Muro Box, the world’s first app-controlled music box, is developed and produced in Taiwan.
You may not know that, in the past, about 40 percent of music box movements in the world were actually made in Taiwan.
The Birth Place of Muro Box
Have you ever visited the real birthplace of traditional music box movements? We do.
Since 2016, when we decided to invent Muro Box, we have went to the real birthplace of music boxes many times. And the assembling and packaging of Muro Box happen in the same place.
We made a documentary video to record the precious images because many scenes were gone forever after the factory is turning production lines into a music box museum.
Discover the Hidden Music Box History
Have you ever wondered how the tiny figures can dance along the music on your music box? The key to creating the dancing motion is found within the music box movement.
Although there is a glorious past, now only one music box factory still exists in Taiwan. As the only music box manufacturer, Kyooh’s 40-year old music box history has piqued our curiosity.
We love music boxes, so we want to share this hidden history of a traditional music box industry with you. In fact, the 40-year history of Kyooh Precision Industry Co., Ltd. reflects the contemporary history of the music box industry.
Many people imagine that music boxes are made by skilled craftsmen. The true birthplace of music boxes is found among giant machines and long assembly lines.
In fact, automation has made the process much faster and more precise. The music box industry is using modern technology to standardize the production procedure. Automation has allowed music box producers to provide customers with affordable prices like never before.
In our interview with Mr. Huang, the general manager of Kyooh Precision Industry Co., Ltd., he disclosed the mysteries of the music box industry.
Mr. Huang said, “In 1979, Taiwan was the main factory who exported the majority of music box movement to the world.”
At that time, Sankyo, the Japanese music box industry was seeking a new oversea production site for manufacturing music box. Mr. Huang was selected to take a series of technical training in the headquarter of Sankyo to learn all the manufacturing skills.
Later, when he finished the intensive 6-month training in Japan, he founded Kyooh Precision Industry Co. Ltd. from the ground up in Taiwan.
Mr. Huang gave us two examples of how his company achieved better performance than Sankyo’s original standard.
He said, “Sankyo’s standard for shipping is to make sure that noise from the music box movement is below 60dB. However, our company even reduced the noise significantly to make it lower than 45 dB.”
Furthermore, Sankyo’s standard for the rotation rate of a 18-note music box movement is 18 seconds plus or minus 2 seconds per round, but Kyooh could meet a stricter standard: 18 seconds plus or minus 1 second per round. It is hard to imagine that how much effort has been invested in refining such a tiny music box movement.
The new 18-note model of music box movement designed by Kyooh Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
Mr. Huang told us that the Sankyo team once used blind test to compare the sound quality of Sankyo’s design and Kyooh’s design. To their surprise, nobody could differentiate the two designs from only listening to the sound quality.
Another interesting example is that when the Japanese Mint Bureau wanted to order a set of high-quality music boxes as the special gift to celebrate its anniversary, they decided to order from Kyooh, instead of Sankyo. Their decision has pushed the developing team of Sankyo to refine their design.
Have you seen a matchbox-size music box before? This kind of mini 18-note music box movement was invented by Mr. Huang. No matter whether it has a strip to pull, a handle to turn, or a switch button to push, they are all designed and made in Taiwan.
Mr. Huang also shared the secret with us. He said that the material one uses can have a profound effect on the quality of sound. The best material for the frame of the music box movement is zinc alloy. This metal enables the music box to create a deep and warm tone for each note.
Another key component is the comb. A traditional 23-note comb has additional lead on it to amplify the bass in the lower range. However, a product containing lead cannot pass the safety check for EU and US. Therefore, Kyooh has redesigned their combs to make it lead free.
Why the music box business is falling over the years?
According to Mr. Huang, the US music copyright infringement lawsuit against Sankyo in the 80’s was a turning point for the industry. Many dealers who imported music boxes to the US were afraid of being sued for copyright infringement, they stopped ordering music boxes that containing new songs.
Without any new songs, the demand for music boxes diminished. As a partner company of Sankyo, Kyooh’s business was also affected since this turning point.
Mr. Huang also told us another key reason that has changed fate of the music box industry in Taiwan.
He said, “in 1981, the yearly global demand for music box movements is about 90 million pcs, and the exported music box movement from Taiwan per year is about 30 million pcs.”
However, when many Taiwanese industries started to outsource the work to the China to save their production cost, Kyooh has also followed this wave to built a factory in Dongquan, China.
When Kyooh’s music box manufacture business just started in China, the demand for music box increase every year, and the highest record reached 1 billion pieces per year. However, the current demand has shrieked to 40 million pieces per year.
To Kyooh’s surprise, the abandoned parts and molds that did not meet their quality standard were collected by the local competitors. Those abandoned parts and molds have helped the competitors to produce similar music box movements with poor sound quality and lower production cost.
They also sold music box movements with much lower price in order to get more customers’ orders. The appearance of low-quality music box movements has put the life of authentic music box manufacturers like Sankyo and Kyooh in danger.
Have you ever visited Otaru Music Box museum in Japan? Do you know that all of the movements in those beautiful music boxes are all made in Taiwan?
The Future of Music Box- Muro Box
Now, we have teamed up with Kyooh Precision Industry Co. Ltd. to design and produce the world’s first app-controlled music box, Muro Box.
We hope that all of your favorite songs can be played in one music box, Muro Box.
Muro Box allows you to create new songs or find existing songs from the music cloud library. You can even doodle a song on its app and let Muro Box play it right away!
Muro Box also partners with Music Box Maniacs, the largest music box melody online library, to get you more than 30,000 free melodies to choose for free! Now, you can simply use our app to scan the QR code of the melody on Music Box Maniacs to export it to Muro Box in seconds.
