James R. New was born November 1954  in Wichita, Kansas. He moved two years later to Denver, Colorado where he spent his youth. His family moved to Orange County, California in 1967.  He graduated from Sunny Hills High School in 1972. Following graduation he attended Fullerton College with a major in Music Performance. He also  studied with Claude Gordon for a period of three years. Jim married Pamela Kirchen in 1982 and has ten children: seven daughters and three sons.

Jim's carreer in brass instrument manufacturing began with Dominick Calicchio. He has also worked for F.E. Olds Co., Benge Trumpet Co., and C.G. Conn Co. Jim has been the Plant Manager for Kanstul since it's inception in 1981.

Jim is active in the day-to-day activites of the factory in addition to developing Kanstul's mouthpiece technology and the Kanstul Online Mouthpiece Comparator.