Let's see your drums!

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vockins wrote:Jesus.I have got a stop sign / early 70s / Tony Williams Gretsch sort of like the one that's hanging out in your corner.Why I have five guitars and one drumset, I don't know. Maybe when I'm a better guitar player I'll have one guitar.If anyone has a line on a 24" cherry red Gretsch bass drum hoop with chrome trim, let me know please.That Gretsch kit is the project kit!Today, I went to fix an old friend's computer. He's an old townie, one of the last of the wave of townies that gave the world the B-52s and a half dozen other great bands. Most everyone else has gone on to NYC or Woodstock, NY or gotten rich and/or broke buying and selling houses, or gone on to be famous addicts or artists, or something or whatever. This guy still lives in a beautiful crumbling old southern gothic house and rents some of the rooms to artists and russian poet exchange students. His income is something like "fixed," inasmuch as it RARELY goes up. So, he has an old Mac and I fix it when it goes wrong, I don't charge him, because I consider him to be kind of a local treasure. I don't need his money, anyway.Today I went over had a look at his internet connection, and fixed a couple of things. He tried to pay me and I wouldn't take his money, but several times I have walked out on his porch and said "Y'know, you really should let me take those drums and work on them."Today he said "Look, I never play any more, just take them. If you can do something with them, man, have at 'em."So, I left his place today with an old wine-red Gretsch kit- 22" bass, 12" five lug rack tom, and a 16" floor time. Also, two 12" Camco rack toms, with the original factory resonant heads on the bottom, that say "Camco, by Kustom!"So cool.The bass drum needs a front hoop, legs and leg mounts, and there's a giant hole cut for the tom mount. The rack tom also has a pretty massive hole cut in it for the tom mount and then some other Gretsch tom mount improperly installed, so I will probably hunt down an original one, and the floor tom needs legs and a bottom hoop.Still, it should clean up pretty well. I will probably sell the Camco toms on eBay to help someone else round out a kit. That should pay for everything else, I think.I have already shot my "before" photos of the Gretsches. I will get them off my camera and get them up later tonight.Here is my list of kits, from oldest to newest:1952 Slingerland Radio Kings 22", 13", 16", 14" x 5" snare. Minty.1966 Rogers Blue Sparkle 20", 13", 16", 14" x 5" snare Needs work.19?? Gretsch kit I just got.1984 Ludwig Maple kit 24", 10", 12", 14", 16" Toured hard but very playable1990s Premier Maple kit 22", 12", 13", 16" 14" x 5.5" snare mint2005 Ludwig Bonham reissue 3 ply kit 26", 13", 16", 18", 14"x6" snare 2005 Ludwig Bonham reissue Vistalites 26", 14", 16", 18" Snares:14" x 6.5" Supraphonic14" x 7" Head Drums custom barrel stave ebony15" x 6.5" WFL 1930s snare14" x 6.5" Tama Imperial Star (this is a great sounding snare, but let's keep that between us)14" x 6.5" 1970s Ludwig maple snare, tangerine glitter wrap 14" x 6" Pearl Steel snare (sounds better than you'd think, actually)odds and ends:36" x 18" marching bass drumtwo 12" Camco toms which will soon be looking for a new home.I think that's everything.Except what I have forgotten.
Redline wrote:Not Crap. The sound of death? The sound of FUN! ScrrreeEEEEEEE

Let's see your drums!

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Because I don't want to pollute the pristine and translucent Vistalite Porn thread with pictures of other drums, I am starting this thread to post photos of your kits.Here is my drum room:sorry for the crappy cell phone photo. I will put up some real photos later.Today I got a new project. I'll tell you about it later, when I have complete photos.
Redline wrote:Not Crap. The sound of death? The sound of FUN! ScrrreeEEEEEEE

Let's see your drums!

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i'll have to dig up pics of my old vistalite kit. mine was terrible, but it looked sooo nice.anyways, here's my legend black rock maple "showroom model" set with new heads..all jasper shells22x16 bass16X18 floor tom13x13 rack7x14 jasper maple snare4x14 phosphor bronze snareit's covered/sprayed in the same stuff that the kaman company puts on helicopter rotors. it's basically a tough as nails black satin finish.i got it right as the company was folding in 1997 (drum designs & patents were purchased by gretsch) for $700. a steal for a handmade in the USA, paper tagged kit.i like em. they have nice lugs too, but the smaller snare throwoff has shat the bed and I haven't found a replacement that really works...I also have a Roger's Powertone chrome on brass 6-lug snare from my first kit, an absolutely awesome Dayton-era Roger's Holiday kit in Blue Onyx, which I traded later for the bunk tupperware-esque Vistalite kit. This is the only pic I have to remember

Let's see your drums!

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Coolio drums!two 12" Camco tomsI would use those as an excuse to make a Camco kit!This is the kit that's up now, a chrome over birch Yamaha (22", 13", 16") that was made in England in the Premier factory. It goes WHUMP!The Big Black Pork Pie snare is in heavy rotation, along with Rusty's 6 1/2" Ludwig Supraphonic.Show more drums!

Let's see your drums!

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mostly my kit at Soma summer '07. the kit is a mid-level birch Sonar and the snare is a DW maple. the floor tom (14" C&C) and that Paiste ride belonged to the studio. the kit was mic'd with a Neumann (forgot the model) overhead and an Audio Technica condenser on the kick. i've had this basic setup since high school and would like to get some better stuff, but i just don't play them enough to justify it.i've used samples from these sessions on a few of the PRF Allstar songs, to those who keep up.here's a clip of me playing a noise improv set with them last year.

Let's see your drums!

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Those Legend Black Rock Maple drums are awfully cool. I've never heard of Legend drums before. Although I have been a drummer since I was ten years old, I didn't actually turn into a drum GEEK until a couple of years ago. It started with me trying to explain why some drums sound bad in the studio and others didn't, and I wanted to get my facts straight, so I started doing some research... and through the looking glass I went. Actually, looking back through the thread, I don't think any of these kits aren't cool.Redline wrote:I would use those as an excuse to make a Camco kit! Unfortunately for the good people of the PRF, I am planning on putting those Camco toms on eBay one at a time, cleaned up, with the chrome shined up, so that I can maximize the amount of money I have to dedicate to restoring the Gretsches. I have wanted a Gretsch kit for a long, long time, and the opportunity has just never presented itself. I am hoping to do this right. I just hope the bearing edges are good and the drums are still round.
Redline wrote:Not Crap. The sound of death? The sound of FUN! ScrrreeEEEEEEE

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