Paiste

History

The first Paiste cymbals were produced in 1906 by Estonian musician Toomas Paiste in his instrument repair shop in St Petersburg, to customer orders. Toomas had served in the Czarist Guard, and retired in 1901 to open a music publishing business and music shop.

The cymbal making aspect of the business expanded with the passing years, despite the disruption of several moves necessitated by war, firstly to Tallinn in Estonia in 1917, where Toomas' son Michael Paiste decided to concentrate on cymbal production and export. In 1940 the family and the cymbal making operation moved to Poland, where they continued under extremely difficult conditions, and in 1945 to Germany, and then in 1957 a new headquarters and production facility was established in Switzerland. The business was continued by Michael's sons Robert and Toomas, with both the Swiss and German operations as the main manufacturing centres.

Cymbal Lines

Current series

Paiste make a wide variety of cymbals in several alloys. These include:

• 101, brass student cymbals which may replace the 302 line.
• 102, a bronze version of the 102 which may replace the 502 line.
• 302 plus, brass, generally regarded as student cymbals, but also a choice for those who want this warm sound.
• 402 plus, nickel silver, also generally seen as student cymbals but their bright dry sound is sought by some.
• 502 plus, the cheapest of Paiste's 2002 Bronze cymbals, aimed at beginning students.
• 802 plus and Alpha series, semi-professional cymbals of 2002 Bronze.
• 2002 Classic, a reissue of the famous 2002 series, which gave the 2002 Bronze alloy of 8% tin and 92% copper its name.
• Innovations, Dimensions, and Rude series, professional cymbals of 2002 Bronze.
• Traditionals, a professional range concentrating on classical sounds, made of Paiste's patented Signature Bronze.
• Signature, the line that gives Signature Bronze its name.
• Exotic Percussion, various special sounds in various alloys including Signature Bronze, nickel-silver and brass.
  

  Historic lines

• 302, 402, 502, predecessors of the current plus lines.
• Giant Beat, the predecessor of the 2002 line.
• 2002 series, the classic cymbal played by Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham (including the Sound Edge hihat, as pictured) and many others of his era. This series used many of the traditional techniques of cymbal production, but with a malleable bronze of 8% tin rather than the traditional 20% tin bell bronze, and is regarded by many as the first fully professional series made from this alloy.
• 602 series, first released in 1959 and still regarded by many as the finest cymbals yet made by a major manufacturer, of bell bronze. Many examples of the 20" medium ride still exist, at the other extreme the paperthin crashes are rare and almost priceless, other models vary between these extremes.
• 2000 and 3000, professional series from the late 1970s.
• 400 series, advanced student cymbals from the 1970s.
• 505 series, student cymbals.
• Sound Formula, a top of the line series and the first to use Paiste's patented Signature Alloy, which was at first known as Sound Alloy or Sound Formula.
• Sound Creation, top of the line professional bell bronze cymbals that replaced the 602 series and preceded the Sound Formula series.
  ...also, 3 older lines, all made of the aforementioned nickel silver (also often called NickelBronze), which was the original alloy Paiste used in their earlier cymbals:
  
• Stanople, a mid-line series introduced in the 60's, discontinued in the 70's.
• Ludwig Standard, a mid-line series from the 50's-70's produced for distribution by Ludwig Drums.
• Stambul, their old top-of-the-line cymbals, produced from 1932 to 1965.

External links

• Paiste home page
• Paiste timeline, an independent account by a self-confessed cymbalholic