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Music has been hard-wired into our very existence as human beings. While everyone enjoys listening to good music, not many of us are what the world calls 'musicians'- the ones with the ability to play a musical instrument.The most priceless thing for musicians is their instruments. Musical instrument provides a medium for an artist to reach out to people. Talent is best expressed when presented best. An artist can improve his performance with the use of quality instruments. Here, we have enlisted the top musical instrument manufacturing companies in the world, that can help you select a trustworthy instrument brand.

Gibson Brands, is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and consumer and professional electronics. It's main headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. It was way back in 1902 when Orville Gibson founded such musical instrument brand. Gibson sells guitars under a variety of brand names. The Gibson Memphis shop has mostly focused on building hollow and semi-hollowbody guitars.

Harman International Industries, is an American subsidiary of Samsung Group that designs and engineers connected products for automakers, consumers and enterprises worldwide. The products include connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation and connected services. Sidney Harman and Bernard Kardon founded the predecessor to Harman International, Harman Kardon, in 1953. The company is Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, Harman maintains major operations in the Americas, Europe, as well as Asia. Harman markets its products under more than twenty brands - including AKG Acoustics, AMX, Crown Audio, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, dbx, DigiTech, Mark Levinson, Martin, Revel, Soundcraft, and BSS Audio. Harman International shareholders have voted in favor of the acquisition by Samsung, becoming a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics on March 10, 2017.

Shure Incorporated is an American audio products corporation. It was founded by Sidney N. Shure in Chicago, Illinois in 1925 as a supplier of radio parts kits. The company became a consumer and professional audio-electronics manufacturer of microphones, wireless microphone systems, phonograph cartridges, discussion systems, mixers, and digital signal processing. The company also manufactures listening products, including headphones, high-end earphones, and personal monitor systems. Shure currently produces numerous series of microphones for various applications, including the SM, Beta, KSM, and PG series, as well as specialty consumer microphones, Microflex, and Easyflex.

Yamaha Corporationis a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate with a very wide range of products and services. It was established in the year 1897 with 100,000 yen as a starting business capital. The person behind its foundation was Torakusu Yamaha. Yamaha is known for predominantly musical instruments, electronics and power sports equipment. Yamaha has grown to become the world's largest manufacturer of musical instruments; including pianos, "silent" pianos, drums, guitars, brass instruments, woodwinds, violins, violas, and vibraphones, as well as a leading manufacturer of semiconductors, audio/visual, computer related products, sporting goods, home appliances, specialty metals and industrial robots.

This American musical instrument brand is known in manufacturing amplifiers and stringed instruments just like guitars. Fender is famous for its solid-body electric guitars and bass guitars. Its headquarters are in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was in the year 1946 when Clarence Leonidas Fender founded such musical instrument brand. The company also manufactures acoustic guitars, electric basses, mandolins, banjos, and electric violins, as well as guitar amplifiers, bass amplifiers, and PA (public address) equipment. Fender has become one of the world leaders by defining the sounds we hear, by meeting the needs of musicians, by creating quality products and by backing them up with service and stability.

Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. is a worldwide musical instrument manufacturing conglomerate, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, the United States. It was Founded in 1995 and is Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. the company has acquired a large number of musical instrument brand names and manufacturing facilities. It now owns manufacturers of pianos, brasswinds, woodwinds, strings, and percussion under dozens of different brand names. Its most notable products include Steinway & Sonspianos, Bach Stradivarius trumpets, C.G. Conn French horns, Leblanc clarinets, King trombones, Ludwig snare drums, and Selmersaxophones and woodwinds.

Sennheiseris a German privately held audio company specializing in the design and production of a wide range of high fidelity products, including microphones, headphones, telephony accessories and avionics headsets for personal, professional and business applications. Their global headquarters is located in Wennebostel, Germany, a small village close to the northern German city of Hanover. Sennheiser is mainly known for its production of microphones, consumer headphones, wireless transmission technology, conference and tour guide systems, aviation headsets, high quality headphones and headphone transducers and monitor systems.

