By David "Chet" Williamson Sneade
Imagine
jazz drumming without the hi-hat. Did you know it was invented in Worcester
The
legend of the hi-hat dates back to the mid-1920s. As Harry Cangany and Rick Van
Horn tell it in their book, The Great
American Drums: And the Companies That Made Them, “Walberg, president of
the company, created the first hi-hat by modifying a low-boy. (A low-boy was a
pedal-operated mechanism that brought two cymbals together. The mechanism sat
low to the ground, hence the name.)
 |
| The low-boy |
“Walberg
fitted a low-boy with a long tube to elevate the cymbals, and the modern hi-hat
was born. Every company bought the Walberg hi-hats – generally in nickel
plating with variations only in the footboard. The typical name for Walberg
products was Perfection, so the Perfection Hi-hat was shown in a number
of catalogs.”
 |
| Downtown Worcester at the turn of the 20th century |
Of
course, every creation is met with others who also claimed to have invented
such an item. Hugo Pinksterboer in The Cymbal Book said, “Things
were looking up when the low-hat, low-sock, or low-boy was introduced. According
to legend, this device was conceived around 1925 by drummer Vic Berton. The
low-sock, as it was produced by the Massachusetts
 |
| Percussionist Vic Berton |
Geoff
Nichols, Miki Slingsby and Tony Iacon in The
Drum Book ask: “Who actually developed the hi-hat? Probably a lot of folks.
Jo Jones, in a Modern Drummer
interview in 1984 said, ‘It was through necessity that I went and got a pipe. I
couldn’t go down there and play the sock cymbal on the floor …. So I had a
great big stand up drum (stand). I had a cymbal holder that I made from a coat
hanger and put that on there. That’s how the sock cymbal came to be.
 |
| Papa Jo Jones |
“Whether
Papa Jo invented the hi-hat is uncertain, but once it reached the manufacturing
stage, the transition from low-boy was rapid. Somewhere in the mid-thirties,
the hi-hat gained favor in the drumming community and the low boy was relegated
to history."
By far the favorite hi-hat stand in this era was thee Walberg &
Auge model #502, also known as the original Krupa model Slingerland Hi-hat. The
#502 remained popular well into the late '50s, when drum manufacturers began
making their own hi-hat stands, pedals and hardware.”
Drum
making in Worcester Elkhart Indiana Conn Taylor
Walberg
was born in Sweden April
19, 1877 .
He is the son of Eric and Augusta (Tengdelius) Walberg. He came to this country
when he was five and was educated in public schools. According to the Telegram, “After only a few years of
schooling he went to work as an apprentice at an organ factory. Impelled by an
early interest in music, he began to spend his spare time studying the
trombone.
“For
years he was a professional musician, playing trombone in orchestras and bands,
among them Worcester Ashbury Park , N.J.
In the book, History of Worcester and its People
by Charles Nutt, he stated that Walberg bought a half interest in the business of
Taylor & Auge, of which A.L. Auge was then sole proprietor, October
1, 1903 . “The
place of business was at the time in the Crompton building, No. 13 Mechanic Street
 |
| The neighborhood where Walberg & Auge was first located |
The
business was later moved to the Bigelow Building 86 Mechanic Street
 |
| W&A worker assembling a bass drum |
Nutt
stated that, “a number of inventions and improvements on drums and appliances for
which letters patent have been granted and instrumental in building up the
business, which is now the largest of its kind in the East.”
 |
| 1920s advertisement |
As
mentioned, Walberg had an inventive streak, which led to the development of
many musical innovations. According to the Telegram,
among them, “were the first carry – all bass drum – large drums which split in
the middle to serve as carrying cases for the smaller drums in the musician’s
drum set. His development of the folding foot pedal for the big bass drum led
to the introduction of the ‘drummer’s throne,’ a high, three-legged seat that
played an important part in bringing drummers up from their comparative
orchestra obscurity and into the limelight in which they have basked in recent
years.
 |
| Early Walberg drum kit |
“During the
era of the silent movies, in which the theater drummer had to make all the
sounds, he worked busily, inventing horns, whistles, and bird and animal
imitations. Pioneering in the field, he made scores of such devices on a
production basis to entertain the nation, inventing sound effects that
simulated everything from the wailing of a baby or the roaring of a lion to the
sibilant thunder of surf pounding on the shore.”
In the
opinion of authors, Harry Cangany and Rick Van Horn, the really important
W&A product was “the shell-mount tom-tom holder that eventually came to be
used by all the companies. Prior to the late 1930s most tom-tom had ‘link’
holders that connected to brass drum hoops, to rails mounted on the shell of
the bass drum, or to the consoles.
