Pearl Drums

Pearl Drums
Industry Musical Instruments
Headquarters Yachiyo, Chiba, Japan
Key people Katsumi Yanagisawa: Founder
Masakatsu Yanagisawa: President & CEO
Products Drums, Drum hardware, Flutes
Website http://www.pearldrum.com/

Founded in 1952, the Pearl Musical Instrument Company (パール楽器製造株式会社 Pāru Gakki Seizō Kabushiki Gaisha?) is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products, predominately percussion instruments.

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History

Pearl was founded by Katsumi Yanagisawa, who began manufacturing music stands in Sumida, Tokyo on April 2, 1946. In 1950, Yanagisawa shifted his focus to the manufacturing of drums and named his company "Pearl Industry, Ltd."

By 1953, the company's name had been changed to "Pearl Musical Instrument Company," and manufacturing had expanded to include drum kits, marching drums, timpani, Latin percussion instruments, cymbals, stands, and accessories.

Yanagisawa's eldest son, Mitsuo, joined Pearl in 1957 and formed a division to export Pearl products worldwide. To meet increasing worldwide demand for drum kits following the advent of rock and roll music, in 1961 Pearl built a 15,000 sq ft (1,400 m2) factory in Chiba, Japan to produce inexpensive drum kits that bore the brand names of more than thirty distributors such as Maxwin, CB-700, Stewart, Werco, Ideal, Crest, Revelle, Revere, Lyra, Majestic, Whitehall, Apollo, Toreador, Roxy, and Coronet.[1]

In 1966, Pearl introduced its first professional drum kit, the "President Series".

For a time in the early 1970s, Pearl was distributed in the U.S. by Norlin, the parent company of Gibson guitars at the time.

Today, Pearl's Taiwanese operation encompasses five factories whose output supplies nearly the entire worldwide market for Pearl products. The original Chiba factory now caters to the domestic Japanese market, producing drum kits, marching drums, timpani, and symphonic chimes.

Adams Musical Instruments are sold in the U.S. through Pearl dealers, Hughes and Kettner guitar and bass amplifiers are distributed through Pearl's main warehouse in Nashville, Tennessee and Sabian cymbals are distributed in Japan through Pearl dealers.

Pearl created several drum products, such as shells in the 70s that were made of wood with a fber-glass lining. There was also a shell made of a composite called "Phenolic." Additionally, Pearl combined roto-toms and these Phenolic shells to create the Vari-Pitch line of drums. Other early innovations included shells that were slightly undersized, so that the drum head would extend over the edges, much like a gong drum. Pearl manufactured seamless, extruded acrylic shells that were different to the tabbed-and-seamed Vistalite shells used by Ludwig. Pearl also developed the hinged tube tom-arm, a design widely copied by many other drum manufacturers.

Construction

Pearl has made shells for more than 30 companies. In the 1960s, they ceased making shells for other companies, and began manufacturing drums under their own name and used the Pearl logo for the first time.[2][3]

Their construction technique is known as SST or "Superior Shell Technology." All Pearl drums feature this construction. Each ply is placed into a cylinder, and pressure is applied from both sides. While in the press, the shell is heated to bring the glue to a boil, thus forcing it through the wood grain and fusing the shells very tightly. The individual plies are scarf jointed, and all the seams are offset, resulting in a "seamless" drum (Pearl demonstrates the strength by parking a Humvee with its tire on a tom shell).[4] This creates a drum shell of incredible strength.

Drum lines

Beginner and semi-professional lines

Professional lines

Electronic drums

Discontinued drums

Limited Edition

Over the years, Pearl has released a number of limited edition kits, normally special versions of existing lines:

Snare Drums

As well as drum kits, Pearl is a renowned producer of snare drums. Low-end kits (Vision series and lower) come standard with snare drums, and higher-end series have snares which must be bought separately. Individual snares, as well as artists' signature snares, are also available.

Series snare drums

Individual snare drums

Signature snares

Hardware and Pedals

In addition to producing drums, Pearl has also produced hardware for its drum and percussion instruments as well as pedals. One of Pearl's major improvements was the introduction of the Uni-Lock tilter on their tom mounts and cymbal stands. Introduced in 1982, the Uni-Lock tilter uses a frictionless, gearless tilter, allowing the player to make more precise angle adjustments to their toms and cymbals. This was further improved with the introduction of the Gyro-Lock tilters which rotate a full 360 degrees. Most of Pearl's pedals come equipped with PowerShifter heel plates, which allow the player to adjust the pedal's feel by sliding the plate either forwards or backwards.

Hardware

Pedals

Endorsers (Short List)

Drummer Band
Daniel Erlandsson Arch Enemy
Ben Johnston Biffy Clyro
Chad Smith Red Hot Chili Peppers
Colin Newton Idlewild
Ian Paice Deep Purple
John Bradbury The Specials
Michael Thomas Bullet for My Valentine
Joey Jordison Slipknot
Todd Sucherman Styx
Michael Cartellone Lynyrd Skynyrd
Mike Mangini Dream Theater
Ray Luzier KoRn
Mike Wengren Disturbed
Shinya Dir en Grey
Tommy Lee Motley Crue
Shinya Yamada Luna Sea
Eric Singer KISS
Hesham Amin The Red Brick Act

Marching Percussion

Pearl Percussion has long been involved with marching percussion instruments. Their first appearance in the world of drum corps was in 1981 with the Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps who marched with a complete battery set of Pearl marching drums that year. Pearl's "FFX" free-floating marching snare, and Championship Series deep cut tenor drums feature distinctive volume and clarity that became one the most frequently featured marching drums utilized by drum and bugle corps and related marching-arts ensembles.

References

See also

External links