About Cooperman Company
The Mill and Workshop
The earliest Cooperman workshop (in the 1950’s) was the Mount Vernon NY basement of founder Patrick H. Cooperman, a snare drummer with VFW Post 596 Field Music Colonial Greens, and later with Glovers Fife & Drum Corps. Drum sticks and fifes were the basis of part-time production by a workforce of 3 men. By 1975 the operation had expanded to include a full line of rope tension drums, and a full-time staff of instrument makers was employed at a new workshop in Centerbrook CT. For more than 30 years Centerbrook was the home base for the growing line of Cooperman instruments and products. In 1987, The Cooperman Company purchased and began revitalizing the old sawmill and wood bending operation of the Maplecraft Manufacturing Company of Bellows Falls VT, where Cooperman craftspeople learned the skills of selecting trees in the local forests for their unique tone qualities and bending characteristics, as well as the craft of sawing the logs and steam-bending the lumber. In 2006 all Cooperman operations were consolidated here at our Vermont mill. With the addition of the drum stick turners, drumwrights, and expert fife makers who had honed their skills in the lower Connecticut River Valley, the Vermont mill is now the center of Cooperman’s proud heritage trades.
The Cooperman Company and Loyal Drums
In 2018, Loyal Drums of Fredericksburg, Virginia took over the making of Cooperman Model rope tension drums, while Cooperman continues to make parts and provide repair and restoration services. Details are here, and at Loyal Drums website.
The Cooperman Company Businesses
There is a long tradition in the United States of musical instruments companies being involved in other trades that utilize similar machinery in order to justify the expense of sophisticated equipment, and Cooperman is no exception. In addition to the musical instruments we make directly for bands and musicians worldwide, we manufacture a line of traditional toys, games, and inexpensive musical instruments for the museum gift shop trade; we supply other manufacturers in the music trade with parts for their own brand instruments; and we make a custom line of wooden boxes for the gourmet food industry. Links to the various web stores and sites that reflect these product lines are included on this site - contact us for more information.
Cooperman Company
1007 Route 121
Bellows Falls VT 05101 USA
coopermanvt@gmail.com
802-463-9750
Office hours: 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Visitors by appointment only
Cooperman for Museum Stores and Educators
