When were the German molds sent to China?

[Jules]

Does anyone know which year the German molds began to be used in the KHS factory?

[Frank Godiva]

"The original Force 2000s weren't at the perfect price point," Karl concedes. "When we established that series in the mid-'80s, all of the drums were made in Germany." For a while, the 3000, Custom, and Maple Custom lines kept it alive. But manufacturing costs in Germany continued to rise, and we took Force off the market because it was too expensive."

That experience taught Sorter that the only way to level the playing field within this market segment was to venture beyond their home turf. At the end of 1997, they formed a partnership with JMT Musical Instrument Company, a manufacturer of many brands of musical instruments and accessories sold worldwide. Then they moved all the Force molds and tooling to China. Going offshore allowed them to resume manufacturing the series the following year-but at a much lower cost.
Karl sees Sonor's arrangement with JM (as he and the other Germans abbreviate the company's name) sign of modern economic realities. "If you look around to other industries-cars, financing, banks, pharmaceuticals—they're all merging to become bigger and more powerful worldwide," he observes. "That's what we have done. JM is part of the KHS Group, a big company — a strong company - with facilities around the world. We are prepared for the future now."

"Prepared" may be an understatement. Sonor's market share has already grown, and they exude a confidence the industry hasn't seen from them in years. "We budgeted for producing a very large number of drumsets in 2000-and we will reach it," Karl asserts. "We're optimistic about growth because this is the first time Sonor is really working to establish itself in the competitive price range. But budgeting for strong sales isn't based upon my enthusiasm. We have distribution partners all over the world. Each of them gives us a budget for the year, based upon their estimates of sales. For the 2001 and 3001 series, their budgets jumped up like crazy.

If Sonor's immediate prospects seem bright, the horizon could be positively blinding. Karl reminds me of China's billion-plus population. "Sooner or later the Chinese market will be open," he says. "When that happens, Sonor will already be here. We chose JM based upon the quality of the company not the country they are in. But fortunately for us, they are in China."

Sonor produced about six thousand drumsets in Tianjin during their first year. But after they had made another six thousand, management had to make a decision about the hardware molds, which degrade after time and use. Recognizing that they had to build new molds for the series anyway, they decided to redesign the line.
Along with many minor upgrades, the second generation of Force drums included smaller lugs, ball & socket tom holders, and prism clamps on tom brackets and bass drum spurs. Karl explains, "The original tom mount design functioned perfectly, and people really liked it. But these days, drummers prefer low-mass hardware that's easy to use."
Another reason for the Force redesign was Sonor products' identity and brand recognition by the public. "During the last four or five years, Sonor had too many different 'faces'," Karl admits. "We used to have the Force face, the Sonor Class face, the S-Class face, and the Designer face. All of them were completely different, and people got confused. I think it's very important for Sonor to have the same face—or very similar faces on all the lines, from the bottom to the top.
"We may continue to upgrade the hardware," he continues, "but we won't totally change the mechanics. All the current hardware fits together, even with the old Signature and Sonic series. This is a big advantage for the consumer who may be interchanging parts, and for the dealer who is stocking them."

Industry Standard

Sonor's Force 2001 and 3001 drumsets are actually made in two different plants. One handles wood-shell construction, edge cutting, sanding, drilling, finishing, and assembly. JM's metalworks factory is at a separate four-acre site approximately thirty minutes away from the main manufacturing complex. (For environmental reasons, the government restricts electroplating operations to certain districts.) The processes performed there include die-casting, processing (drilling, threading, etc.), preparation (buffing, vibration polishing), and plating.
Both facilities are clean, efficient, and completely modern. Karl tells me that the state-of-the-art shell presses in Tianjin form the shells more efficiently than the ones in Germany. And most of the diecasting is done on new vacuum die-casting machinery, the industry's technical standard. Muse explains that vacuum eliminates air pockets in the molds as the metal is injected, ensuring stronger, higher-quality parts. It also reduces the burrs and other distortions common to less advanced types of casting.

Many of the smaller metal parts are polished in high-tech vibration polishing machines, where water and thousands of different-sized ceramic "cones" find their way into the parts' holes and crevices.

Then JMT's electrolytic plating machines, also state-of-the-art, apply copper, nickel, and finally chrome plating to much of the Force series' hardware.

"Most of the manufacturing equipment is brand-new," says Karl. "Some of it is made right here at JM. Some of it comes from other countries. There are even some American-made computer-controlled machines that cost millions of dollars." Even for their lower-cost products, Sonor clearly spared no expense on manufacturing equipment.

This article is from the July-August 2000 Issue of Drum Business, a publication for the drum industry.

[Jules]

Hmm... I am not sure if that is the answer I am looking for. This made reference to the FORCE molds. But, I "THINK" the normal production molds from Germany were replaced with new ones and the original ones were sent to China, much more recently than that.

I CAN tell you that I have a Mikki Dee signature snare drum that certainly does not have OSM, so that wouldn't have been made on the former German molds.

[Jules]

I may be mistaken, mind you.

[James Fullier III]

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There are no KHS drums that are undersized .. Where ?? And Force Molds ??

[James Fullier III]

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By the way.. The only KHS drums that were ever built like the German Sonor shells with 2 plies running vertical and one horizontal and repeat were the Force 2001/2003 and 3001/3003 except no undersizing.

This model here :

[Jules]

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There are no KHS drums that are undersized .. Where ?? And Force Molds ??

I need to do some deeper research. I may have misunderstood something I read.

[James Fullier III]

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There are no KHS drums that are undersized .. Where ?? And Force Molds ??

I need to do some deeper research. I may have misunderstood something I read.

Yes there has never been a KHS drum that was undersized like the German shells afaik. ... If there was then that is big news IMO.

[DaveInNZ]

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There are no KHS drums that are undersized .. Where ?? And Force Molds ??

I need to do some deeper research. I may have misunderstood something I read.

Yes there has never been a KHS drum that was undersized like the German shells afaik. ... If there was then that is big news IMO.

The Kompressor metal drums are undersized and made by KHS no? I realise the beech ones are German shells, so are we referring here to just the wooden shell moulds and tooling?

[Jules]

Kompressors ARE undersized.