Paiste Brass-Tones 18" Ride

Ludwig & Paiste: A marriage made in heaven (until it wasn't!)

Introduction:
Ludwig officially listed Paiste cymbals under the Ludwig name in their catalogs starting in 1957 (Previously, Ludwig began importing Paiste Gongs to the U.S. around 1953).
However, there are several accounts that the relationship started much earlier than that: there is proof that William Ludwig Sr. had a relationship with Michail Paiste before WWII. Robert Paiste recalls in an interview that his father already had business contacts with Ludwig Sr. while we were in Estonia (1930’s). Also, In the early post-war period (1945/46?) Robert also states: “the Ludwig family sent care packages which at that time could not be paid for with money”.

The beginning (the Ludwig “3-star”):
In or around 1956, Bill Ludwig Sr. was visiting his childhood home in Nenderoth Germany, afterward he attended the Frankfurt music fair where met Michail Paiste, he purchased some samples (ND12 Stambuls) from Michail Paiste and brought them back to the U.S, Bill Ludwig Jr. found them too thick for the US market, but the price was extremely attractive so he ordered more of them.
These cymbals were stamped with the Ludwig name (the Ludwig “3-star”) creating exclusivity among American drum companies, they planned to sell them with their drum outfits. Ludwig ordered 20,000 cymbals per year for several years ('57 to '64) and received nothing but a good comments about them.

It cannot be emphasized enough the importance of this business relationship; Europe was still recovering from WWII, many countries were still under rationing laws for many materials including gas and food. Paiste was able to grow exponentially with the huge increase in production volume and sales. It is speculated that this increase in revenue allowed the Swiss factory to ramp up production very quickly. It is known that Robert moved there in 1956 to setup his own factory, we think he was able to hire new employees and buy the required machines to mass produce the Ludwig “3-star”, at the same time he was searching for a source of B20 and experimenting with/developing the rolling process so he could make world class B20 cymbals. We don’t think would’ve happened so quickly without Ludwig's business!

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1964, Ludwig and the Formula 602:
Around 1963 to early ‘64, during one of Bill Ludwig Jr’s visits to London, Ivor Arbiter (English distributor for Paiste) suggested he try the “first line” Paiste cymbals; the formula 602, Bill did and felt that they were too heavy like the 3-star’s were. Bill Jr. ordered seventy five 602’s mostly to show at the 1964 Chicago Convention that summer, when Avedis Zildjian saw the display, he immediately cut off Ludwig from distributing his cymbals (Ludwig had sold mainly Zildjian cymbals starting from their first catalog in 1912!). The Paiste brothers were at the music convention and assured Bill Jr. that they would stand by him. They worked out a contract, giving Ludwig exclusive distribution for all of North America and Mexico and in return Ludwig ordered 2,000 Formula 602 cymbals per month (24,000 per year!). When the brothers received the initial order, they brought it to their bank in Switzerland and secured a credit line to finance a larger expansion of the factory and modernize a lot of their equipment.

Key in getting the partnership off the ground was Robert Yeager, owner of the pro drum shop in Hollywood California. The Professional Drum Shop was founded in 1959 by Bob, he was Ludwig's largest retailer, he also acted as technical adviser or “cymbal expert” to Ludwig while working with Paiste. Both Bob Yeager and Bill Ludwig felt the Paiste cymbals were too heavy, Bob and Bill Jr. took a trip to Paiste to "reset the standards of thickness" throughout the 602 line. Bob alsos worked with Pierre Favré and hand picked 602's for Ludwig and his own shop.
It is understood that when Ludwig was selling the 602s, they started to receive returns of many broken symbols. Ludwig informed Paiste of the issue and after inspection they stated that the drummers were hitting the cymbals too hard. Ludwig states that they had compiled a total of about 4,000, broken cymbals and Paiste refused to replace these. According to Ludwig, Paiste offered at 10% discount on all future purchases, right after the this deal Ludwig says Paiste raised thier prices 10%, They stop placing orders with Paiste and they basically gave away the rest of the symbol stock they had with the drums.
This would come back to bite them in the worst way: Ludwig lost about a million dollars replacing cracked 602's, thier customers were all hard hitting fledgling rock drummers, Ludwig had specified too thin of a cymbal to cope with the abuse from these young drummers!

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1965 Ludwig visits Paiste: Visit to the factory was in very late Feb. or early March 1965 if you notice early in the story it references the Frankfurt Music Fair which took place at the end of Feb.

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Ludwig Standard 1965:
Around 1965, the Ludwig STANDARD series were added to the Ludwig catalog, these can be classified as an upscale entry-level line (again, they were rebranded Stambuls). They were basically the original "3-star" cymbal with the mid 60's updates that were done to the Stambuls were also applied to this cymbal as well. Very late in their production run the Standards were switched to B8, probably in '71 judging from the lack of serial numbered examples. We believe that Paiste stopped making cymbals for Ludwig in the early 70's ('71 or '72) after Ludwig cancelled thier contract without notice, the Ludwig Standards last appearance comes in the 1975 Ludwig catalog in limited size options as these cymbals are most assuredly leftover stock. We have examples of no serial # NS12 Ludwig Standards that were restamped with post '71 ink stamping as Stambuls and sold off after the deal with Ludwig collapsed!

1967 Ludwig visits Paiste:

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Ludwig Stanople 1967:

602 concert cymbals 1967:

Paiste tour of the U.S. 1968:
In an effort to learn first-hand the needs and demands of today's American drummers at percussionists, Robert and Thomas Paiste along with their cymbal expert, Pierre Favré, completed a coast to coast tour of ten Major US cities. The tour started in Chicago at the NAMM trade show, where leading dealers from the US and Canada met for five days.

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Paiste day at pro drum 1968:
Bob Yeager and Chuck Molinari of the pro drum shop in Hollywood held a European style drummers meeting and the red velvet club. The meeting was attended by several hundred including some of the west coast greats of the percussion world. Robert, Thomas and Pierre discussed symbols in detail and exchanged many ideas with the drummers of the jazz, rock, recording and TV/motion picture industry.
In each city visited, the Paiste group spent every evening with drummers in theaters and clubs where they work. Pierre Favré, who was one of Europe's finest. Jazz drummers was a big hit with his many new American drummer friends. The tour proved to be very worthwhile for everyone concerned. Robert and Toomas along with Pierre left the states with a renewed insight into the specific cymball needs of American drummers and percussionists.

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Giant beat, Seven sound set 1969:

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Sources: Robert Paiste 2006 interview, Bill Ludwig's book; "the making of a drum company", pictures courtesy of the Pro Drum shop in Hollywood, CA.
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