“Some
time in the late 1930s a New York Slingerland dealer named Bill Mather designed
a new type of mount, and Walberg built it. At first only Slingerland had the
Mather mount, which they dubbed the Ray McKinley Shell Mount Holder. But
Walberg eventually sold it to all the other companies, who one by one either
copied it or switched to an updated holder. Gretsch was the last company to
stop using the shell-mount system.”
 |
| Ray McKinley |
When
Walberg died on July 21, 1958 , the manufacturer left the firm
to the 35 employees of his company. “The
will, filed
yesterday in the Registry of Probate," stated in the Telegram, "left the business including the real
estate to Clarence Wahlberg, nephew, and Andrew E. Soderberg as trustees under
an agreement of trust dated April 1937. The trust agreement, according to
Atty. Russell W. Anderson, provides that the business is to be turned over to
the employees. It is now being operated temporarily by Worcester County Trust
Co. as executor and trustee of the Walberg estate. The value of the business is
undetermined although Anderson
 |
| Clarence Walberg |
Clarence
Walberg was born in Worcester South High School
Cangany
and Van Horn recall his managerial style: “Ben Strauss of Rogers [drum company]
remembers that Clarence had his office near an elevator. When Ben would call
Clarence to order stands, Clarence would yell down the shaft to his chief
engineer, ‘Ben’s on the phone. How many Buck Rogers stands do we have?’ Because
W&A sold hardware to everyone, it was a constant battle for each company to
get what it needed. Rogers
The
authors also state that, “the catalogs of almost every manufacturer featured
products built by this Worcester Massachusetts
In a
feature titled, City is Center for Drum Making 1960, Worcester Evening Gazette writer Joseph H. Gauthier interviewed Clarence Walberg who was heading to the Music Industry Show in Chicago
“Few
people know that Worcester
Gauthier
reported that by the 1960s, Walberg & Auge was also supplying more schools
with rhythm instruments than any other manufacturer. “In addition to its
national reputation as a maker of drums, the company is also known for its
castanets, tom-toms, cymbals, rhythm sticks, rhythm bells, song bells
name-the-tone bars, and other orchestra and band instruments. Its school
business is also nationwide, mainly through its own mail order department. It
is also a retail store,” he said.
World-renowned
drummer Frank Capp, who has recorded with everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to the
Beach Boys, had a long relationship with the Worcester
“My
uncle, who used to work in Walberg and Auge,” he said. “I actually had two
uncles that worked there, but my uncle George brought home a pair of drumsticks
for me. I was probably five or six.”
The
impact of both parties on the world of jazz cannot be overestimated. Walberg
was no ordinary drum shop and Capp was an extraordinary talent from his first
downbeat.
In a
recent interview with the WPI Jazz Lab, Capp noted that he became good friends with
Charles Walberg. In fact, in the 1970s the two friends traveled cross country
together. See: WPI interview listed in resources below.
 |
| Neighborhood location of W&A before urban renewal |
After
nearly 60 years in its location at 86 Mechanics Street Worcester 86 Mechanics Street
In an
interview with Louis Salome of the Worcester
Evening Gazette, it was reported that, “although the company is being
forced to move because the Worcester Redevelopment Authority is taking the
existing building, the move is expected to benefit the company in many ways.
Clarence
Walberg said the new building will combine all phases of manufacturing,
assembly, storage, and retail operation on one floor. He also said efficiency
should be increased markedly, because more space will be available and each
department will fit better into the over-all picture. Problems such as parking
and loading will be solved.”
 |
| Classic Walberg kit of the period |
Although
the move painted a rosy picture, not all was well with the company. Salome
reported that W&A was also beset by employment problems. “We just can’t get
the help,” Walberg asserted, “because we can’t pay the price workers can get
elsewhere at bigger plants.”
 |
| 1970s Walberg kit |
Clarence
Walberg sold the company to Granger Norwood in 1975 and retired to Ormond Beach , Florida Nov.
14, 1989 .
In 1978, Norwood Worcester 49 Union Street Worcester
At the
time, Norwood
By 1979,
the local company with a national reputation was done. In January 29th
of that year, Frank E. Magiera, in the Telegram
reported that, Walberg & Auge Co., had been taken over by Mechanics Bank as
a result of default according to Marvin S. Silver, the bank’s lawyer.
“The
company,” Magiera stated, “has been closed since Dec. 24 when the bank took
possession. Silver said the bank has seized the company’s inventory, equipment
and machinery. He said the officers and directors of the company had concluded
that the operation was financially unsound.
“Granger
W. Norwood, a principal of Walberg & Auge, said the disposition of the
company is in the process of negotiation. He said the company was considering
several alternatives.”
This is a work in progress. Send comments to: walnutharmonicas@gmail.com.
Thank you.
Resources
Video
Clips
Gene
Krupa (scene opens with Worcester
Millbury
born Nick Fatool
Max Roach
Papa Jo
Jones
Louie
Bellson
Buddy
Rich
Gene
Krupa and Buddy Rich
The Cymbal
Book by Hugo Pinksterboer
History
of Worcester and its People by Charles Nutt
http://books.google.com/books?id=p3VKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA677&dq=drummer+Walberg+%26+Auge&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bZU-Ufq7JbHy0QGm0YDIDQ&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=drummer%20Walberg%20%26%20Auge&f=false
Guide to
Vintage Drums by John Aldridge
The Drum
Book by Geoff Nichols, Miki Slingsby and Tony Iacon