Roland Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. Roland is headquartered in Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Roland Corporation is a leading manufacturer and distributor of electronic musical instruments, including keyboards and synthesizers, guitar products, electronic percussion, digital recording equipment, amplifiers, and audio processing devices.

Kawai is a musical instrument manufacturing company headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. The company was established in August 1927. It is best known for its grand pianos, upright pianos, electronic keyboards and electronic synthesizers. The company was established in August 1927. The Musical Instruments segment sells pianos, electrical musical instruments, wind, brass and string instruments and percussions, as well as accessories. The Company operates in business segments.This segment also provides tuning and repairing services for instruments. The Material Processing segment manufactures and sells processed metal materials for electronic and electrical equipment, processed materials for automobile parts, pig and cast metal, soundproof rooms and acoustic-related products.

C.F. Martin & Company is an American guitar manufacturer established in 1833 by Christian Frederick Martin. The company's headquarters and primary factory are situated in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. CF Martin & Company Inc operates as a guitar manufacturing company. It is highly regarded for its steel-string acoustic guitars and is a leading manufacturer of flat top guitars. The Company provides acoustic guitars, strings, and music products for the music industry. CF Martin & Company also offers distribution, manufacturing, and repair services.

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Top 10 musical instruments companies in the world

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Music has been hard-wired into our very existence as human beings. While everyone enjoys listening to good music, not many of us are what the world calls 'musicians'- the ones with the ability to play a musical instrument.The most priceless thing for musicians is their instruments.

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Borrow a Musical Instrument from your local library

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Borrow a Musical Instrument from your local library

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https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/services/borrow-a-musical-instrument.jsp
Instead of buying a new instrument try an instrument for free with your library card.   This program is available across Canada

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TUSQ - Nuts, Saddles & Bridge Pins by Graph Tech Guitar Labs

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TUSQ delivers a rich tone, crystal clear bell like high end with big open lows and a significant increase in harmonic content and harmonic sustain.

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What do trees have to do with music? SoundWood, an innovative program of Fauna and Flora International, is working to educate members of the musical instrument industry, musicians, and the general public about the critical link between trees and music.

"The woods that are used to make musical instruments come from all over the world," said Robert Garner, U.S. program director for SoundWood. He explained how just one guitar, for example, could have a fingerboard made of rosewood, a body made of cedar, and a neck constructed from maple, often with each of the woods originating on different continents. And many of the woods used in musical instrument manufacture, particularly the hardwoods, come from diminishing tropical rainforests in South America, Asia, and Africa. "So musical instruments are really ambassadors of nature," said Garner.

Garner said that the musical instrument industry uses a significant amount of wood, including many endangered woods such as ebonies, rosewoods, and mahoganies. The SoundWood program works directly with the timber and music industries to help them source these woods and identify small mills in the United States and internationally in an effort to help manufacturers find sustainably harvested, reclaimed, and certified woods to suit their needs. Additionally, SoundWood continually seeks out woods that could serve as substitutes for the more rare traditional woods used in musical instruments.

But there is a mindset among manufacturers and musicians that must be overcome. Traditional woods have been chosen for their workability, appearance, and tonal properties, and there is some reluctance to replace them with what might be considered by some as inferior woods. However, Garner maintains, "There are alternative species that will meet the density, feel, and physical and tonal properties that those woods provide."

These ambassadors of nature are taking SoundWood's message to the street through an exciting new music series in the San Francisco Bay Area. The SoundWood Jam premiered in November 2001 and is held monthly at the historic Sweetwater Saloon in Mill Valley, Calif., just north of San Francisco.

According to Garner, the series was initiated for a variety of reasons. The primary intent was to present a music series where people could "... just come out and enjoy and celebrate what trees have to do with music as well as give musicians and music lovers a chance to learn where woods come from, what woods are used to make instruments, and what are some of the progressive initiatives that are being implemented by a number of manufacturers to make a difference and use environmentally sensitive woods," said Garner.

The SoundWood Jam has been designed to bring attention to both well-known manufacturers and independent luthiers who are using sustainably harvested woods to build their instruments. The series will feature instruments donated by Gibson Guitars, Modulus Guitars, Martin Guitars, and Drum Solo.

