Majestic is a brand of thoughtfully designed instruments for the professional, the educator, and today’s percussion student utilizing carefully constructed ideas born from both traditional percussion instrument heritage and a culture of innovation.
Majestic traces its beginning to the family firm of van der Glas B.V. founded in 1921 by Willem Klazes van der Glas, the grandfather of the present proprietor Wim van der Glas. The fledgling company began in the old city center of Heerenveen, the Netherlands and sold organs, pianos and wind instruments with the production of percussion instruments following soon thereafter.
In 1960 the 'Majestic' brand name was introduced for these percussion instruments. At that time drum sets were particularly popular, and many rock bands in the Netherlands and other countries used the Majestic drums in popular music.
As time went on, the production of percussion instruments for orchestras and marching bands became the most important part of the company's production and Majestic began to specialize in timpani and marching drum production.
In 2003 Majestic joined the KHS group of musical instrument brands and became an important part of one of the largest musical instrument manufacturers in the world. With the success of this important merger, a full manufacturing capability was in place to produce both a full range of modern marching drums and a full range of orchestral mallet percussion instruments.
A new company was established for the Majestic division called "Majestic Holland b.v." and a large new factory in Nijehaske, near Heerenveen was established for continued select timpani production in keeping with the Dutch rich musical instrument making tradition.
Founder Willem Klazes van der Glas set a standard of excellence in 1921 that remains the governing philosophy for Majestic. Product development, engineering and production are overseen by family members and every model must adhere to stringent standards of craftsmanship and performance.
Innovative instrument designs including the Prophonic series Timpani and Prophonic Series Snare drums are examples of the full realization of thoughtful design elements implemented in to a Majestic instrument with a nod to the rich history of the instruments.
We invite you to explore the entire selection of Majestic percussion instruments and discover for yourself how intelligent designs intersect with percussion instrument tradition. We Invite you to Join the Majestic Percussion Movement as you explore your own music making.