6 ms·

A family dispute led to the founding of Sabian Cymbals in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1981. The products of both companies are considered amongst the best by perc

A family dispute led to the founding of Sabian Cymbals in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1981. The products of both companies are considered amongst the best by percussionists.

EvanAnderson 2y ago
Came here to say this. The origin of Sabian is a neat story. It also makes me thing of the Dassler brothers and Adidas / Puma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassler_brothers_feud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassler_brothers_feud
- twalla 2y ago
  I was about to comment this so instead I'll comment that Aldi (Trader Joes) and Lidl also arose out of a familial dispute over whether or not to sell alcohol.
  - jeroen 2y ago
    I think you mean Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud, _reportedly_ split over a dispute about selling cigarettes. Lidl is not related.
  - szvsw 2y ago
    Don’t forget the Russian and Turkish Baths in the east village (NYC) - my favorite instance of a familial dispute resulting in a business splitting. Now it is two businesses occupying the same physical location, but different temporal locations: when you get a pass it’s only valid for certain days of the week depending on which brother’s business you purchased it for.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
throw0101c 2y ago
> Sabian is a Canadian cymbal manufacturing company based in New Brunswick. It was established in 1981 in the village of Meductic, which is now part of Lakeland Ridges, where the company is still headquartered. Sabian is considered one of the big four manufacturers of cymbals, along with Zildjian, Meinl and Paiste.[2] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabian_Cymbals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabian_Cymbals
lanstein 2y ago
Yup - short for SAlly BIlly ANdy Zildjian
jasode 2y ago
>Sabian Cymbals in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1981. Based on various interviews about the history of Zildjian & Sabian brothers splitting up, the Sabian Canada factory was originally a Zildjian 2nd site purposely placed outside of the USA. The brothers felt the Zildjian Canada factory solved 2 problems: 1) contingency factory that wasn't affected by unionizing labor in Boston MA. 2) easier (cheaper?) export logistics to Europe market from Canada. Don't remember the exact details. Deep link to Robert Zildjian interview talking in "polite language" about the union labor unrest as one motivation for creating the Canada factory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv30TRytOk4&t=13m28s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv30TRytOk4&t=13m28s Another interview talked about the Europe market but I can't find that video. That Sabian interview always stuck with me because it isn't just the big companies like Amazon, Tesla, Starbucks, etc avoiding unionization. It's also the small family companies like Zildjian that worked around unions. Another video somewhere had the other Zildjian brother (Armand) talk about the unions but he wasn't as polite. EDIT to add another interview from Paul Francis (podcast mp3) about Zildjian opening the Canada factory in 1968 in response to the Teamsters unionization efforts in the USA. Relevant section starts at 45m20s : https://www.discussionsinpercussion.com/home/2020/2/5/162-paul-francis-director-of-cymbal-innovation-for-zildjian-cymbals https://www.discussionsinpercussion.com/home/2020/2/5/162-pa...
- Cumpiler69 2y ago
  >It's also the small family companies like Zildjian that worked around unions. It's surprising to you that no businesses of any size like unions? It's like finding out mice don't like cats regardless of size.
  - mydriasis 2y ago
    Is the implication that the employees of the company are the cats and not the mice?
    - AnimalMuppet 2y ago
      Well, the unions are the cats. The individual employees... not so much.
davexunit 2y ago
I'm a long time fan of Sabian cymbals but good lord their new logo is so awful. The old one was way better and it's especially bad when compared to Zildjian's iconic logo.
- senorrib 2y ago
  Yeah. I have no idea what they had in mind when they pulled off this logo that looks like was designed in wordart in the 90s.
the_mitsuhiko 2y ago
Fun fact: Sabian avoids the use of the name "Zildjian", even to refer to family members. They usually only write "Z". Robert Zildjian was routinely referred to as "RZ" and his son Andy as AZ.
- leoc 2y ago
  IIRC the terms of the argeement under which the intra-family dispute was settled required Sabian to avoid advertising the Zildjian connection, so I assume they're being careful about that.
zild3d 2y ago
There's 4 brands that essentially dominate the market Zildjian Sabian (started by Robert Zildjian) Meinl (German) Paiste (Swiss)
CPLX 2y ago
As a long time drummer and studio engineer and so on I'd say that there's definitely a hierarchy, where Zildjian and Meinl are considered the best, and Sabian and Paiste are a step down. But like all matters of taste that's arguable, and someone will probably come along and argue it. That's my impression of how drummers view the brands though.

