Latest / Family Business Stories with Fexingo: Succession, Legacy, and Multi-Generational Companies / How the Zildjian Family Kept a 400-Year Cymbal Business Alive
Transcript
- Lucas: So Luna, quick question: what's the oldest company in the world that's still run by the same family? Luna: I'd guess something Japanese — a hotel or a temple builder, maybe. Kongō Gumi, the construction firm that's been around since the 6th century? Lucas: Right, that one's technically older, but it's now part of a holding group. The oldest family business that's still independent and family-controlled — and still making the same product it started with — is actually from Turkey. Or originally Constantinople. Luna: You're going to say Zildjian. Lucas: Bingo. Avedis Zildjian. 1623. That's four hundred and three years ago, and the family has been making cymbals in an unbroken line ever since. They're the cymbal brand — if you've ever listened to a rock record, a jazz album, or a marching band, you've heard them. Luna: Zildjian is basically the Coke of cymbals. But what's wild is they kept the formula secret for centuries. It's like the KFC recipe, but with bronze. Lucas: Exactly. The secret is an alloy of copper, tin, and silver — but the exact proportions and the heat treatment are known only to a handful of family members. And here's the thing: they don't patent it. They just don't tell anyone. Luna: If these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, that's the spot. It's what keeps this show ad-free and lets us dig into stories like this one. And nobody's checking your wallet. It's just a simple way to say 'this was useful.' Luna: Alright. So back to Zildjian. How did a cymbal maker survive the fall of an empire? Lucas: By being adaptable. The family is Armenian, and they were living in Constantinople under Ottoman rule. The sultans loved military bands — mehter — which used massive cymbals. So Zildjian had a built-in customer for centuries. Then the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War One. Luna: That's when they moved to the US, right? Lucas: Yes. In 1929, Avedis Zildjian III — the third Avedis — took the family secret to Massachusetts. He started making cymbals for the American drum market. And he landed one of the most famous endorsements in music history: Gene Krupa. Luna: Krupa was the first superstar drummer. He played with Benny Goodman, and he made the drum solo a thing. When he switched to Zildjian, that was the 1930s equivalent of LeBron wearing your sneakers. Lucas: Exactly. And Krupa wasn't just a pitchman — he actually helped them design a new ride cymbal. That relationship turned Zildjian from a niche ethnic instrument maker into the standard for American popular music. Luna: So they made the jump from Ottoman military bands to the Big Band era. That's a pretty good pivot. Lucas: Then rock and roll. By the 1960s, every British invasion band wanted Zildjians. Ringo Starr used them. Keith Moon used them. John Bonham — Led Zeppelin — used a pair of Zildjian hi-hats and a ride cymbal that are basically the most famous cymbals in rock history. Luna: There's a famous story about Bonham's cymbal — he had a twenty-four-inch Zildjian ride that was so heavy it sounded like a gong when you hit it. That became his signature sound. Lucas: Right. And the family managed all of this without ever losing control. They've had succession dramas — what family business hasn't? But they've kept the company private. No shareholders, no quarterly reports. Just cymbals. Luna: The current CEO is Craigie Zildjian, the first woman to run the company. She took over in the late 1990s. And that's interesting because for centuries, the secret was passed only to the eldest son. Lucas: That changed in the 20th century. Craigie's father, Armand, had three daughters. He decided the gender restriction was outdated. So Craigie and her sister Debbie both learned the formula. And now Craigie runs the company. Luna: So what's the secret to staying in business for four centuries? Is it just the alloy? Lucas: Partly. But the bigger factor is that they never diversified. They make cymbals. That's it. While other companies branched into drums, hardware, electronics, Zildjian stayed focused on one product. They got really, really good at it. Luna: That sounds counterintuitive. Most business advice says you need to grow or die. Lucas: It is counterintuitive. But Zildjian's strategy was to own the top end of the market. They're not the cheapest cymbal — they're the most prestigious. A pair of Zildjian hi-hats can run six hundred dollars. A ride cymbal can be four hundred. And drummers happily pay it because they know the quality is consistent. Luna: And that consistency comes from the secret process. They still cast their cymbals in-house, in the same factory in Norwell, Massachusetts. They don't outsource to Asia like some competitors. Lucas: That's a huge part of it. In the 1980s, when cheap cymbals from China started flooding the market, Zildjian didn't lower their prices. They actually doubled down on quality. They introduced a budget line called ZBT, but even that was made in the US. Luna: But they must face pressure from investors. How do they stay private? Lucas: Because the family doesn't need outside capital. Zildjian is profitable. They have no debt. They reinvest profits into R&D and factory upgrades. And because they're private, they can take a long view. They don't have to hit quarterly targets. Luna: That's the luxury of a four-hundred-year-old business. You can think in generations, not quarters. Lucas: Exactly. And they've also been smart about adapting the product to new music styles. In the 1990s, when grunge and alternative rock got loud, Zildjian introduced heavier cymbals that could take a beating. When electronic drums became popular, they created low-volume cymbals for practice. Luna: But they didn't go into electronics themselves. They stayed analog. Lucas: Right. And that's a deliberate choice. The family believes that the acoustic cymbal is a timeless instrument. They're not fighting the digital drum trend — they're coexisting with it. Luna: So what's the biggest threat to Zildjian today? Lucas: Honestly? Talent. Finding people who are willing to learn a centuries-old craft. The factory in Norwell has about two hundred employees, and many of them have been there for decades. The younger generation doesn't always want to work in a foundry. Luna: So they started an apprenticeship program. They recruit from local high schools and technical schools. You don't need a college degree to learn cymbal making at Zildjian. Lucas: That's smart. And it's a way to preserve the secret. If the next master cymbal smith is a kid from Massachusetts who started as an apprentice at eighteen, the formula stays in the family. Not in a blood sense, but in a cultural sense. Luna: Because the real secret isn't just the alloy — it's the skill. The way you hammer the cymbal, the way you lath it, the temperature you quench it at. That's all tacit knowledge. Lucas: Right. You can't learn it from a manual. You have to stand next to a master and watch for years. And the family has been passing that knowledge down since 1623. That's an unbroken chain of human teaching. Luna: It's almost like a martial art. Or a recipe for a sauce that's been in a family for centuries. Lucas: Exactly. And that's why Zildjian is such a rare case. Most family businesses don't survive beyond the third generation. The statistics are brutal — only about twelve percent make it to the third generation. Zildjian is on its fifteenth generation. Luna: Fifteen generations. That's incredible. And they're still making the same product. Lucas: So when you hear a cymbal crash on your favorite recording — whether it's a jazz ride from the 1950s or a rock crash from today — there's a good chance it came from a family that has been perfecting that sound since before Isaac Newton published his laws of motion. Luna: I think that's a perspective shift. Next time I hear a cymbal, I'm going to think about the Ottoman Empire. Lucas: And that's exactly the kind of connection this show is about. A single product, a family's commitment, and four centuries of history — all contained in a piece of bronze you hit with a stick.