I was just introduced to a guy who was given possession of ledger notes from the Kanstul factory when operations shut down.

I was able to determine the date of manufacture of the 1602B I have.

I would certainly love to know when some of the Kanstul instruments I've owned (and the one I still own) were made for my records. Most of them came from early in the history of the company though, so they would have had to maintain the records pretty much right from when the company started.

I think the company was in existence a long time making stencil horns for other companies, before anybody heard the name "Kanstul" associated with their own brand of instruments.

Anybody know the history?

As far as I know, the first thing Kanstul (the company) did was recreating the French Besson Meha trumpets for Besson starting in 1983. But these instruments were still stamped Besson on the bell and sold as such, and the most they were given to identify their American origins was a small stamp on the valve block.

The first instrument that said Kanstul on the bell (again, as far as I know) was the meehaphone, an experimental 2-valve G bugle made for the Blue Devils drum corps in 1987. Zig Kanstul had an extensive background in drum corps, having designed the acclaimed King K-series of 2-valve G bugles and I believe at least some of the Olds Ultratone bugles as well. Before starting Kanstul, Zig worked at Olds and Benge.

The company began making their own complete line of G bugles around 1990, when 3 valves were legalized in DCI. Kanstul was only making their 3-valve G bugles for a while, before branching out to other brass.

In the mid to late 80's I visited the factory and Zig gave me a tour. I saw the Besson trumpets being made but my impression was that they were student line horns. I think they were making several Besson models at the time, and some bugles under a different name that I don't remember but it wasn't Kanstul.