By Nathan Peck | MiBiz
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ZEELAND — There’s marching to the beat of a different drummer, and then there’s making your own drums.

Eric Sooy, president of Black Swamp Percussion, produces concert percussion instruments for professional musicians. PHOTO: NATHAN PECK

Despite being relatively unknown in its own backyard, Black Swamp Percussion Inc. of Zeeland makes drums and tambourines that musicians from around the world seek out, particularly because they’re domestically made.

For Eric Sooy, the company’s president, the lack of local name recognition is fine by him. More important, he said, is keeping his company’s instruments at the top of mind of concert musicians around the world. Sooy, a professional percussionist with the Grand Rapids Symphony, brings a musician’s ear and an artisan’s passion to the manufacture of percussion instruments.

The company has built a solid reputation for quality and customer service, but with sales of over $1 million, Sooy knows he faces competition from companies that dwarf Black Swamp Percussion.

Still, he is anticipating 5-10 percent sales growth in 2012, despite “getting socked in the chin” like many other industries.

Sooy’s business began as a hobby in his garage in the mid-1990s when he was making timpani mallets (drumsticks with felt heads for use on the large kettledrums). Slowly, Sooy started adding more products to his lineup.

When he and his wife relocated to Zeeland in 1997, Black Swamp Percussion took form as a more formal business when Sooy took a part-time position with the Grand Rapids Symphony.

“Finding a job as a full-time player is hard to do. But I really like doing this, too. It wasn’t like this was a second choice. I can play and go there when I need to,” Sooy said.

The son of an autoworker who restored and repaired antique clocks on the side, Sooy said the DIY mentality is somewhat in his blood.

“I’ve always made stuff since I was a kid,” Sooy said. “My dad had a very well-equipped shop. He did artisan work — that is where a lot of that influence came from.”

Concert musicians are a fairly conservative bunch and seek out instruments that yield a particular sound, whether it is a snare drum or tambourine. That isn’t to say that Black Swamp is stuck in the past — exotic materials such as titanium and carbon fiber make their way into the drum shells of snare drums and are attractive for their distinctive sound.

For traditionalists, Sooy contracts with California-based Craviotto Drum Company for solid wood drum shells. Inlaid with fine wood details, the shells are attractive to professional percussionists around the world.

Still, the market for professional instruments made in the United States is much like that of other industries. Sooy faces stiff competition from companies who manufacture instruments in China and elsewhere in Asia.

But among musicians, there is a certain cachet for Black Swamp instruments because they’re made domestically. Black Swamp knows it cannot play in the commodity side of the market, so instead, Sooy has focused on niche products.

“My goal is to make the best quality product possible,” he said. “There is no sense in us going after commodity markets, (so) you have to hammer down on the niche products. All of our competitors in concert drums are made overseas now. New companies have debuted. They’re run stateside, but production is done in China.

“We had to ask ourselves, ‘Does made in U.S.A. matter?’ To some, it does,” Sooy said. “How do you compete with an entire drum set coming from China that cost a fraction of just one of our snares? Making a good product is the way to get the foot in the door. Making a good product is the easy part now. (The difficult part) is selling it. (That) is what we spend most of our resources on.”

Sooy markets primarily through word of mouth with fellow professional musicians and students.

“We are limited in a lot of ways. We will never sell numbers-wise (as much as the larger companies), but I’m happy as long as we’re in the conversation,” Sooy said. “All our products are pretty well-placed in major middle and minor orchestras. We are focused on keeping ourselves relevant. You have to have good service or the Internet will murder you with unhappy customers.”