About “COVENANT”

The COVENANT brand is a musical instrument brand launched by “C.C.G Music Instruments, Limited” with acoustic guitar as its core product. The brand was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Dalian, Liaoning Province, the People’s Republic of China. The current CEO is the founder Mr. Xue Fei.

Initial period-2011

In 2011, the start-up team relied on “David Musical Instruments” to establish a guitar studio and trial-produced guitar products under the “iBegin” brand. Thanks to the business environment of the musical instrument shop, the start-up team has obtained many opportunities to communicate and discuss with guitar lovers; early trial products can also be tested by customers as soon as possible, and the fastest feedback can be obtained, which greatly shortens the development cycle.

During this period, the start-up team developed dozens of prototype products, ranging from acoustic guitars, electric guitars and electric basses.

The predecessor of X-Structure™

Among the many prototype products, the acoustic guitar products that use the forward-moving sound beam architecture are the most popular among trial users. This sound beam architecture will be optimized again by the COVENANT R&D team under the accurate calculation of each piano body in the future, and finally Become the X-Structure™ sound beam architecture that COVENANT is proud of.

In the end, the start-up team selected two products for mass production: a single-sided single-board and a full-single acoustic guitar, both of which used the classic D-barrel and forward-moving sound beam architecture.

iBegin 500: Alternative mass-produced full single-board acoustic guitar

The first batch of trial products was successful, but the quality of the products produced by the ODM production method did not meet the quality requirements of the start-up team. Despite the difficulties, the start-up team gave up low-cost OEM production and chose a way that is costly but can firmly control the quality-self-built factory.

The origin of “COVENANT”

When the team was founded, the founder, Mr. Xue Fei, put forward: “To make a product, it is necessary to manufacture truly high-quality products and be responsible to the users. This is the’sacred agreement’ between us and our customers.”

As a result, the word “Covenant” which represents the “sacred agreement” has become the name of the brand, and at the same time has become the core value of the COVENANT brand.

Hard work to build a factory-2011~2012

The “failure” of the iBegin product (at least for the start-up team) caused huge financial pressure. The founders began to raise funds around while looking for a suitable location to prepare for the construction of the factory.

In 2012, on the third floor of a carton factory in Longwangmiao Village, Jinzhou District, Dalian City, after a brief speech by Mr. Xue Fei, “COVENANT Musical Instruments Co., Ltd.” was formally established and CCG No. 1 factory began to operate. COVENANT-“sacred agreement”, as the founding team’s core values was selected as the new brand name, and then the Chinese name “COVENANT” was confirmed.

At this time, the products produced by the COVENANT brand are based on the prototype design in the studio period and after further optimization of the process. The basic product line was also determined during this period:

· 1 Series: simple but high-standard surface acoustic guitar for beginners;

· 3 Series: Facing enthusiasts, higher standards, with high-end accessories and decorative surface veneer guitars;

· 5 Series: High-quality full single-board acoustic guitars for professional users and advanced enthusiasts.

The COVENANT product line in early 2012

Due to the use of purely hand-made methods, the production capacity of COVENANT during this period was limited. Only a few musical instruments such as “David Musical Instrument” and “Canaan Music” (both of which have now become COVENANT strategic partners) Line limited sales of products.

(Solemn thanks to the prototype trialists, “David Music”, “Canaan Music” and early distributors, original investors and early users for their help in the establishment of COVENANT)

Development and crisis-2012~2013

With the sale of the product, COVENANT solved the short-term capital flow problem. The founders have the opportunity to reorganize the team. On the one hand, set up a technical team to sort out the information and experience accumulated before, optimize the process to expand the output; on the other hand, the founder Xue Fei led the R&D team to start developing new products. The star product of COVENANT C-200D LIVE is finally available. The implementation of HCP workflow and the provision of various production facilities have also started to increase production.

LIVE appeared

When the COVENANT brand was established, Mr. Xue Fei, the founder who had been engaged in musician work, clearly realized that there was a lack of products that could meet the needs of musicians—high quality-price ratio, durability and excellent sound performance. Acoustic guitar. Under his leadership, COVENANT released C-200D LIVE (G1), the first product in the LIVE series.

It is easy to play the high-handed bucket shape, strengthened structure, and X-Structure™ sound beam structure re-adjusted in response to structural changes. It is equipped with multi-channel pickups for various performance styles and various performance occasions and inexpensive Pricing has made LIVE not only popular among musicians, but also captured the hearts of many other users.

C-200D LIVE (G1) – 2012

COVENANT matured in just a year. Although it is still only sold in a few channels of musical instrument stores, with the enrichment of product types and the increase in supply, more guitar enthusiasts have begun to understand the Covenant brand and products, and the Covenant team has also begun to receive some users. feedback of.

