Vater History

In the 1940's, Alan and Ron Vater's grandfather, Jack Adams, opened Jack's Drum Shop in Boston. In 1956 Alan and Ron's Godfather, Fred Maichele, began hand-turning drumsticks at the rate of six pairs a day for Jack's Drum Shop. The reputation of these hand crafted drumsticks spread among the area's top drummers, and soon famous drummers like Philly Joe Jones and Buddy Rich were seeking out these special sticks.

In the 1970's Clarry Vater, Jack's son-in-law and Vater Percussion's founder, took over the family tradition. With the help of his two young sons, Alan and Ron, Clarry began producing drumsticks in the basement of his own music store in Norwood, MA. His goal was to perfect the art of stick making with modern machinery and maintain the high quality that made Jack's sticks famous.

In the 1980's, due to their sticks' popularity increasing, Vater moved operations to a larger facility in Holbrook, MA. Vater's private label customer base then expanded from local drum shops to major companies such as Vic Firth and Zildjian. During this intense growth, Vater perfected the design of their equipment and developed a unique formula for finishing their sticks, while keeping strict quality control their number one priority.

In 1990 Vater launched its own line of "Vater Brand" products, began marketing and gained major distribution. Immediately, drummers who tried Vater were hooked. As word spread about Vater's unmatched quality, the world's largest names in drumming began making Vater their stick of choice by endorsing the product. From that time to the present, Vater continues to improve their manufacturing equipment, computer analyzed pitch & weight pairing systems, and is always increasing production.

Now 50 years later, the Vater Family expands on the family tradition by offering the finest drumsticks, timpani, marimba and vibe mallets, brushes, specialty sticks and accessories in the world.