Premier Etoile

baz

Silver Member
...hola dot comrades.

I have always had a soft spot for the old seventies Premier kits.

I found one a few months back in Ottawa at Daves Drum Shop that looked to be in pretty good shape and priced pretty reasonably. After recieving an unexpected bonus a few weeks ago, I but the bullet, and now they are mine.

The drums consisted of a 22x14" bass, 16x15 (?) floor tom, 13x9, and 14x10" rack toms. The floor tom leg brackets have been changed out, and the wrap on the underside of the bass drum is cracked and peeling in some places. Other than that, these babies are in very good shape. I am not sure what I am going to do with them. Restore to as close to original, or perform a little cosmetic surgery and bring them into the modern age.

The set up in these pics consists of the 22, 16, 14, with a 13x5" DW snare, AAX Stage ride, hats, crash, plus a 16" HHXtreme crash.









Barry
 
dang. good looking kit... and cymbals.... and all the other kits stacked up in the 3rd picture.... sorry, let me go clean up my shirt... all my drool got on it.... BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION MAN. and nice premier too
 
...Thanks guys.

I am pretty much a DW guy, but there are a few kits out there that I would love to own. This Premier kit was one of them. Next on my list of "I would love to own a set of even if my wife will kill me when I bring them home" is a 24 or 22,16,13 Yamaha Recording Custom.

These Premiers are a project kit, but I am not sure which way to go with them. I would like to re wrap them, change out the bass drum spurs, tom mount, T-Rods, and tom leg brackets, but the little voice on my right is telling me to restore them to as original as posible.

Other than changing the t-rods, I don't think that I am going to do anything untill I am 100% sure.

Barry
 
That's a GREAT looking kit!
I really dig old Premier too.

Funny how they used different lugs on BD's and toms and split on floor toms...

I would leave the finish as is, unless there's some really bad spots, it looks really cool.
Kinda like Yamaha's Cherry Recording Custom....another drooler (and the Black...)
 
These Premiers are a project kit, but I am not sure which way to go with them. I would like to re wrap them, change out the bass drum spurs, tom mount, T-Rods, and tom leg brackets, but the little voice on my right is telling me to restore them to as original as posible.

Other than changing the t-rods, I don't think that I am going to do anything untill I am 100% sure.

Barry

You made a very nice find, and personally I would not do anything that would change the essence and the spirit of the kit.

In my humble opinion Premier were and are generally underestimated sets. I remember that around 1978 I had to replace for five or six gigs (pop & dance music) a drummer who had an accident, and we agreed I would use his Premier set. That set was similar to yours but with two toms on the bass drum and the original 8 lugs metal snare: well, at the beginning I found the set quite bad looking (did not like the lugs, did not like the fact that the toms had the same depth, did not like the original cymbal and hi hat stands, etc.) but once I started playing it I could not give up! Powerful, very precise yet warm, very responsive and easy to play. Actually, I liked it much more than the Slingerland set I owned at the time!
 
Barry, congratulations on yet another beautiful acquisition. I am so totally in awe at the generosity and the even-tempered nature of Mrs. Baz.

enjoy!!
 
...Thanks again all for the positive words.

As I have said before, I have always had a soft spot for these older Premiers. If this kit was a trasher, I would not hesitate in drilling a few holes and bringing it back to life. It is a great kit as is. I have seen a few of these over the years, but rarely have I seen one in pristine condition. I would rate this kit at 7.5 out of 10. If I ever find a wrap that matches I would consider re doing the bass drum. Untill then I can live with it.

Barry Keane, who plays the drums for Canadian Singer Song writing legend Gord Lightfoot has a set of these. I would bet that they are the same drums that he recorded all of those many great songs that are a part of most of us old farts DNA. I saw them in concert a few weeks ago, and that just reinforced my desire for this particular kit.

I think when all is said and done, I will go the restore as opposed to remodel route.

Thank you once again for talking me off the ledge.

Barry
 
...sometimes I think that somebody up there likes me.

I went to the drum shop looking for a new snare and batter head, and found a used 14x5" Premier supra-faux-nic. I had to buy it.







I am really starting to like this kit.

barry
 
Those old Premier snares are frankly, amazing. I came across one at my old school that was beaten to Hell, we used tape to keep the strainer up, the heads were beaten, the snare wires were considerably less than perfect and yet when I played it, I wanted to take it home. Lovely snare. Somewhere, someone has a recording of me playing that snare - five years ago.

Incidentally, I'm not sure I can quite stomach the BC Rich in one of the sets of pictures.
 
...good eyes Medfunk.

The guitar belongs to my son. I tried to raise him right, but the teenage rebel wants to be a string bender.

This is the second supra-faux-nic that I have owned. This kit did not come with a snare, and I was anticipating a long drawn out hunt for the right one then suddenly, before my search really began, (to borrow a phrase from the Colonel) KERBLAMMO!!! There it was.

I am going to take this snare to my Monday Night Jam to give it a good test drive.

Barry
 
String bending is fine by me, it's just those BC Rich guitars... yeeuucchh.

Get him a nice Strat ;-)

Actually, I got a nice Strat, and then decided to heavily modify it so pretty much only the wood and pickups are original. Go figure.
 
...sometimes I think that somebody up there likes me.

I went to the drum shop looking for a new snare and batter head, and found a used 14x5" Premier supra-faux-nic. I had to buy it.

I am really starting to like this kit.

barry

You may want to contact Drumaholics Anonymous... Also, misspelling the name of a Supraphonic may be considered heresy by some.
 
My friend offered me the exact same Premier snare for cheap... should I get it? I usually hate steel drums.

Yes. Get it. It might change your mind on steel drums if my memory serves me correctly.
 
Yes. Get it. It might change your mind on steel drums if my memory serves me correctly.

...ditto

These are great snare drums. I am not sure of the age of this particular one, but I am betting that it is an early seventies model. To find a supraphonic of the same vintage in as good condition would likely cost close to what this whole kit cost. If by "cheap" you mean under a hundred bucks, BUY IT !!! You will not regret it.

Barry
 
You may want to contact Drumaholics Anonymous... Also, misspelling the name of a Supraphonic may be considered heresy by some.

...Hello Big Philly.

I am the president of the Edmonton chapter of drumaholics anonymous, but I have had a relapse. In fact I may have accidently bought a seven piece Pearl Export kit. (more on that later)

I have always reffered to these steel shelled beaded Premiers as supra-faux-nics, as they are the only drums (in my opinion ) that are worthy of the title. The only difference aside from lugs and throw off, between a supraphon and a supra-faux of the same vintage is that you are not likely to find pitting on the faux.

Barry
 
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