"The awareness of certified woods now is very similar to what people thought about organic foods 15 years ago," said Rich Lasner, president of Modulus Guitars. "They knew it existed, it had it's own funny little area on the shelf in the supermarket, and it cost, they thought, quite a bit more than what they would consider regular food."

The Novato, Calif.-based manufacturer is committed to using 100 percent sustainable and certified wood in production of all their guitars and basses. A driving force behind Modulus' commitment to the environment is CEO Michael Klein, who serves on the board of Rainforest Action Network. The company uses a range of exotic and ecologically sound woods including granadillo, chechen, red cedar, chakte kok, and soma to build its instruments.

"People have a lot of misconceptions about certified wood," said Lasner. "First, that maybe it's inferior; second, that it's hard to come by; and third, that it's going to cost them a tremendous amount of money for no benefit."

Modulus has been working with SoundWood to help spread the word and demonstrate to the public that environmentally sound wood is viable for the manufacture of quality musical instruments.

Greg Gaylord, owner of DrumSolo, which is also in Novato, said he decided to use certified and reclaimed woods in the manufacture of many of his custom snare drums simply because it seemed to him to be the right thing to do. He's discovered that by replacing the traditional maple with tropical exotics, he's able to produce drums that are superior in terms of both sound and aesthetics.

"I don't think I've jeopardized anything by any means; we get beautiful woods and beautiful sounds," said Gaylord. "I think it's been an improvement in the product. The one obstacle I encounter is that the market will often think you're using a lesser wood, but once they get a hold of it and hear it and play it, I think they realize that we're not compromising anything by doing it the way we do it," he said.

Gaylord said he anticipates that the SoundWood Jam series will be a powerful way to alter the public's perception and understanding of green instrument building and sustainability issues in general. "If people know about it and understand it, then they may actually go into the stores and ask for sustainable forest products," he said.

Gaylord said that many people are ill informed about sustainable forest products and that educating the public could lead to more availability of certified forestry products in the marketplace. "If they know about it and they can hear these instruments and go, 'Hey these sound great and they're coming out of certified forest,' that's a win-win situation for everybody," said Gaylord.

Indeed, music does stand to provide an excellent platform for raising awareness about certified wood and sustainability issues. "Probably the biggest impact that wood has in the marketplace is through furniture," said Dick Boak, who handles communications for Martin Guitars. "I don't know how well furniture does as a vehicle for educating people because I don't know how excited people get about it, but people get really excited about guitars and music."

Martin Guitars introduced its SWD model, the company's first certified wood guitar, in January 1998. The SWD contains 73 percent certified wood from well-managed forests identified through Rainforest Action Network's SmartWood program and through Scientific Certification Systems. Both comply with guidelines set forth by the Forest Stewardship Council. Woods used in the guitar include certified cherry, basswood, hard maple, and Mexican katalox. The remainder of the guitar is constructed from reclaimed, though not certified, Quartersawn Sitka spruce that was destined to become pulpwood for the manufacture of baby diapers before Martin purchased it. Martin is also developing prototypes that utilize other alternative materials like high pressure laminates and recycled aluminum.

While Boak acknowledges that there will always be consumer demand for guitars constructed from traditional materials, he believes they'll become increasingly expensive and less prevalent. "Ten years ago I was really worried that if the traditional woods disappeared we would just be out of business," said Boak. His outlook has changed dramatically in recent years. "I think that we really have identified some great alternative materials that will ensure our methods of guitar making can continue," he said.

The consensus is that raising the public's awareness of green instrument building is key to improving the sustainability of the industry. That's why Garner and other participants in the music series are so excited about the monthly Jam.

"All the players in the house band will actually be playing on certified and reclaimed wood instruments," said Garner. In addition to good music, each Jam will feature one of the instruments and an explanation of how it was made and where the woods came from. The Jam will also provide information about the certification process and local availability of featured instruments.

