No Way Jose
Silver Member
I went down to a bop kit. Sold my 5 piece kit when I moved.
My first kit was a set of blue sparkle Ludwigs from the 60's. Those were traded in for a set of Slingerland's. But my first pro kit was the Cherry Wine stained Granstar Custom Tamas I got from Gary Asher at Nuncie's in Birmingham in the late 80's. 8,10,12,13,16,22 with matching birch 14x6.5 snare with the freedom lugs. I played that kit for 15 yrs before getting my Pearl Reference kit. I eventually sold it for some quick cash and have spent the last 5 yrs trying to get it back.Yammyfan- My first two kits were either unbranded or cheap kids/starter kits when I was aged 6-12 and couldn’t even guess at the brand name. The Ludwig guess could be right, although Slingerland has been around since before most of us ‘Senior’ citizens.
Just wondering how many people on here have stuck to the same brand of drums, hardware and cymbals. Many well known drummers have switched brands at some point for various reasons, but also may have had virtually unlimited access to literally anything they wanted. For the rest of us mere mortals it’s not exactly an inexpensive thing to do depending on the size and quality requirements.
My first “real” branded set back in the 80’s was used Tama. I bought used Zildjians to replace the trash cymbals. Different pieces, but I still play Tama and Zildjian.
What about you?
I went down to a bop kit. Sold my 5 piece kit when I moved.
In c.1995, I shelled out $1800 for Sonor & Paiste but the Sonor hardware failed: A broken hi hat clutch that took $180 and 6 months to replace, resonance-dampening mounting system, a tom tree that actually cracked and failed.
This led me to research which brands had well-designed, well-made hardware. It came down to the three Japanese Kings: Pearl, Yamaha, Tama. I chose Tama cuz they had/have excellent parts availability. Niche things like brass hoops, pedal springs, clutches, washers, etc. are easily found in stores and online. I also much prefer their starcast mounting system over any other design.
Oh…and Scorched Copper Burst. Prettiest finish I’ve ever laid eyes on.
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So true. Sonor drums are the bees knees but their mounting hardware gives me fits. Even the dual glide snare strainer which people fawn-over is unnecessarily overdesigned when compared to something simple and perfectly functional as Noble and Cooley's throw-off.beauty
ah yes the typical German engineering and construction. They over design things and are meticulous about 99% of the stuff, but something small but extremely important gets overlooked and the whole system crashes down.
Tama mounting system is the absolute best, had the designers with the massive catapult system, but the gd round knobs to tighten the mount to the L arm would come loose!! lolSo true. Sonor drums are the bees knees. Their mounting hardware gives me fits. Even that dual glide snare strainer which people fawn-over is unnecessarily overdesigned when compared to something as simple and functional as Noble and Cooley's throw-off.
Rant over. Please continue...
No - my first kit was a Slingerland that had been recovered with a chrome wrap.
I got to check out the SQ2 3-pc at Rhythm Traders last year. I think it took 20 minutes trying to figure out the tom mount before I could sit down on the throne and tap around a little. Of course the finish is so exquisite, there were several store people hovering around trying to prevent the accidental ding or scrape.So true. Sonor drums are the bees knees but their mounting hardware gives me fits. Even the dual glide snare strainer which people fawn-over is unnecessarily overdesigned when compared to something simple and perfectly functional as Noble and Cooley's throw-off.
Rant over. Please continue...
This gives me the warm fuzzies. I am envious of you for having your original kit, a major life regret is selling my original Tamas and Zildjians. That and my vinyl collection back in the mid 90’s including every AC/DC, Ted Nugent and Led Zeppelin album ever made and an original Woodstock collection I wish I had back. Fortunately there’s Spotify so I can still listen to the albums...but the drums are irreplaceable.Forget the same brand. I'm still playing the first set of drums I ever got. Make that the ONLY set of drums I've ever had. I have added a couple drums to it over time but it includes the original 4 piece set I got when I was 13. I'm now 58. I just put a new set of heads on them for the first time in 40 years. And I took the time to polish the lugs, rims and mounting hardware and wipe down the wrap. They look like new again. Now I want to get a beater kit to use for lugging to gigs, if there are any future gigs. Working on that...
Nope
That will not be forthcoming as I admit there will be some I don’t remember. But, and it must be a bucket list thing, I will have owned and tried mostly all of the big manufacturers pro offerings. I was started off on Slingerland/Ludwig stuff, but loved those Camco sets I saw in the early 70s around SoCal. And being a Los Angeles kid, I gravitated to DW. And even that took me five tries to figure out what I wasn’t liking from DW.LOL... a concise answer.
If only the OP's post was worded differently. A full chronology of all the kits Bo has owned, with dates and short reviews, would be a fun read!