted with higher numbers dated in the 1950s and 1960s were made by Roman Teller (died 1974), who moved to Erlangen, West Germany after World War II.