Pearl Drums
, simply known as Pearl, is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products, predominantly percussion instruments. 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 factory in Chiba, Japan to produce inexpensive drum kits, also known as "STENCIL KITS" that bore the brand names of more than thirty distributors such as Apollo, Coronet, Maxwin, CB-700, Stewart, Werco, Ideal, Crest, Revelle, Revere, Roxy, Lyra, Majestic, Silvertone, Toreador, WESTBURY and Whitehall. In 1966, Pearl introduced its first professional drum kit, the "President Series". 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 1970s that were made of wood  with a fiber-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 from 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. 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). This creates a drum shell of incredible strength. 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. 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. Endorsements. Many famous drummers play Pearl, such as: Jeff Porcaro, Ian Paice (Deep Purple), Daniel Erlandsson, Dennis Chambers, Tanner Wayne (In Flames), Ray Luzier (Korn), Eric Singer (KISS), Jason Hartless (Ted Nugent), Jon Larsen (Volbeat), Mike Mangini (Dream Theater), Todd Sucherman (Styx), George Kollias (Nile), Brian Frasier-Moore (Justin Timberlake), Omar Hakim, Joey Jordison (Vimic), Casey Cooper, Jason Bowld (Bullet For My Valentine), Ashoor Zafarmoradian(Mayar Fallhi, Haman Band), Gary Husband, Michael "Moose" Thomas and many more.