Paiste: The World's Third Largest Manufacturer of Cymbals, Gongs, and Metal Percussion

Paiste, (pronounced Pie-Stee) a Swiss manufacturer and designer, is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. Paiste is an Estonian/Finnish word which means "shine". Their eponymous sunrise can be seen in the logos for their 2002 line and their Twenty line.

The first Paiste cymbals were produced in 1906 by Estonian musician Toomas Paiste in his instrument repair shop in Saint Petersburg, Russia, 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, first to Tallinn in Estonia in 1917, where Toomas' son Mihkel 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 Mihkel's sons Robert and Toomas, with both the Swiss and German operations as the main manufacturing centres.

Paiste has made several innovations to cymbal design and manufacture such as The Flat Ride (a ride cymbal without a cup or bell), The Sound Edge Hi-Hat (prevent airlock the bottom cymbal of the hi-hat pair has ripples along the edge), The use of B8 bronze as a cymbal alloy, 'Flat' bells (a flattened bell design), Unlathed cymbals (Made from the B8 alloy unlathed cymbals were marketed towards louder music styles as punk and heavy metal), Inverted bell on China cymbal (Makes it easier to play ride and crash on a China cymbal), Colored cymbals, Proprietary Signature Bronze (first bronze alloy specifically developed for cymbals), and Sonic Texture Formula (a patented lathing technique to get a more complex sounding cymbal).

There are many great drum musicians has been a Paiste's influential or long time endorser including Eric Carr of Kiss, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Phil Rudd of AC/DC, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Stewart Copeland of The Police, Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden, Larry Mullen Jr. of U2, Ian Paice of Deep Purple, Scott Travis of Judas Priest, Alex Van Halen of Van Halen, Tico Torres of Bon Jovi, David Silveria of KoЯn, Joey Jordison of Slipknot, John Dolmayan of System of a Down, and many others. [source : Paiste Cymbals]