H. N. White Company

King Musical Instruments was a musical instrument manufacturing company located in Cleveland, Ohio. The rights to the King trademark name for musical instruments are currently owned by Conn-Selmer, Inc., a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments.

The company was founded as the H.N. White Company in 1893 by Henderson White, an engraver and instrument repairman. White designed a trombone for Thomas King, a local player. It became the company's first successful model when it was adopted by Al Pinard, then a famous trombone player. White later designed other brass instrument models, including cornets and baritones. In 1903, The H.N. White company hired Foster A. Reynolds, a talented brass instrument maker at the J.W. York & Sons company. He worked with White to further develop instruments. H. N. White sought to expand its offerings to woodwinds starting in 1908, importing Evette & Schaeffer saxophones manufactured by the Buffet Crampon Company of France. After the Evette & Schaeffer import rights were lost to Carl Fischer of New York in 1910, White started importing saxophones from the V. Kohlert Company, then located in the Czech province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The onset of the First World War interrupted the trade of the Czech instruments, so White sought a domestic supplier in the Cleveland Musical Instrument Company in 1916. Many of the earliest saxophones supplied by Cleveland Musical Instruments were made for military bands as the United States entered World War I. H. N. White built a plant to manufacture orchestral woodwinds in 1917. The "Cleveland" and "American Standard" brand names were used for cheaper instruments marketed to schools and marching bands, while the "King" brand was reserved for professional grade instruments. In 1925, H.N. White acquired the Cleveland Musical Instrument Company.

In 1935 Foster Reynolds left his position as General Manager of the H.N. White Company, and founded the rival F.A. Reynolds company. Reynolds would later design the extremely successful "Ambassador" line of brasswind instruments for F. E. Olds. The H.N. White Company began producing stringed instruments in 1935.

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