He was instrumental in the continuation of the longstanding tradition of viennese violin making in our century. His instruments he mainly built by Stradivari and Guarneri models.
The heights of the rib of his violins were from 29/30 to 30/31. In the top arching, it kept the Strad-dimensions, as well as the scroll was modeled after the great master. Only the width of the center and opening of the C-bout were often different.
From 1955 on, his model is orientated towards the traditional Cremona dimensions.
The good quality of wood he used, the inner workings and the fantastic sound quality of his instruments earned him a very good and international reputation. In the postwar period Kugler Violins were represented in almost every major orchestra in Vienna. Even today, the violins with their flashy red varnish are often encountered.
Yehudi Menuhin and Herbert von Karajan were frequent guests in his violin workshop. Kugler mainly let the famous violinist Erwin Siroky warm up his white violins. Kugler used to have a intense friendship with Mr. Wolfgang Schneiderhahn.
“The white violin sounds best”, so said Kugler. His violins were all coated with a very slow-drying varnish. Some of his violins have a varnish crack or are very soft varnished, so they are still slightly sticky and fading. But who has ever heard a Kugler Violin, doesn´t care much about these deficiencies. Happy are those artists who can call a Kugler Violin their own. The Violins became a real collector’s item, because of their tonal beauty.