A family dispute led to the founding of Sabian Cymbals in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1981. The products of both companies are considered amongst the best by percussionists.

EvanAnderson 2y ago

Came here to say this. The origin of Sabian is a neat story. It also makes me thing of the Dassler brothers and Adidas / Puma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassler_brothers_feud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassler_brothers_feud

twalla 2y ago
I was about to comment this so instead I'll comment that Aldi (Trader Joes) and Lidl also arose out of a familial dispute over whether or not to sell alcohol.
- jeroen 2y ago
  I think you mean Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud, _reportedly_ split over a dispute about selling cigarettes. Lidl is not related.
- szvsw 2y ago
  Don’t forget the Russian and Turkish Baths in the east village (NYC) - my favorite instance of a familial dispute resulting in a business splitting. Now it is two businesses occupying the same physical location, but different temporal locations: when you get a pass it’s only valid for certain days of the week depending on which brother’s business you purchased it for.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

throw0101c 2y ago

> Sabian is a Canadian cymbal manufacturing company based in New Brunswick. It was established in 1981 in the village of Meductic, which is now part of Lakeland Ridges, where the company is still headquartered. Sabian is considered one of the big four manufacturers of cymbals, along with Zildjian, Meinl and Paiste.[2] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabian_Cymbals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabian_Cymbals

lanstein 2y ago

Yup - short for SAlly BIlly ANdy Zildjian

jasode 2y ago

>Sabian Cymbals in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1981. Based on various interviews about the history of Zildjian & Sabian brothers splitting up, the Sabian Canada factory was originally a Zildjian 2nd site purposely placed outside of the USA. The brothers felt the Zildjian Canada factory solved 2 problems: 1) contingency factory that wasn't affected by unionizing labor in Boston MA. 2) easier (cheaper?) export logistics to Europe market from Canada. Don't remember the exact details. Deep link to Robert Zildjian interview talking in "polite language" about the union labor unrest as one motivation for creating the Canada factory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv30TRytOk4&t=13m28s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv30TRytOk4&t=13m28s Another interview talked about the Europe market but I can't find that video. That Sabian interview always stuck with me because it isn't just the big companies like Amazon, Tesla, Starbucks, etc avoiding unionization. It's also the small family companies like Zildjian that worked around unions. Another video somewhere had the other Zildjian brother (Armand) talk about the unions but he wasn't as polite. EDIT to add another interview from Paul Francis (podcast mp3) about Zildjian opening the Canada factory in 1968 in response to the Teamsters unionization efforts in the USA. Relevant section starts at 45m20s : https://www.discussionsinpercussion.com/home/2020/2/5/162-paul-francis-director-of-cymbal-innovation-for-zildjian-cymbals https://www.discussionsinpercussion.com/home/2020/2/5/162-pa...

Cumpiler69 2y ago
>It's also the small family companies like Zildjian that worked around unions. It's surprising to you that no businesses of any size like unions? It's like finding out mice don't like cats regardless of size.
- mydriasis 2y ago
  Is the implication that the employees of the company are the cats and not the mice?
  - AnimalMuppet 2y ago
    Well, the unions are the cats. The individual employees... not so much.

davexunit 2y ago

I'm a long time fan of Sabian cymbals but good lord their new logo is so awful. The old one was way better and it's especially bad when compared to Zildjian's iconic logo.

senorrib 2y ago
Yeah. I have no idea what they had in mind when they pulled off this logo that looks like was designed in wordart in the 90s.

the_mitsuhiko 2y ago

Fun fact: Sabian avoids the use of the name "Zildjian", even to refer to family members. They usually only write "Z". Robert Zildjian was routinely referred to as "RZ" and his son Andy as AZ.

leoc 2y ago
IIRC the terms of the argeement under which the intra-family dispute was settled required Sabian to avoid advertising the Zildjian connection, so I assume they're being careful about that.

zild3d 2y ago

There's 4 brands that essentially dominate the market Zildjian Sabian (started by Robert Zildjian) Meinl (German) Paiste (Swiss)

CPLX 2y ago

As a long time drummer and studio engineer and so on I'd say that there's definitely a hierarchy, where Zildjian and Meinl are considered the best, and Sabian and Paiste are a step down. But like all matters of taste that's arguable, and someone will probably come along and argue it. That's my impression of how drummers view the brands though.