With vintage kits in high demand and prices following suit, there are other ways of getting 'that' sound without blowing your budget. We've talked previously about the major drum companies forays into student or budget sets, with Gretsch's Playboy set and the Ludwig Clubdates. There are others we will talk about very soon too. But
Whilst talking about lesser known American drum manufacturers, it would be remiss of me not to talk about Kent Drums. But like many lesser known manufacturers, there is little documented history on Kent. The Kent Drum Company was started in 1947 by brothers, Ed and Bill Kent. Located in Kenmore, New York, the E.W. Kent
Looking back at our discussion of Vistalite kits a couple of months ago, I touched on one of the lesser know American drum manufacturers, Fibes. Bob Grauso was the drummer for Connie Francis, a top-selling female pop artists, and when he wasn’t on the bandstand, Grauso would experiment with new shell materials to try to
1963 Blue Sparkle 18x14", 12x8" and 14x14" Last month we looked at Ludwig's Vistalite drums series, and this month I wanted to look a little more closely at one of their harder to find and more often overlooked drum kit models. The Ludwig Jazzette comprised of an 18x12” deep bass drum, 12x8” rack
Orange Reissue The 31st May 2018 would have been John Henry Bonham's 70th birthday. Not only was he a truly influential drummer, but also an icon of the drumming, and rock music, worlds. And when you think of Bonham or Led Zeppelin, which drums do you almost instantly think of? Without wanting to
Following on form last months article on George Way, it seems right to talk about Camco Drums. Camco was born out of the George Way company after John Rochon bought out the other shareholders in the company and gained majority control. After George had been backed into a corner, Rochon accepted his forced resignation, after
Although the name George Way will not mean much to a lot of drummers, those who know of him will know of his great influence on the modern drum set. Before setting up his own drum company, George Way worked with many of the main manufactures of the 30's, 40's and 50's. Companies such as
With current trends to know as much as possible about where your food is sourced, where the material for your sofa came from, and the name of your hairdressers dog, fixation on the details has reached new levels. This is especially true in the vintage drum world, were buyers and sellers obsess over the thickness
The word 'rare' is one that gets bandied around a lot in the world of vintage drums, especially when someone is trying to get a top price for a snare or kit. But sometimes an exceptional and really rare drum from a limited production run, or of a short lived design, turns up. We were
After last months look at the Ludwig Clubdate and how less metal work can make for more tone, we're going to look at a more seldom seen single lug set up - the Gretsch Playboy Outfit. As with all 'student' models/ cheaper set ups of the time, Gretsch's mid 60's Playboy outfit featured the same
