Imperial Drums
| Imperial Drums GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1941 |
| Seat |
Basel , Switzerland
|
| management | Urs Gehrig ( CEO ) |
| Branch | Musical instrument making |
| Website | swissdrums.com |
Imperial Drums is a Swiss company that manufactures percussion instruments and drum heads .
history
Oscar Bauer began manufacturing drum kits and drum heads for the Swiss market in 1941 . While eardrums have so far mainly been made from animal skins , e.g. goats, Oscar Bauer developed a method to make drum heads out of plastic. He commissioned Walter Gassmann, a metal pusher, who knew his way around other industrial sectors , for the implementation , for example to press lamps or screens, foils or textile fabrics into metal tires. The method to this day consists of crimping a membrane between a square wire and an angle profile made of light metal according to a process step known from metal spinning. The process was later adopted by other drumhead manufacturers. Compared to animal skins, the foil-based drum heads offered the advantage of a higher vocal constancy of the percussion instrument.
Until 1945 snares manufactured by Imperial Drums were also sold in Holland, but later copied by local producers and marketed under the Triumph brand .
Bauer carried several product lines of Imperial drums, such as "TRIUMPH", "GRAND LUXE" and "SWING". Paul "Polly" Guggisberg, drummer of Teddy Stauffer's "Original Teddies" orchestra , was enthusiastic about the solid construction, the sound and the responsiveness of the drums and toms of his Imperial Jazz drums . The drummer of the Polo Hofer & the Butter Band , Thomas Wild, played with an Imperial brand drum kit.
The drum production was postponed in the nineties in favor of the production of Basler drums and orderly drums. Imperial supplied the Swiss army with military drums for the military drum for several decades until shortly before the turn of the millennium .
Products
The company manufactures percussion instruments, drum heads and accessories such as drum stands. The design and functionality are still used today as a reference.
Imperial CADET
The company's product series for amateur orchestras introduced around 1950 was the Imperial CADET series. The kettles for the timpani, snare drum and tom were made of plywood with a permanent celluloid coating. As standard with natural skins of excellent quality, which could be equipped with "1a plastic skins" for a surcharge. The skins could be tensioned individually by means of solid, nickel-plated tensioners. The small drum (snare) had a parallel string tensioning device.
Imperial GALA
The company's well-known product series, also introduced around 1950, was the Imperial GALA series. The boilers were made of plywood with a permanent celluloid coating, in various colors and with streamline tensioners with internal springs. The drums and toms were equipped with internal dampers, the snare drum with tread pressure tires and a parallel bar spacer. Normally supplied natural skins could be ordered with "1a plastic skins" for a surcharge. Metal parts were chrome-plated, the foot machine was equipped with ball bearings and the stands were collapsible.
Imperial BROADWAY
The latest and most modern drum set for the discerning professional musician with an excellent response was the Imperial BROADWAY series and had a sound volume that was described as unmatched at the time. The shells were made of plywood with solid celluloid coatings, with natural or plastic heads being used. The inner damper on drums and Tom was designed in the shape of a crescent. The snare drum had a parallel string tensioning device. All metal parts and stands were chrome-plated first class. The foot machine is designed with ball bearings. This set was played by Hermann Mutschler, who gave a concert with the Erwin Lehn Orchestra, among others with Miles Davis on December 18, 1957 in the "Beethoven Hall" in the Liederhalle , Stuttgart .
Basler drums
Basler drums are still designed as rope-covered drums. The Basler drum with a bowl diameter of 41 cm has established itself as a quasi-standard, the bowl being preferably made of aluminum with a wall thickness of 1 mm. The pressure tires are made of plywood and are usually painted white and filleted in black. The textile fabric, natural skin or the foil for batter or string skin are folded into an aluminum hoop and can thus be played on using high tension, which leads to a typical basler drum sound, as the necessary sound adjustment is achieved with snare strings. Basler drum shells are nowadays often made of thin-walled plywood.
present
After several years of suspension of drum production, the new edition of a vintage snare with the parallel string tensioning device typical of Imperial Drums was presented at the Drum Festival Switzerland in Zurich in 2019.
Web links
- Official website (German)
Individual evidence
- ↑ History of the Drumhead ( Remo , Inc., Brian LeVan, September 16, 2019)
- ↑ Plastic Heads - Who Invented It? (Fritz Steger / Rob Cook, drummermagazin.de, 02/2009)
- ^ The Slingerland Book (Rob Cook, April 1, 2004)
- ↑ Marching Snare Drum Triumph
- ^ Imperial product catalog with explanation by Paul "Polly" Guggisberg
- ↑ Most beautiful snare drums (Oriollo Drums)
- ↑ Imperial Restoration (Tom Vogel, Vintage Drummer Magazine, 2004)
- ↑ Tom Vogel - Restoration (Jim Messina, January 31, 2009)
- ↑ Mosch Ernst & Seine Original Egerland Musicians (Hermann Mutschler, drums)
- ^ Miscellaneous Davis, 1955-1957 (Miles Davis, 1957)
- ↑ Miscellaneous Davis, 1955 - 1957 (Miles Davis (tp), Hermann Mutschler (dr), et.al., 1957)