JA Musik Group - history and background info

Few companies today are as steeped in musical instrument manufacturing tradition as JA Musik. The company’s origins date back to 1810, when Gerhard Meinl’s family began making wind instruments in Graslitz , Bohemia , during the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy. The business grew steadily into the early 20^th century, and a subsidiary company was founded in Germany to avoid high custom charges imposed on the newly formed Czech Republic .

As many European families, WWII brought traumatic changes to the Meinl family when they were expelled from there home and forced to leave the business they had been building for one-and-a-half  century. Wenzel Meinl bravely re-established the firm on the other side of  the border in a town near Munich . From there new location, Wenzel Meinl and his son, Anton, continued to develop the family business, launching the Melton brand for Europe and Meinl Weston for the US market. Increasing its export to the US , the company flourished concentrating on the production of tubas and other low brass instruments.

In 1983, Anton Meinl’s son, Gerhard A. Meinl , turned from five years of law and philosophy studies to take up the family calling. Beginning with an apprenticeship in brass instrument manufacture, he represented the seventh generation of  Wenzel Meinl’s fine musical instrument makers. Six years later, in anticipation of the sell-off of East Germany`s state run manufacturing facilities, he sold the the business to the public German conglomerate TA Triumph-Adler AG, became a shareholder and a presided over the newly founded TA Musik.

Between 1991 and 1994 Meinl spearheaded the acquisition of East German state-owned brasswind manufacturer B&S, French oboe manufacturer SML Strasser-Marigaux SAS, and French brasswind producer Antoine Courtois. Through multi million dollar investments in a new production facility, continuous refinement of instrument designs and numerous upgrades of the companies global distribution network, he transformed the  former command economy operation into a state-of-the-industry production company.

In 2001 he founded Sternberg Kft. in Budapest to revitalise Hungary ’s brasswind manufacturing tradition. The same year Meinl change the companies investment strategy and, along with vice president Jakob Baron von Wolff and other members of his management team, he decided to take the factory private again. The buyout culminated in TA Triumph-Adler AG being renamed JA Musik GmbH – JA means yes in German.

Today JA Musik instruments are sold all around the globe. About 25% of the production stay in Germany ; around 20% are sold in France , 25% go to the USA , 10% to Japan , 10% to the rest of Europe and 10% into other countries, especially to the Far East . The comprehensive line of woodwinds and brasswinds features the features a wide choice of finishes, options and models ranging from student to professional level. But the companies focus remains on high end professional instruments.

JA Musik’s family of brands represents a unique coalition of knowledge, expertise and innovation of several venerable woodwind and brasswind manufacturers. The combined strength of these individual names resulted in the investment of millions of dollars in sophisticated high-tech equipment as well as a strong commitment to R&D and service to every musician. Extensive consultation with professional musicians informs  JA Musik’s instrument designs just as the Saxon region of Vogtland’s 300-year heritage of instrument making informs the sensibilities, techniques, and passion for excellence passed down through generations of  it’s master-crafts-men.