Established in 1979 as a specialist London flute shop by an enterprising young repairer Trevor J. James, the Company has grown from repairing the instruments of professional London musicians to now being one of the World’s most prestigious student and Conservatory instrument suppliers. In his early days as a musician, Trevor J. James found himself rapidly becoming interested in the design and mechanical issues surrounding woodwind instruments.

As many of his friends were flute players, and following training and experience with several prominent instrument makers, Trevor decided to set-up a specialist flute shop to cater for the repairs and requirements of the professional player. Working closely with players meant that Trevor began to experiment with flute headjoint manufacture and began in 1980 to manufacture his own range of handmade headjoints which naturally lead on to handmade flutes in 1982.

As Trevor J. James became more involved in listening to the ‘grass roots’ of flute playing and teaching, he quickly recognised that the ‘Student’ and ‘Conservatory’ flutes around in the early 1980’s lacked many of the tonal and mechanical characteristics used by the professional makers. It was this discovery that led to the formation of Trevor J. James & Co. and the start of an exciting 25 years introducing and continuously developing his own flute range. Initially with first grade student flutes, Trevor rapidly began experimenting with bore diameters and headjoint lip plate and riser designs which have since become the hallmark of the Company.

It was natural that with the cross-over by many musicians from flute to saxophone and vica-versa, Trevor saw his creative talents divert during the very early 1990’s to the development of his own range of free-blowing saxophones. The Trevor J. James ‘Horn’ range of instruments quickly established themselves as market leaders. 2005 has seen the development after 18 months of intensive research of the ‘Signature Custom’ professional saxophone range which takes saxophone customisation and manufacture on to a truly different level. The Clarinet development has also been an ongoing developmental project through 2004/5. Using strict parameters, the new Series 5 clarinet has been designed and manufactured to compete with the very best student instruments available today.