Another unique aspect of the Jam is that music lovers and musicians will be encouraged to join in the music making. "We'll give local musicians a chance to come out and play on these instruments so they can touch and feel them and know that they're the best thing going," said Garner.

All the proceeds from the Jam will directly benefit SoundWood and its efforts. "Environmental issues are a big thing for us," said Becky Steere, owner of the Sweetwater Saloon. "We do anything we can to better the planet, and the fact that SoundWood is doing that with a focus on guitars, which of course we use every night at Sweetwater: We just thought it was a perfect fit."

Garner eventually hopes to expand the series into other Bay Area and California venues. The next Jam is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2002.

"There will be a time, if things don't change, that you won't be able to buy certain kinds of wood and therefore you won't be able to get that beautiful table or instrument or whatever wood product you want," warned Modulus' Lasner. "We're doing this not only because it's ecologically sound at the moment but because in a hundred years you don't want to send your great-great-grandkids to a museum to see a piece of rosewood. There's no reason; we can do it right if we start doing it now."

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By Stacey L. Fowler. Copyright 2002, Environmental News Network, a GreenBiz News Affiliate, all rights reserved.

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Soundwood Jam Introduces Sustainable Wood Instruments

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What do trees have to do with music? SoundWood, an innovative program of Fauna and Flora International, is working to educate members of the musical instrument industry, musicians, and the general public about the critical link between trees and music.

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What Does It Mean for a Music Tour to Go Carbon Neutral? Some bands are minimizing their carbon footprint while making music https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/mar/12/uk-music-industry-carbon-footprint 

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What Does It Mean for a Music Tour to Go Carbon Neutral? Some bands are minimizing their carbon footprint while making music https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/mar/12/uk-music-industry-carbon-footprint 

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Will acoustic guitar solos sound as sweet a century from now? No chance-not if we destroy the tonewoods that the best guitars are made from. Deforestation and climate change put the future of many tree species in doubt.

The World Resources Institute, a non-profit study group supported by private and government donations, created a guide to building sustainable guitars. This is not a how-to guide, but a report on organizations around the world that are building and selling guitars for today's musicians, while maintaining stocks of wood for the next generation of pickers and strummers.

It's an effort that takes cooperation across wide distances. For example, Taylor Guitars in Southern California, the largest manufacturer of acoustic guitars in the U.S., partnered with Pacific Rim Tonewoods in Washington, a specialty sawmill that sells lumber to guitar makers, to support the sustainable harvest of koa-a wood native to the Hawaiian Islands.

Koa is one of the few woods supple and strong enough to be used for every part of the guitar. If other tonewood trees died out, we could at least still make good guitars from koa. So the two companies support the Paniolo Tonewoods project on the grounds of Haleakala Ranch on Maui. Their mission: "Promoting new ways to plant, grow, and manage Hawaiian tonewoods forests to ensure their abundance and vitality."

The material used for an instrument can make a huge difference in how it sounds. That's why some musicians revived traditional methods of manufacture. Some violinists who play Bach's music, for example, use traditional catgut strings rather than modern-day metal strings. The catgut produces a warmer, more modulating sound, closer to what Bach may have intended.

Material choice doesn't matter for every instrument. A 1980 study asked professional flute players to listen to recordings of the same piece played on a $150,000 24 kt gold flute, and a $3,500 silver one. They couldn't tell the difference.

But for guitars, wood shapes the tone and timbre of every note. This video shows how different the same note can sound when shaped by different types of wood.

Sustainability is a concern of other performers too. For artists, paint brushes made from the fur of the kolinsky are increasingly rare. That Asian mammal is endangered. Baseball players who swing white ash bats may have to switch to a different wood. The Pennsylvania forests where the tree grows are dying out due to warmer weather.

World Resources Institute's guide is a resource for the music community, but also sounds a clear note-climate change will do more than just silence other species, it could silence us as well.

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Will acoustic guitar solos sound as sweet a century from now? No chance-not if we destroy the tonewoods that the best guitars are made from. Deforestation and climate change put the future of many tree species in doubt. The World Resources Institute, a non-profit study group supported by private and government donations, created a guide to building sustainable guitars.