Most of the evaluations of COVENANT products are positive, and some customers have pointed out some problems with Covenant’s products and suggestions for improvement (Thanks to these customers sincerely). What surprises the COVENANT team the most is that, in such a small-scale sale, COVENANT has received comments from well-known musicians and international friends (thanks to Mr. Jiang Jianmin and Max from Germany). The recognition and encouragement of the users has made Covenant firm its conviction, which is the driving force of Covenant team to continuously improve the product.

“Go abroad”

German musician Max, after learning about the COVENANT product, asked his friend to bring a C-500D back to Germany; soon afterwards, COVENANT received an e-mail from Germany. Max expressed his love for this piano in the email and attached a photo of him with it.

During the brand’s start-up period, it was a surprise that the COVENANT team did not expect, and it was also a great incentive for products to go abroad in this way.

Max and C-500D

When everything seemed to be booming, the crisis within the company began to emerge.

As the price of raw materials rises, the cost of products has risen sharply, making it difficult for the newly profitable COVENANT; the disagreement between the investor and the founder team has also put COVENANT into a dilemma. In the view of the founder, Mr. Xue Fei, profitability is not the first, but the spirit of “COVENANT”. In order to contend with the investors who are eager to withdraw funds, the founders once again embarked on the road of fundraising.

Turn around and flap your wings – 2014~2017

At the beginning of 2014, the founders finally completed the equity redemption, and COVENANT control was finally completely returned to the hands of the founder team. Mr. Xue Fei led the founders to carry out a lot of reforms to COVENANT.

The first is to sort out the supply chain. In order to make the product quality more stable and improve the yield rate at the same time, a stable supply chain seems particularly important. COVENANT bid farewell to the previous procurement model, changed to direct supply by the partner, and established strict supply and inspection standards for all raw materials/materials; for some key parts, COVENANT directly adopted the ODM model ( Designed by COVENANT and then manufactured by professional partners according to standards). COVENANT also expanded the import channels of acoustic timber and established a reserve base to better control the quality and deal with possible future fluctuations in timber prices.

The second is to optimize the process. With the increase in output and personnel, the early “HCP” workflow has no longer adapted to the production situation, and COVENANT has fully updated this process. By quantifying material properties, refining process standards, and introducing auxiliary equipment, COVENANT kept the HCP processing level while minimizing the subjective error of manual intervention.

“HCP” workflow

Due to the particularity of wood, acoustic guitars are not suitable for large-scale mechanized production. Hand-made can be fine-tuned during the processing according to the characteristics of each plate, so that each guitar can play the best sound quality. However, the cost of hand-made is extremely high, so the “hand-made pianos” produced by some famous teachers are very valuable.

At the beginning of the establishment of COVENANT, Mr. Xue Fei proposed to produce “quality guitars” with the “handmade piano concept”. “HCP Workflow” came into being. Through manual intervention in key links, COVENANT realized the coordination between machine production and humanized production.

As an extension of the “HCP workflow”, the “X-Structure sound beam architecture” has also begun to be applied. COVENANT summed up previous experience, set the intersection and opening angle of the X-shaped sound beam for each barrel shape, and fine-tuned it according to the subtle differences in surface material characteristics, which became COVENANT unique secret.

Equally important is the training of the team of “luthmakers”. COVENANT abandoned the “master with apprentice” type of on-the-job training, and provided periodic professional training to all luthiers. At the same time, it strengthened team building and cultivated “craftsmen who love each other, unite and make progress”. spirit”.

In October of this year, the COVENANT brand brought new products to the “China International Musical Instrument Exhibition” for the first time. Fingerstyle rookie “Masa” from Taiwan flew to the COVENANT platform specially.

Masa and Covenant

Mr. Lu Jiahong, a well-known fingerstyle artist from Taiwan, was full of praise for COVENANT products and used COVENANT guitars in the subsequent tour.

Lu Jiahong and Covenant on the tour

Participating in the world’s first-class exhibition indicates that COVENANT has moved from a niche fan “circle” to the mass market, and it also represents COVENANT confidence in products and determination to adhere to “quality musical instruments”. Afterwards, COVENANT launched a new logo, and the formal serif “COVENANT” appeared on the piano head. With the slogan “Sounding and Faith”, COVENANT products began to be distributed to various channels. Fully on sale.

“Sound of Faith”

During the crisis of Cafronte in 2013-14, the Christian churches in various places gave great help to the Christian-based COVENANT founder team, and COVENANT products were widely used in gatherings, praise, etc. Various occasions. At the same time, some Christian individuals and groups also provided free financial support to the founder team, helping COVENANT through the most difficult moments.

“Sound of Faith” not only represents the gratitude of the COVENANT people to God, the Christian church and Christians but also represents the COVENANT brand’s insistence on pursuing quality and abiding by the “sacred agreement with users” “The belief.

In 2015, “Fenghua”, a famous Chinese guitar teaching material brand, used the book “Guitar Self-study March” to recommend COVENANTt acoustic guitar products to the majority of Chinese guitar enthusiasts. Teacher Li Chengfu also became a COVENANT user.

While capturing the hearts of a large number of users, COVENANT did not forget its original intention, and a large number of new technologies have been developed and tested, and they have begun to be applied to products.

