Your Holy Grail

biggow

Member
I'd love to hear what are people's Holy Grails in terms of kit.

What's that one piece, be it kit, snare, cymbal or whatever, that you've been trying to track down for years. Maybe some of you actually managed to track it down, or perhaps there's a story behind it slipping through your fingers. Whatever's the case it'd be fascinating to hear.
 
Mine would be either a Gretsch USA bop kit, 20, 12, 14 or the same sizes in a DW Kit.
 
I'm not necessarily trying to track one down because I know it would be way out of range for me, but I would consider a 1964 Ludwig Downbeat in Oyster Black Pearl to be the ultimate Holy Grail kit, especially if it were a NOS kit that someone unearthed in the attic of an old music store.
 
I would love to track down a couple of SOTA (State Of The Art) Percussion snare drums manufactured briefly in the Chicago region in the mid 80's. They built segmented snare shells in Walnut, Rosewood and African Padauk. I would like to locate both a Walnut shell and a Rosewood shell--or completely built snares--either 6.5 X 14" or 5 X 14".

It took me five years to find my first SOTA snare drum. I located a used 8 X 14" African Padauk snare in 1989 (pre-internet days) through numerous phone calls and purchased it sight unseen. I stripped the original hardware it came with three years ago, had custom built lugs made to fit the existing holes as well as retrofit plates for the Trick strainer and butt plate. I also added some Tama die cast hoops. No holes had to be filled or drilled, I worked around the existing hole patterns on the shell. The refurbished drum is pictured below.

It took another 24 years before I finally located a second SOTA snare (6.5 X 14" Walnut). I was surfing the web and came across an eBay posting that had just closed. I missed that purchase by only an hour.
 

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Ludwig Classic 6pc. Just like the picture below except in a natural maple finish. I'd also want the bass drum to be virgin, and the toms mounted on a double stand in front of the snare.
I had one of these kits over 20 years ago and still regret getting rid of it.

1984_ludwig_drumsets11.jpg


I also wouldn't mind having this kit:
ludwig_flyer3.jpg
 
Pearl Syncussion. It came out in the early 80's. It was an electronic brain with 2 pads. Not much for realistic drum sounds, but awesome for special effects (handclap, thunder crash, classic simmons/synare pitch-bend, etc.) I bought one new in 1983(?) for $495. I sold it in 1988 for maybe $250. If you can even find one now, they go for like $1200-1500. For reasons like this, I've vowed to myself to never sell anything ever again.
 
I would love to track down a couple of SOTA (State Of The Art) Percussion snare drums manufactured briefly in the Chicago region in the mid 80's. They built segmented snare shells in Walnut, Rosewood and African Padauk. I would like to locate both a Walnut shell and a Rosewood shell--or completely built snares--either 6.5 X 14" or 5 X 14".

It took me five years to find my first SOTA snare drum. I located a used 8 X 14" African Padauk snare in 1989 (pre-internet days) through numerous phone calls and purchased it sight unseen. I stripped the original hardware it came with three years ago, had custom built lugs made to fit the existing holes as well as retrofit plates for the Trick strainer and butt plate. I also added some Tama die cast hoops. No holes had to be filled or drilled, I worked around the existing hole patterns on the shell. The refurbished drum is pictured below.

It took another 24 years before I finally located a second SOTA snare (6.5 X 14" Walnut). I was surfing the web and came across an eBay posting that had just closed. I missed that purchase by only an hour.

Wow! That's a beautiful looking snare.

Other than the looks, which we can all see are great, what makes the SOTA snares special, or is it more of a personal thing?
 
Got mine 3 or 4 weeks ago Mike Bordin signature Yamaha Copper snare it could be the only piece I own and I would be happy.
 
Sonor SQ2, 22, 13, 14, 16, beechwood, vintage shells, nussbaum kick/snare, wmp toms. Yummy.
 
Wow! That's a beautiful looking snare.

Other than the looks, which we can all see are great, what makes the SOTA snares special, or is it more of a personal thing?

The SOTAs were really some of the first segmented shells to be produced and made available to the public in 1984. They were only manufactured for several years and sold regionally around Illinois. They quite literally flew off the shelfs of the few dealers that sold them at the time. I could never find a new shell available at any of the dealers. So a five year search ensued until I located a used African Padauk snare drum. I figured this might be my only chance to ever own one so I pulled the trigger sight unseen.

There were only a handful of custom builders in the mid 80's. It wasn't like it is today with numerous builders and shell options. I found out about SOTA Percussion from the May 1984 issue of Modern Drummer (see attachment). What few dealers they had raved about the sound of the drums and said most shells were already sold before they arrived at their stores, and those that didn't typically sold within a matter of days. When SOTA went out of business I couldn't find anybody willing to part with one. In some ways, they were ahead of the times in their quality and construction.

I think it's largely a personal deal for most SOTA owners because the guys I've spoken to would rather take their SOTA to the grave rather than part with it. It took me 24 years to locate a second SOTA for sale, but it sold an hour before I located the posting. So my quest is partially due to the rarity of the shells and the challenge of locating them, but mostly owning a small piece of history that sounds amazing.
 

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Late 60's Early 70's Ludwig Super Classic in Green Sparkle. 26,14,16,18

I know you can find them from time to time, I just can't afford them. :)
 
Probably a sonor designer kit in 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 22.

Or a tama bell brass.
 
Since I play exactly what I want, I guess it's my Super Classics. I play a 6-piece (3 up, one down). Not much else I could want.
 
- Sonor SQ2 in Dark Roots semi-gloss finish with rosewood interior (heavy beech shells on toms, heavy maple shells on kicks) - 10x10, 10x12, 16x14, 16x16 and two 18x20 kicks
- Tama bell brass snare (with the Power Hoops)
- Simmons SDX kit
- 22" Paiste 2002 RUDE Power Ride
 
My holy grail hehe, i have 2 snares that are grails to me:
the brady jarrah stave snare,and the dunnette .
And about drumkits i think i don not have one .
played so many kits that there is not one that really special to me.
If its sounds good im happy.
 
Many things!

I've always wanted to own at least one Brady snare, but I'd like a couple.

I once saw a spalted maple shell that looked gorgeous, almost like the little cracked people in the tool video, I'd love a snare made from a similar shell.

I currently use a pair of 12" zildjian re-mix hats, I'd like the re-mix ride that went with it, but I think they are discontinued now.
 
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