Why no love for Vintage Premier?

pcastag

Senior Member
The kits are so well made, chroming beautiful, bearing edges tight and right, reinforcement hoops solid, rarely go out of round, beautiful vintage sound. I don't understand the lack of love for them, I bought my kid a 12, 14, 20 birch and just picked up a 14 mahogany snare. Such nice drums!!
 
Where do you get the idea that there is no love for vintage kits? Have you seen some of the vintage stuff guys own around here. Plenty of love for them.
 
Just premier. A 20 12 14 ludwig or gretsch even slingerland = $$$$ snares too, premiers are relatively cheap in comparison, even more so in their home country.
 
Vintage Premier can tend to scare some people because some of their really old kits used metric sized heads, which are impossible to find.

Unless you can see a vintage kit in person, it's not always possible to know what you're getting.

And then it didn't help when Premier pulled out of nearly all international markets several years back, which really squashed a lot of interest in the brand for a while.
 
Vintage Premier can tend to scare some people because some of their really old kits used metric sized heads, which are impossible to find.

Excellent point.

One of the kits I learnt to play on an early 60's Premier....dad's second kit. It had the same heads on it for as long as I can remember. When I tried to rehead the thing....nothing fit. I'm sure ordered some eventually, but it was a pain. Sadly it was lent out to a young cousin to learn on and never made it back, or else I'd have my claim staked over it as I have with his Luddies.
 
Well, like English sports cars, Premier drums have some quirks, like slotted tension rods (need a special drum key for those). And you can't buy those at Guitar Center. Also, Premier hardware isn't compatible with anything else out there (that I know of). I own a '75 Premier Baron kit. Really nice drums .... but ..... I have 6 other acoustic kits as well. I like variety, so a Premier kit fits well, into my stable. But it's not the most popular of drum brands, here in the US.​
Lack of endorsements, I think, more than anything. Ringo played Ludwig. And for a while, Ludwig was selling 150 kits a day. A lot of young men wanted to be like Ringo. Bonham played Ludwig. Charlie plays Gretsch. With so many "big" English drummers pounding US made drums .... heck, makes me wanna play Ludwig and Gretsch, too. And indeed, I own and play those, as well. And Yamaha .... and RMV.​
 
Well, like English sports cars, Premier drums have some quirks, like slotted tension rods (need a special drum key for those). And you can't buy those at Guitar Center. Also, Premier hardware isn't compatible with anything else out there (that I know of). I own a '75 Premier Baron kit. Really nice drums .... but ..... I have 6 other acoustic kits as well. I like variety, so a Premier kit fits well, into my stable. But it's not the most popular of drum brands, here in the US.​
Lack of endorsements, I think, more than anything. Ringo played Ludwig. And for a while, Ludwig was selling 150 kits a day. A lot of young men wanted to be like Ringo. Bonham played Ludwig. Charlie plays Gretsch. With so many "big" English drummers pounding US made drums .... heck, makes me wanna play Ludwig and Gretsch, too. And indeed, I own and play those, as well. And Yamaha .... and RMV.​

Well, Premiere had Carl Palmer for a bit when he was with Asia, and Clem Burke from Blondie played Premiere. From the 70s through the 80s, Premiere had some endorsers out there, and then yeah, when they pulled out of the market, they just disappeared.
 
Well, Premiere had Carl Palmer for a bit when he was with Asia, and Clem Burke from Blondie played Premiere. From the 70s through the 80s, Premiere had some endorsers out there, and then yeah, when they pulled out of the market, they just disappeared.

Indeed, they had a few artists. Every company does. One of their "biggest" guns was Moon. And Rod Morgenstein and Nicko McBrain. But, when talking "vintage", Ludwig, Rogers, Gretsch and Slingerland totally outsold them.​
Funny you mentioned Clem. I have 4 old Premier straight cymbal stands, that used to be his.​
 
Indeed, they had a few artists. Every company does. One of their "biggest" guns was Moon. And Rod Morgenstein and Nicko McBrain. But, when talking "vintage", Ludwig, Rogers, Gretsch and Slingerland totally outsold them.​
Funny you mentioned Clem. I have 4 old Premier straight cymbal stands, that used to be his.​

Can't forget the Clem! The man was the engine of Blondie and like most, probably a little underrated.
 
Can't forget the Clem! The man was the engine of Blondie and like most, probably a little underrated.
True that. His name ain't in the "bright lights" like some others .... but he has played with Townshend, Dylan, and a host of "other" guys, who could basically get anyone they wanted, and they picked Clem. He himself, sites Moon as a big influence. Maybe that's why he slamed Premier. Now, I think he's a DW guy.​
 
True that. His name ain't in the "bright lights" like some others .... but he has played with Townshend, Dylan, and a host of "other" guys, who could basically get anyone they wanted, and they picked Clem. He himself, sites Moon as a big influence. Maybe that's why he slamed Premier. Now, I think he's a DW guy.​

It's good to see that he's still out and about playing! Makes me wonder if the other guys in Blondie have continued their music careers.
 
The kits are so well made, chroming beautiful, bearing edges tight and right, reinforcement hoops solid, rarely go out of round, beautiful vintage sound. I don't understand the lack of love for them, I bought my kid a 12, 14, 20 birch and just picked up a 14 mahogany snare. Such nice drums!!

Paolo,
Of course you are absolutely right.
There's no accounting for dimwittedness!
I've been a Premier devotee ever since acquiring my first set in Rome in 1963!
Ron
 

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I had a Premier kit for a short time in the early 70's,and I loved them,especially the neuvo lugs.The hardware was strong enough,and the chrome was beautiful,and they sounded great.It unfortuneately,became the victim of a basement flood,and met with an early grave.

These were the international sizes,so modern heads fit just fine,in fact I remember them being just slightly undersized,like vintage Leedys,so heads didn't bind on the shell.

I know for a fact,you can get pre international sized heads from Remo,and possibly Aquarian.They cost a bit more,and Remo runs them off every 6 months,so if you find a vintage kit,don't be afraid to buy it.They are well made,great sounding drums.

Steve B
 
It's good to see that he's still out and about playing! Makes me wonder if the other guys in Blondie have continued their music careers.

Blondie has toured regularly since they re-formed a number of years ago.
They even put out a handful of albums over the last 10 or so years.
 
I've been a Premier devotee ever since acquiring my first set in Rome in 1963!

Still have that blue pearl snare in pic 4.....actually, the old man does, but I'll get my grubby little hands on it yet. It was the snare off the long since trashed kit. Can you tell me the correct name of the finish?
 
Still have that blue pearl snare in pic 4.....actually, the old man does, but I'll get my grubby little hands on it yet. It was the snare off the long since trashed kit. Can you tell me the correct name of the finish?

That's actually a slightly cool color rendering of a 'grey pearl' wrap.
Here's the 'blue pearl':
 

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I've got the whole kit in that finish, chrome doesn't pit, wrap doesn't fade, toms absolutely sing! BTW I picked up another phonic re-isse this time the 5.75, more my size. Love it!
 
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