American Drum Manufacturing Company

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The American Drum Manufacturing Company was a family-owned timpani manufacturer based in Denver, Colorado. Former Denver Symphony Orchestra timpanist Walter Light, who built a custom set of drums for himself, founded the company in 1950 when his colleagues began asking him to build timpani for them. The company was voluntarily dissolved in 2016. [1]

The company offered four lines of instruments:

The company also built cases and covers for their drums and reconditioned old timpani.

Since every drum was custom-built, the buyer was able to choose from different bowl shapes with different timbral properties and make any desired modifications to the frames of the drums. For example, European and North American timpanists set their drums up in different orders. The pedals have to be on the opposite sides of the drums in each of the setups.

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References

  1. "Colorado Secretary of State - Summary" . Retrieved July 12, 2022.