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K. Gerhard Penzel/K. G. P. (Bows) See --> Penzel
KHS See --> KHS Group
Kids Percussion (Educational & childrens percussion) See --> Nakano
King (Wind instruments) See --> Conn-Selmer
King David (Batons) See --> David Wexler & Co.
Kingstar International Enterprise Ltd.
Hong Kong based company with production factilities in China that manufactures protective bags for musical instruments. Primarily an OEM but does also sell under their own Crossrock brand and in the late 80's and the 90's the company also sold bags under the Talent brand.
Distribution: In Canada by Yorkville Sound
Homepage: http://www.kingstarintl.com .
Kingstar International Enterprise Ltd., Flat/RM I 3/F, Good Harvest CTR 33 on Chuen on Lok Tsuen, Fanling, NT, Hong Kong.
Tel: +86 (0) 755 2619 6500. Fax: +86 (0) 755 6164 0364. E-Mail: info |at| kingstarintl.com Skype: mikewong-cn
Kiso Violin Co. Ltd. 
Long running Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments, currently makes high end violins under its own name and electric violins under the Kranz brand but may make violas as well, their instruments are mostly sold through the shops run by their owner ESP Co. such as "ESP Craft House" and are by now mostly unknown outside of Japan although up to the early 90’s their products were exported. The company started life in 1887 as Suzuki Violin Co. and was one of the three plants that made up that company but unlike the other 2 Suzuki plants that were based in Nagoya proper the Kiso factory was based in the small town of Kiso-Fukushima which is located in Chukyo-ken (or the greater-Nagoya area) and while it made basically the same products as the other 2, e.g. violins and mandolins mainly, it always had slightly different finishes and alternative label designs.
In 1946 the Kiso-Fukushima products start to diverge more from the main company designs, they were one of the first Japanese companies to manufacture guitars but from the late 19th century and up to WWII the mandolin was the most popular folk instrument in Japan and the guitar mostly unknown, it was not until the American occupying forces came that the instrument was introduced to the locals and Kiso was one of the first if not the first Japanese company to make them and as they had already been exporting outside of Asia since the beginning of the 20th century they did not run into the problems other early Japanese guitar manufacturers with the usage of unprocessed wood, but the humidity in Japan is so high that instrument makers do not routinely dry their woods when manufacturing for the local market, when they started ship to more temperate climates such as Europe or Northern America they ran into problems with wood twisting.
At the same time the labels on their instruments started to place more emphasis on the Kiso-Fukushima name and in 1951 a new company is formed around the business called Kiso Suzuki Violin Co. Ltd., but nothing is known by the author about the reasons behind the split or even who the owners of the new company were, in fact the info on Kiso-Suzuki’s own documents are misleading because in some instances they say “Since 1887” and in others “Founded in 1951”, and technically both are right in a way.
Note that both companies were often called Suzuki in the west but if there is no Kiso in the name or on the label it is either the original Suzuki Violin Co. or even the more recent arrival Suzuki Musical Instruments and all three are often confused by people, if Kiso-Fukushima only appears in small letters at the label it dates from before the 1951 split. The Kiso Suzuki concern quickly became one of the larger OEM manufacturers of guitars in Japan and made anything from fairly indifferent budget instruments to top quality stuff, the first Yamaha Corp. branded acoustics were in fact built by Kiso but you will find that they made instruments for hundreds of primarily American and Japanese companies from the 50’s and into the mid 80’s.
By the 70's Kiso Suzuki was really 2 semi-separate operations, one manufacturing high end violins and other classical string instruments in a traditional hand crafted manner and on the other hand a modern factory based in Nagoya that primarily produced guitars but also violins, mandolins etc. for the OEM market although they did sell electric guitars under the Kiso, K. Suzuki, S. Suzuki or Kiso Suzuki names and their headstocks sometimes featured a stylised S logo in Gothic/German script rather than a name, their USA distributor requested a headstock logo similar to the CF Martin but the label is the same as the normal Kiso guitars.
Note also that guitars branded using some of the companies own names are never outright budget models regardless if they are acoustics or electrics even though the company made very cheap guitars for other concerns, primarily Japanese and American trading houses and retail chains they never sold those under their own name. Conversely you should also be aware that although the company is by now only selling high end violins they manufactured classical string instruments from 1951 and into the latter half of the 80’s that ranged from cheap student models to much better stuff, they even made children sized violins and other classical instruments, so even though you will see a 20 year old Kiso violins fetching high or even very high prices on Japanese violin sites, chances are that your 40 year old model is a student model worth under 100 euros.
