MUSIC GEAR
JANUARY 6, 2022
The Dynamic Beat Of Drum Workshop History
The dynamic beat of Drum Workshop history, creating high quality products for drummers for half a century with brilliant innovations.
The Drum Workshop (DW) was founded in 1972 by Don Lombardi at age 26 year old in Santa Monica, California. At first it was a small teaching studio offered private lessons and the occasional workshop.
According to DW’s official website, along with his student, John Good, he began a small drum equipment sales operation to cover the facility’s operation costs.
But John wasn’t a good student and instead he turned out to become the part-time-sales manager. The two would spent hours discussing many ways to improve the art of drumming through improving drum products.
They created the first ever DW product : the height-adjustable trap-case seat, envisioned by Lombardi. As the founder and president he realized that his destiny was to help drummers improve their skill by providing them with better products. The seat sold for over a dozen a month and John quit his day job and went to work full-time for Don. John is now the DW’s Vice President.
After purchasing all of Camco’s manufacturing equipment the primary objective of the DW operation became drum hardware manufacturer. Their first big product was the DW 5000 series nylon strap bass drum pedal. This equipment quickly followed by the other variants such as double-bass pedal, the rotating base and cable remote hi-hat stands.
When they moved to Oxnard, California, the production facilities grew bigger and they formed a new company, Pacific Drums and Percussion. The new company produces lower-priced drumsets and hardware.
In 2015, DW Inc. acquired and licensed some American music instrument brands already famous in the market : Gretsch Drums, Ovation Guitars, Latin Percussion, Toca Percussion, Gibraltar Hardware and KAT Technologies.
Later, Slingerland Drum Company was acquired in November 2019 from Gibson Guitar and they introduced Slingerland-branded, vintage style drums to the market in 2020.
The DW Collector’s Series and Performance Series both use the North American Maple, made and assembled in the same factory.
Many great drummers endorse the DW drumkit including Neil Peart (Rush), Terry Bozzio (Frank Zappa, UK), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), Chester Thompson (Genesis), Don Henley (Eagles) and many others.
Besides making drums, DW also makes drum hardware. Most of the hardware feature the patented “Tech Lock” on the cymbal stands. It works by using a drum key to lock the cymbal tilters in place. Also there are numerous hardware for percussion instruments and a rack system.
The company also manufacture some special instruments that different from standard drums for creating specific and distinctive sounds for special needs. Such as the Cocktail Kit, Piccolo Toms, Rata Toms, Gong Drum and Woofer for boosting low-end bass drum sound.
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