Katsumi Yanagisawa founded Pearl Drums in 1950. He began manufacturing music stands in 1946, but his focus shifted when he started manufacturing drums, under the name Pearl Industry, Ltd. The company grew rapidly, and three years later had expanded to make drum kits, marching drums, timpani, Latin percussion instruments, cymbals, stands, and accessories.
In 1957, Pearl formed a division to export the drum kits worldwide. Following the popularity of rock n roll music, drum kits were in high demand. In 1961, Pearl built a 15,000 square foot factory in Japan to produce drum kits for over 30 brand names. Today, Pearl’s factory includes five factories whose output supplies almost the entire worldwide market for Pearl products. The original factory now handles to the domestic Japanese market producing drum kits, marching drums, timpani, and symphonic chimes.
Pearl was the first in the industry to produce valiant and creative drum kits. The shells were made of wood fiberglass, which helped create a varied pitch line of tom drums. Pearl has always proved to be on the bleeding edge of technology. Not only were they using wood fiberglass shells, but also the shells were designed to be undersized so the drumhead would extend over the drum.
Pearl has always been known for their shell manufacturing. Today, they use Superior Shell Technology (SST). SST uses hand-selected wood, formed in a perfect cylinder to create optimum sound.
Pearl currently has eight lines. They include: Rhythm Traveler, Target, Forum, Vision, Masters Custom, Masters Premium, Reference, and Masterworks. They also have eight discontinued lines including: Export, Export ECX, Session, Masters, MX, MLW, BLX and World Series. Over the years, Pearl has released a couple limited editions, the Redline and 50th Anniversary.
Drummers have sought out Pearl Drums for years. From Akon to Incubus, drummers are pounding the beat on Pearl Drums.