In 2016, as the heat treatment process of Heatreated® materials and the EMB bridge inlay technology have been fully applied, the quality of COVENANT products has been further improved.

In order to meet the needs of high-end customers, COVENANT launched a 7 series of performance-grade acoustic guitars. The 750CCS, which has applied the newly developed patent CORV® barrel shape of COVENANT as the pioneering work of the COVENANT 7 series, has been widely praised by users. At the same time, the launch of CCW customer-selected customization services gives customers the possibility of completely customizing the exclusive COVENANT.

Attracted by Xiuwaihuizhong’s 750CCS, the new generation of “Chinese style” fingerstyle artist Yang Haokun became a Kafront user and recorded the famous song “Maple Leaf City” using 750CCS. At the same time, the COVENANT acoustic guitar was also used by contestants such as Wu Mochou, Wang Dan and Zheng Junshu on the “The Voice of China” program.

Yang Haokun and C-750CCS (G1)

In 2017, the upgraded FULLY-EMBEDDED™ bridge full inlay technology was applied, and COVENANT finally solved the stubborn problem of the acoustic guitar “cracked bridge”. After solving the problems of corv® barrel-shaped plywood side panels and miniaturization, a new generation of LIVE “players” and JUNIOR “travelers” have appeared one after another. The CORV® barrel shape with beautiful appearance, comfortable playing and excellent acoustic performance has been widely used.

By adjusting the after-sales policy, strengthening the training of dealers and optimizing the after-sales service team, Kafront’s after-sales service system has been further improved, and the “triple guarantee” mechanism has solved the worries of users.

COVENANT also began to lay out an international strategy. Contrary to the previous “unexpected” going abroad, COVENANT worked hard to introduce excellent foreign resources into the country and actively expanded overseas suppliers.

Covenant CEO Xue Fei and overseas suppliers

Your Content Goes HereMr. Tanimoto Hikaru, a well-known fingerstyle artist from Japan, became a Kafront user and participated in Kafront’s “most beautiful” national tour exchange event.

2017 Covenant “Most Beautiful” National Tour Exchange Meeting

After the crisis, COVENANT completed the closed-loop of product research and development, supply chain management, product manufacturing, sales, and customer service. It also achieved a gorgeous turn and took off.

New Chapter – 2018 ~

After taking off, COVENANT has not stopped. While continuing to improve its products and services, it also continues to strengthen cooperation with domestic and foreign suppliers.

At the beginning of 2018, in technical cooperation with well-known pickup brands, the co-designed COVENANT® M3IA co-frequency booster pickup was finalized and mass production began. COVENANT has his own “reinforcement technology”.

In the middle of the year, COVENANT opened an upgraded version of the “CCW” customer selection customization service. From material selection to decoration, appearance to tone, users can customize their own guitars completely according to their own desires. The famous fingerstyle guitar artist Mr. Zhu Jiaming customized his performance piano through this service, and since then forged a deep friendship with COVENANT.

Zhu Jiaming and COVENANT

During a concert, Mr. Zhu Jiaming met Mr. Xue Fei, the founder of COVENANT, and visited COVENANT strategic partner David Music. After testing the COVENANT products, he very much recognized the sound and quality of COVENANT guitars. At the same time he also very much agreed with the ideas put forward by Mr. Xue Fei.

After investigating COVENANT in detail, Mr. Zhu Jiaming customized his own guitar through COVENANT CCW service according to his playing technique and tone requirements.

In September, Mr. Zhu Jiaming signed a contract with COVENANT. He officially became COVENANT “Principal Co-Artist” and “Brand Image Ambassador”.

2019 Covenant’s new image

After more than half a year of design and preparation work, in October, the new image of COVENANT was unveiled at the “China International Musical Instrument Expo”. The brand-new graphic combination Logo, the brand-new COVENANT® STREAM headstock design. The comprehensively upgraded products have received comprehensive praise.

An endless stream of spectators at the COVENANT booth
@MusicChina 2018

At the same time as the appearance is upgraded, the internals of COVENANT products have also undergone tremendous changes: the entire line of products has been upgraded to full HEATREATED® acoustic wood, which means that the strength and acoustic performance of each wooden component have been qualitatively improved; depending on the barrel shape The independently designed X-Structure™ Plus and the advanced X-Structure™ Extreme sound beam structure with three-pin punching technology allow each barrel shape to play the best sound.

Along with the new guitar products, COVENANT’s new accessory series, tuning tables, capo, straps, strings… everything related to guitars, COVENANT is doing its best.

Covenant’s full line of accessory products

After taking off, COVENANT did not stop. On the road to fully serving guitar users, COVENANT is continuing to move forward…

Future

In the future, COVENANT will adhere to the belief in quality, guard the “sacred agreement” with users. We will continue to move towards the idea of “letting every Chinese child have a good guitar”.

“Sounding · Originated from Faith”, COVENANT is “the most beautiful”!