OUR HISTORY

This year, Tycoon celebrates 37 years of manufacturing excellence in the musical instruments industry.  Our company traces its roots back to the spring of 1983, when an avid musician from Hong Kong named Stephen Yu turned his back on a lucrative career in commodities trading to pursue his lifelong dream of establishing his own company to manufacture musical instruments.

Tycoon Music Company was founded later that year in Bangkok, Thailand.  Not long after, Stephen realized that Thailand had a distinct advantage in the manufacturing of hand percussion instruments, which, coupled with the growing worldwide demand for this product, significantly altered the course of the company’s future.

Despite having no brand name or marketing operation at the time, the company’s products quickly gained a reputation for quality and value among its customers. Stephen Yu recognized the product line’s promise straightaway and simultaneously launched the Tycoon Percussion brand. Within the span of a few years, Tycoon-branded instruments had supplanted the company’s OEM business and had established a strong presence in markets throughout Europe, Asia and South America.

Today, Tycoon Percussion is well-established throughout the world as a leading manufacturer of percussion products, and is the only hand percussion company that wholly owns its own manufacturing facility. For Stephen Yu, his journey from OEM supplier to percussion industry “tycoon” serving the world’s largest markets had already seemed swift. Now, with Tycoon Percussion’s presence growing significantly in the U.S. year after year, the pace of progress has only accelerated. “I had a very clear purpose in establishing my own operation in the United States,” he states, “to propel the company to becoming the next elite hand percussion brand – and I believe we are well on our way to achieving that goal.”

OUR TEAM

In any industry and business, a company would be nothing without its people, working tirelessly behind the scenes to deliver an excellent end product.  At Tycoon, we are fortunate to be working with some of the most passionate, talented, and driven individuals who continuously push the envelope and raise our standards as a company.

Stephen Yu

President & Founder

Jiratorn Srareyotin

Managing Director

Quincy Yu

Senior Vice President

Ivy Yu

General Manager

George Balmaseda

Artist Relations Manager

Eric Wiegmann

Asia Artist Relations Manager

Lerryns Hernandez

Social Media Manager

Adam Riviere

US Artist Relations & Consultant

Pranee Jiamton

Exports Coordinator

Thipanet Yangngam

Marketing Coordinator

Somkiat Tanchittiwat

Purchasing Manager

Preecha Khamhomkul

Director of Manufacturing

Suppadate Srisorn

Production Manager

Kasiya Hakandai

Human Resources Manager

Tanushporn Wongyai

Financial Controller

Pawinee Sisomnoi

Accountant

Piyawat Mooltoum

QC Inspection Manager

Manit Promwong

Purchasing Manager

Pat Yodmanee

Business Development Coordinator

OUR DIFFERENCE

Tycoon Percussion is a world-renowned manufacturer of top-quality hand percussion instruments, and is the only hand percussion brand that owns its own factory.  While other companies outsource from third-party manufacturers, our factory is solely dedicated to making our own Tycoon Percussion branded products.  This provides Tycoon with many distinct competitive advantages, including the ability to be quickest to market with new innovative products and designs.

It also allows us to have a laser sharp focus and control over the quality of our instruments but perhaps most important, owning our own factory allows Tycoon to offer superior value throughout the entire supply and distribution channel.  In other words, because Tycoon does not outsource our production to other manufacturers, we are able to forego an entire layer of margins that our competitors cannot.  Therefore, we can offer greater margins to our distribution partners worldwide, who in turn can offer better margins to their dealers, so on and so forth, meaning Tycoon products provide our customers with far greater value than that of any other brand in the hand percussion industry.

Tycoon is also the only major hand percussion company that is solely dedicated to this product category. We are not merely a division of a much larger company, nor do we manufacture and distribute other musical instruments.  Again, this resolute and concentrated attention to hand percussion allows us to focus 100% of our resources on product development, innovation and quality.  Because we are family owned and operated, not only do we take great care with the production of our instruments, we treat every employee and customer like family as well.  Every employee at Tycoon Percussion is accessible, and our customers have the option of writing or speaking to any of us at any time.  One of the most important values held at Tycoon Percussion’s factory is to manufacture our products using the most environmentally responsible methods possible.  We use only certified, renewable, plantation-farmed wood in the production of our instruments and we are committed to social sustainability as well.

Tycoon is dedicated to giving back and devotes a portion of sales to the following charities: The Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights Foundation (CPCR), Gift of Happiness Foundation, Drumstrong, and Children International.  Therefore, our customers can have peace of mind in knowing that when they purchase a Tycoon Percussion instrument, not only are they choosing instruments manufactured to the highest quality and innovative standards in the world, they are also making a responsible choice for the future of our planet and to children in need.

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OUR VISION

It is our objective to provide our customers from all corners of the globe with the very highest quality hand percussion instruments ever created. We are committed to providing a socially and environmentally responsible product line that will continually set the standard for quality, variety and innovation.  Our company is family owned and operated and we pledge to treat every employee, artist, customer or Tycoon fan as an extended part of our family.

We promise to foster and maintain an atmosphere of accessibility backed by open and honest communication with our customers at all times.ach.

SMALL ACTIONS THAT
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

All of the wood we use in our factory comes from environmentally-friendly sources. For example, the majority of our products are produced from sustainably-harvested Siam Oak Wood, which means that the wood comes from rubber plantations where the trees are cut down and new ones replanted every 18-20 years once they are no longer able to produce natural rubber. The imported woods we use for our cajons come from environmentally-controlled forests where the population of trees is carefully monitored and maintained, not causing deforestation. With these efforts, our production activities never lead to deforestation or disturb wild forests.

SMALL ACTIONS THAT
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

All of the sawdust taken from our manufacturing processes is gathered at the end of each day and taken to processing mills, where it is turned into fuel to be used in local textile factories.

SMALL ACTIONS THAT
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

The pieces of rawhide leftover from making heads for congas, bongos, etc. are taken to manufacturing plants for dog chew-toys to make rawhide bones and other toys for man’s best friend.

SMALL ACTIONS THAT
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

The small pieces of plywood left over from our manufacturing processes are used in producing other small instruments which are then donated to local impoverished children in rural provinces around Thailand. We make sure to utilize every last piece of wood to create something useful.

SMALL ACTIONS THAT
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

We use pieces of rope left over from our djembe manufacturing to pack containers and keep them secure before they are shipped to our distributors worldwide. These pieces of rope are tightly tied to the corners inside the containers, creating a net to keep our products from moving around inside during transit. By reusing materials like rope, we are able to produce less waste and reduce our environmental footprint.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Tycoon is dedicated to giving back and devotes a portion of our sales to charities. Interested in donating too? Feel free to click on the links and read more.