Cases for Vintage Drums

N

nocajón

Junior Member
Hi there,

I have 60's/70's Ludwig Super Classic kits and also 70's Vistalites stacked in modern padded polyethylene hardcases. Although the cases offer great protection, they are quite heavy so I'm worried they are putting added stress on those old 3-ply and acrylic shells? I'm sure back in the day leather and fiber cases were used to protect the drum sets.

As usual, appreciate any ideas or feedback on the matter.

Cheers
 
No. The cases should be taking the weight. If they aren't, then are these hard polyethylene cases?
 
Cheers for the reply! Yeah they're regular padded hard cases. The weight is on the T-rods, lugs and shell? Primarily worried about the bass drum as its stacked at the bottom but all of them really. I get the idea hard cases are modern for modern thicker ply shells. For example if you sat on the lid of a hard case this will transfer to the drum unlike a flight case which wouldn't move
 
nocajón said:
Cheers for the reply! Yeah they're regular padded hard cases. The weight is on the T-rods, lugs and shell? Primarily worried about the bass drum as its stacked at the bottom but all of them really. I get the idea hard cases are modern for modern thicker ply shells. For example if you sat on the lid of a hard case this will transfer to the drum unlike a flight case which wouldn't move
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Your hardcases sound like they're undersized. I have Humes&Berg Enduro, SKB, and Protechtor hardcases and no weight is transferred to the drum since the lids do not sit on the drum. Are you sure your lids are resting my on the drum? That doesn't sound right.
 
Yeah I get ya! The lids do indeed sit on the drums not the case edges. I assumed all cases were like this. I told the distributer what size the drums were and the cases were sent. The drums have been cased like this for a year. Hopefully no damage done, it's a lot of weight on them!
 
Yeah, there are a couple case companies that just make one depth of each diameter, with the ability to telescope to accommodate different depth drums. So the lids rest on top of the drums. Guessing it saves them money on molding machines. I know those Protechtor Elite Air cases are like that.
 
cutaway79 said:
Yeah, there are a couple case companies that just make one depth of each diameter, with the ability to telescope to accommodate different depth drums. So the lids rest on top of the drums. Guessing it saves them money on molding machines. I know those Protechtor Elite Air cases are like that.
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Yeah this is it! I thought this was standard practice with all companies. I have cased two kits and several snares like this. These cases are of no use to me now. Hopefully those bass drums are okay!

It's an English company. I probably shouldn't mention them!
 
nocajón said:
Yeah this is it! I thought this was standard practice with all companies. I have cased two kits and several snares like this. These cases are of no use to me now. Hopefully those bass drums are okay!

It's an English company. I probably shouldn't mention them!
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Bummer - sorry you made the investment before seeing how it's done with other case brands. If you can afford to do it again, definitely look at SKB or Humes & Berg Enduro hardcases - absolutely top notch in protection.
 
Matt Bo Eder said:
Bummer - sorry you made the investment before seeing how it's done with other case brands. If you can afford to do it again, definitely look at SKB or Humes & Berg Enduro hardcases - absolutely top notch in protection.
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Will do, thanks for the enlightenment!
 
If you want to go crazy with it, look for old-school anvil cases on craigslist. I see these trying to be unloaded every once in a while because absolutely no one wants them because (a.) no one tours anymore and (b.) they are so stinkin' heavy, no one wants to sell them on evilbay or Reverb due to shipping prices.
 
This doesn't make sense to me. Your drums have 14" deep bass drums, yes?

I've never seen a case where the lid is supported by the drum, especially a bass drum that is only 14" deep.

Sounds like you got a wrong depth case.

You should upload pictures.

Was it a Protection Racket case?

It's OK to mention it, the case isn't at fault here, it sounds like the depth is too shallow.

If the drum is bearing weight...the drum is not supposed to be bearing weight. Not in it's case, that's wrong.
 
larryace said:
This doesn't make sense to me. Your drums have 14" deep bass drums, yes?

I've never seen a case where the lid is supported by the drum, especially a bass drum that is only 14" deep.

Sounds like you got a wrong depth case.

You should upload pictures.

Was it a Protection Racket case?

It's OK to mention it, the case isn't at fault here, it sounds like the depth is too shallow.

If the drum is bearing weight...the drum is not supposed to be bearing weight. Not in it's case, that's wrong.
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Some cases are made like that deliberately (not sure why). Protechtor Elite Air, the old Hardcase cases, there are others, but I forget the brands.

The Protechtor cases have pads on the bottom that the drum rests on, and pads on the lid that contact the top of the drum. This is supposed to "suspend" the drum in the case so it doesn't bounce around. Consequently, you end up with the issue here.
 
cutaway79 said:
Some cases are made like that deliberately (not sure why). Protechtor Elite Air, the old Hardcase cases, there are others, but I forget the brands.
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Wow. IDK if I was going to design a case....isn't a cases purpose in life to transfer any shock AROUND the drum not transfer the shock THROUGH the drum?

I must be missing something.
 
larryace said:
Wow. IDK if I was going to design a case....isn't a cases purpose in life to transfer any shock AROUND the drum not transfer the shock THROUGH the drum?

I must be missing something.
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I did see some low-grade drum cases called "Nomad" cases. They were basic fibre cases that telescoped depending on the depth of your drums. So if you had a 18x22 bass, it would at least cover bass drums from 14" to 20" in depth. They were incredibly cheap (Price-wise) but I think they should've advertised them as basically bags since they didn't really offer any kind of protection. I'll bet they sold thousands of those case sets.
 
PorkPieGuy said:
If you want to go crazy with it, look for old-school anvil cases on craigslist. I see these trying to be unloaded every once in a while because absolutely no one wants them because (a.) no one tours anymore and (b.) they are so stinkin' heavy, no one wants to sell them on evilbay or Reverb due to shipping prices.
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Right. Yea that's interesting although I can imagine they would be expensive to ship here. I'm based in Europe
 
larryace said:
Wow. IDK if I was going to design a case....isn't a cases purpose in life to transfer any shock AROUND the drum not transfer the shock THROUGH the drum?

I must be missing something.
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It's baffling alright but I should have copped it earlier. I wouldn't mind so much with modern sturdier drum shells but I cant imagine it would be good for those old 3-ply shells. The cases in question are lined HARDCASE cases, I just bought them last year!
 
Super Phil said:
Yeah, I didn't really understand either. That being said, whatever issue there is would be solved by SKB or Humes and Berg cases.
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Looking into SKB at the moment. I don't think Humes & Berg are available in Europe at the moment. Also another con with HARDCASE is the inner foam disintegrates after many years. I have experienced this first hand!
 
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