Jupiter Band Instruments, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and Ree ...

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

instruments. Jupiter was established by its

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

ese parent company KHS in 1980.

History

KHS was first founded with the ''Wan Wu'' name in Taiwan in 1930 by Tsu-Cheng Hsieh as an educational products company and was renamed to KHS in 1945. KHS stands for ''Kung Hsue She'' which means a company helping schools and culture. KHS started harmonica production in 1956 and started band instrument production a year later in 1957. By 1980 KHS was a full-scale musical instrument manufacturer and the Jupiter Band Instruments brand was started to market a complete line of wind instruments and percussion. In 1986, KHS transferred most of its production from its small factory in greater Taipei to a major complex in nearby Zhongli. In 1993, KHS started building a factory near

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

, China for the main purpose of entering the Chinese market. The KHS Chinese factory began producing instruments and instrument parts in 1996. Since then, lower-priced Jupiter instruments have been totally made in China while some mid-priced Jupiter instruments have been assembled in Taiwan from parts made at the Tianjin, China factory. Higher-priced Jupiter instruments have been totally made at the Gouling factory in Taiwan. The entire Jupiter 500 series are made in China and the Jupiter 700 series are assembled in Taiwan. The main KHS manufacturing facility at Zhongli, Taiwan is spread over a industrial complex, featuring a band instrument and drum factory and the KHS manufacturing facility at Tianjin China, is spread over a site. Imported European components are often used and most raw materials are imported from Japan. Clarinet and saxophone mouthpieces are imported from ESM in Germany and the pearl shell used for keys is imported from Germany. Pads, springs, felt and natural cork are imported from Italy and synthetic cork is imported from France. The brass and silver plates used for the instruments bodies are imported from Japan as are the knock pins and natural cork. The hand tools used to fashion the musical instrument parts are from Switzerland and the US and the CNC machines are from Japan. The lacquer used is imported from Britain and the US and the soldering powder is imported from Canada. All of the KHS manufacturing facilities in Taiwan and China are

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of international standards for quality management systems. It was developed in March 1987 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ensure that they meet ...

certified. KHS has made musical instruments for other companies such as Buffet Crampon (Evette), Vito and

Keilwerth The Julius Keilwerth company is a German saxophone manufacturer, established in 1925. Company history Early history Julius Keilwerth first apprenticed for the Kohlert company in Graslitz, Czechoslovakia. After this apprenticeship, Julius Keilwe ...

ST-90 series IV saxophones, B&S trumpets and Courtois cornets. KHS has made Olds, Blessing, Riley and Arbiter Jazz saxophones.

Brands

* Altus (professional flute) * Azumi (intermediate flute) * Jupiter (wind instruments) * Mapex (percussion) * Ross (mallets) * XO (professional brass)

References

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External links

Jupiter Band Instruments
Companies established in 1980 Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Taiwan Clarinet manufacturing companies Percussion instrument manufacturing companies Brass instrument manufacturing companies Taiwanese brands 1980 establishments in Taiwan