In around 1971 the company teamed up with noted guitarist and composer Yamamoto Takeharu and produced Takeharu brand guitars that were primarily mid and high end models, early on there appear to have been electric guitar or two in the range but they are very rare an may in fact have been prototypes intended for music shows that were then sold on, by the mid 70's they Takeharu label was only used on acoustic classical and steel string guitars, for reason unknown the brand went out of use in or around 1980. Kiso Suzuki was bought by ESP Co. in 1985 and the guitar factory was put under the control of the guitar making part of the ESP empire and now makes guitars and basses under the ESP and Navigator brands. The violin operation however was kept as an independent company and continues to operate. No known webpage.
Kiso Violin Co. Ltd., 6900 Yashirogi, Kisofukushima-cho, Kiso-gun, Nagano-ken, 397-0001, Japan..
K & K Sound Systems
USA based manufacturer of acoustic instrument transducers (pick-ups), has models for a variety of classical and folk string instruments plus harmonicas and pianos.
Homepage: http://www.kksound.com
K&K Sound Systems Inc., 92798 Cape Arago Highway, Coos Bay, OR 97420, USA.
Tel: +1 541 888 3517 (Int.) or 1 800 867 6863 (Toll free, USA & Canada only). Fax: +1 541 888 4846.
Klaus Becker (Bows) See --> Shar Products
Klaus Gutjahr
German gent that manufactures bandoeons, well known for his high end soloist bandoneon that was for a time manufactured in cooperation with Hohner but although there is no info to be found on other models on his homepage there is apparently a student version available as well. his instruments are usually labelled just Gutjahr.
Homepage: http://www.klausgutjahr.de
Klaus Gutjahr, Prinzenallee 87, D-13357 Berlin, Germany.
Tel: +49 (0)30 494 04 44. Mobile: ++0179 163 27 23. E-Mail: klausgutjahr at online.de.
Klavicura See --> Felix Bous
Kluson See --> Göldo Music (Tuners & hardware)
KMC Music Inc
USA based company that makes, markets and distributes musical instruments and related products, owned by Fender but operates mostly independantly and in Canada is known under the B&J Music Ltd. name. The company sells latin and ethnic percussion products under the Toca brand, acoustic steel-string guitars & basses, ukuleles and accessories under the Ovation, Applause and Adamas names, drum and percussion hardware under the Gibraltar label, drums under the Gretsch stensil, electric guitars and basses using the Hamer Guitars brand, guitar and bass amplification under the Genz Benz label and guitar picks and similar accessories under the National name. KMC also owns Latin Percussion but they are operated somewhat independantly.
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Distribution: Ovation/Applause/Adamas distributors: In Australia by Australis Music (Ovation), in Greece by Philippos Nakas S.A. (Adamas only). Genz Benz distributors: In Indonesia by Tiga Negeri Music House And in Italy by Proel. Hamer Guitars distributors: In Argentina by Hendrix Music, in Italy by Proel and on Reunion Island by Fotelec. Toca percussion distributors: In Ecuador by Banlow S. A. and in Italy by Proel Gretsch/Gibraltar distributors: In Italy by Proel
Homepage: http://www.kamanmusic.com -- Toca homepage -- Ovation/Applause/Adamas site -- Gretsch drums page -- Gibraltar hardware -- Hamer guitars page -- Takamine USA homepage -- Genz Benz site.
KMC Music Inc., 55 Griffin Road South, Bloomfield, CT 06002-0507, USA.
Tel: +1 860 509 8888. E-Mail: info at kamanmusic.com
B&J Music Ltd., 2360 Tedlo St, Mississauga, ON L5A 3V3, Canada.
Tel: +1 905 896 3001. Fax: +1 905 896 4554. E-Mail: bjmusic {at} kmcmusic.com
Knooren (Basses & guitars) See --> Jan Knooren
Knucklehead Music L. C.
USA based company that manufactures strings for acoustic and electric guitars & bass guitars.
Homepage: http://www.knucklehead.com
Knucklehead Music L. C., 2968 E. Somerset Village Way, Spanish Fork, UT 84660, USA.
Tel: +1 706 478 7464..
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