Brand

Used Sonor drums

Sonor started in 1875, when the wood turner Johannes Link began making military drums and drumheads in Weissenfels on the Saale. The trademark was registered in 1907, and by 1925 the firm was one of the largest of its kind. After the war Weissenfels ended up in East Germany, so Horst Link started again in a former army barracks in Aue, Westphalia, and his father Otto escaped west to join him. That's why some early-1960s drums carry a small Made in Western Germany tag, and why so little of the early company history survives. Sonor's 1956 catalog already had a complete range, and Kenny Clarke, Connie Kay and Lionel Hampton played its drums. This site covers three eras of it, the teardrop-lug kits of the 1950s and 1960s, the Phonic line of 1975 with its 9-ply beech shells, and the 1980s Signature Series, which includes the 1987 HLD 590 cast bell bronze snare. Hohner took over in 1991, and later Sonor partnered with KHS and moved budget lines to China, so the made-in line on the badge matters when you shop.

6 drums we cover.