Trixon Drums

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trixon Musical Instruments

Type	Private
Founded	1947
Headquarters	Hamburg, Germany
Key people	Karl-Heinz Weimer, Founder
Industry	Drum manufacturer
Website	[1]

Trixon was a drum and percussion instrument manufacturer, founded in September 18, 1947 by Karl-Heinz Weimer in Hamburg, Germany. Trixon drums are remarkable for their innovations in drum construction, including conical and ellipsoidal shaped shells, and unique designs in mounting hardware. Their product line eventually included vibraphones, xylophones, conga drums and many unique stands and fittings.

1 Early years
2 Later years
- 2.1 Innovations
3 Notable artists who played Trixon Drums
4 References

[edit] Early years

Originally hand built by Weimer in his Hamburg workshop, Trixon drums proved popular enough with jazz drummers in Europe that the company opened a factory in Hamburg/Bramfeld, which produced Trixon drums from 1956 until 1965.

[edit] Later years

Trixon began exporting drums to the United States in 1965, which required a new and larger factory, opened in 1966 in Hamburg/Reinbek. In 1967, Trixon began producing drum sets in collaboration with the Vox Musical Instrument Co. bearing the Vox logo. To meet demand, Trixon opened a new facility in Dublin, Ireland, near Shannon Airport, under the name Trixon, Ltd. in cooperation with the Irish piano company, Rippen Ltd. When Rippen collapsed in the early 70's Trixon was also closed down, due to intense competition from Japanese drum manufacturers.

After the company was dissolved, Karl Weimer continued to provide repair service and spare parts through his music store, Music City in Hamburg, one of the largest dealers of music instruments in Europe. Karl Heinz Weimer died in 1997, after handing over the remaining Trixon business, including the warehouse containing the remainder of unsold stock to a partner, Arthur Oeschger. Oeschger tried to rebuild the Trixon brand and produce custom instruments with the remaining stock, but a fire in 1998 destroyed the entire inventory, ending all production of Trixon instruments. Arthur Oeschger died in 2000.

[edit] Innovations

Gene Krupa with Speedfire kit (from 1956 product brochure)

In the late 1950's Trixon produced its most recognizable product, the ellipsoidal bass drum, dubbed the "Speedfire". Resembling a cylinder flattened on one side into a trapezoidal-like shape , the drum was designed to be fitted with two bass drum pedals side-by-side. The interior of the drum was divided into two sections, and the unique shape of the shell allowed each pedal to produce a different pitch. Another innovation was the conical shaped drums, tapered so one end was narrower than the other.

Trixon also pioneered the development of fiberglass drum shells, introducing the "Jet" series in 1968. These single-headed drums featured an internal parabolic baffle which radiated the sound through concentric openings.

In drum hardware, Trixon developed the "Speedfire Rack", a single bar that straddled the bass drum, and passed through the shells of up to five tom-toms, supporting itself on its own legs independently of the bass drum. This was the forerunner of the modern "drum frames' used by many musicians today. Trixon was the first drum manufacturer to use ball joints to mount drums on the bass drum shell, another innovation copied by other drum makers. Trixon also produced a "double" hi-hat stand, that featured two pairs of hi-hat cymbals mounted on a single shaft and operated by one pedal.