Want to know more about the enigmatic and industrious Schinbein Drum Company? Our values? Our owner? Read on! Or don't, that's cool, it's too hot down here in Australia to be that particular....
We dance precariously all over the fine line between perfectionism and pedantic. This usually annoys our friends, but applied to our builds and repairs, this attention to detail is what makes us great. Even if you don't notice half the things we do, taken as a whole all these "little things" amount to one incredible piece of equipment.
We stubbornly stick by our quotes, because we hate it when extra expenses pop up (looking at you, plumbers). And when we're charging hourly for drum repairs, restorations, or modifications, if we go five minutes over an hour we don't round up to the next hour in an attempt to pad our bottom line.
As much as we love being in the shop, from time to time we have to get out there and make some noise ourselves. Lots of noise. And when we're out on tour, we can properly road-test our wacky prototypes and see what does and does not work. Just because it sounds good on paper doesn't mean it sounds good! (Thanks Blake Lewis from www.nerd-fury.com for the pic!)
Meet Phil SchinbeinIt’s the summer of 1998. I’m 18, working at a sea cadet camp in the music department. A large part of my job is maintaining and repairing all of the marching percussion instruments...
Fast forward ten years: I’m working in a drum shop in Nanaimo, British Columbia (that’s Canada, eh). I do all sorts of drum-related things in-house, from head replacement to tech callouts at the local schools and university.
Now I really get into the nuts and bolts of percussion equipment (PUN!).
I spend almost all of my down-time looking at what we call “Drum Porn” – high-end drums from people like Ray Ayotte and Ronn Dunnett, as well as other companies that were stretching out and doing some interesting things.
February, 2010: I move to Melbourne’s eastern suburb of Elsternwick to be with a loverly young lady I meet playing the drums on a cruise ship.
I want to start playing immediately, but I sold my drum set while on the ships. I pick up a cheap little knock-off kit that – for some reason – comes with TWO 12” toms. The extra tom sits in my garage for quite a while…
One day I decide to turn the extra tom into a snare drum – and this turns out to be a big moment. I still have it, and play it regularly – but on top of that, I realize that I have an aptitude for this kind of work.
The word spreads.
I have since built more drums, and orders are steadily coming in. A company – Schinbein Drum Company – emerges.
Let's Be Friends!
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