Jupiter Band Instruments
Jupiter Band Instruments, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. Jupiter was established by its Taiwanese parent company KHS in 1980.
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 brand was started to market a complete line of wind instruments and percussion. In 1985 KHS established the Musix company and KHS acquired Altus flutes in 1990, Ross Mallet Instruments in 1994 and Hohner/Sonor percussion in 1997. Altus flute employees and specialists from Japan worked as KHS technical advisors.
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 China for the main purpose of entering the Chinese market. In 1996 the KHS Chinese factory began producing instruments and instrument parts and since 1996 some lower priced Jupiter instruments have been totally made in China and some mid priced Jupiter instruments have been assembled in Taiwan from parts made at the Tianjin China factory and some 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 55-acre (220,000 m2) industrial complex, featuring a 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m2) band instrument and drum factory and the KHS manufacturing facility at Tianjin China, is spread over a 30-acre (120,000 m2) 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.
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