Let There Be Drums!
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| Part of my current arsenal of drums: From left to right; my British-made Premier XPKs, my vintage Slingerland, and my British-made Premier Genistas. Here is the little video I took of the aforementioned drums. |
Since this little blog site is called “CrazyDrummerStuff”, I
thought it was time to list all of the drums and drum kits that I’ve owned
since I started playing drums. I fell in
love with playing probably back in 1967, which coincided with the release of
The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Ringo’s bom-bom-pa, bom-bom-pa beat made me
wanna play the drums, like millions of kids all over the world. Being a 12-year old kid living in an
apartment, getting a drum kit was out of the question, but I got some drum
sticks and a Ludwig practice pad, which I put on my chair, and I would bang on
the back of the chair like a ride cymbal, and beat on the practice pad as a
snare, and just stomp my left foot to mimic a bass drum:
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The old Ludwig practice pad, my first “snare
drum”… |
So, this is a little history and inventory of all the drumkits that I’ve owned over the years (at least as far as I remember), and how the drum kits have evolved, and also stayed the same. Over the years, I’ve truly enjoyed playing, and all of the wonderful people that I’ve had a chance to play with.
Caveat: For this blog
post I’ve borrowed freely from two of my other earlier posts:
“For the love of music, drums and life-long friendships,
Part One: 1965 – 1987.”
“For the love of music, drums and life-long friendships,
Part Two: 1987 – Spring 2025.”
However, I’ve tried to dig a little deeper, both trying to
give more detail and also give a little bit more background on what was going
on at the time. As always, I hope you
enjoy my little ramblings!
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Premier, British made.
1970, and life was great!
I had saved up enough money from my summer job to finally buy my first
drum kit, a well-used Premier four-piece with Imperial Inch heads, which meant
that it was difficult to get heads for this kit; “normal” US Remo heads did not
fit correctly. I think it was wrapped in
yellow contact paper, which I proceed to strip off. It probably came with Zildjian cymbals,
crash, ride and high hats. 20” bass
drum, 12” rack tom, and a 16” floor tom with a no-name snare, it probably
looked something like this:
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Vintage British Premier kit, 1950-1960 |
I played the Premier kit with my first band back in Sweden, Synd
ock Skam (which means “Sin and Shame”, in its literal translation). Synd ock Skam was based in Vendelso, a suburb
some 30 miles from Stockholm, consisting of Bjorn Skorge on bass, Janne
Andersson on lead guitar, and Janne’s brother Sten Andersson on rhythm
guitar. For some reason, they needed a
drummer and we started practicing in earnest in around late 1973, early 1974,
with me playing my old Premier, which I recovered in a sort of red velvet
covering. We practiced at Vendelsomalms
school, in a sort of void basement, with a sand floor and no heating, and a
rickety wooden staircase. Somebody
(maybe Bjorn, Janne and Sten) had built a stage, so at least we were off the
sand floor! Sometime later, Sten left
the band to pursue his own music, and we had the good fortune to add Helene
Sjoberg on keyboards and vocals. However,
by summer 1974 we temporarily disbanded, probably because I was going in to the
Swedish compulsory military service, and my car had died in the spring of 1974,
so I didn’t have any transportation.
Also, in a fit of self-pity, I had sold my Premier drums, for really no
good reason.
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George Hayman Vibrasonic drums in Gold Ingot.
By the summer of 1976, I had saved up enough money to buy
myself another old VW bug, and also buy my second drum kit, a wonderful
British-made gold Hayman, a three-piece with a 22” bass, 13” rack tom, and a
16” floor tom. The Hayman drums had a
thick white coating inside of the drums, named the “Vibrasonic” coating, which
made them quite unique. Also, even
though the rack tom arm was a bit difficult to work with, since the rack tom
mount was on the top of the bass drum (as opposed to a rail mount, which was
usually mounted for a right-handed player), it was relatively easy to switch
out for a lefty like me. And to make the
bass drum even more stable, I added another pair of bass drum legs. I also bought a Rogers Dynasonic snare, which
I played for about five years. I played
this kit with Synd ock Skam until about 1977.
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This is what my Hayman kit looked like. My gosh, I
wish I still have them! |
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Playing my Hayman kit with Synd ock Skam, probably
around 1976. |
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Synd ock Skam, circa 1976-1977: Janne Y playing his Stratocaster (I think
he still has it), myself playing my Hayman drums and Bjorn S playing his
Rickenbacker. Bjorn had wired up my bass
drum pedal with a switch, and we had put a light in the bass drum, so that
with every bass drum hit the light would come on. A super cool feature, and well ahead of its
time! |
By 1977, with Synd ock Skam disbanded, I had started playing
with Svedala, a dance and party band based in Nynashamn, playing my Hayman
kit.
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I’m playing my Hayman drums with our band Svedala, in
our practice place in Nynasham, which is about an hour’s drive from Stockholm
proper. In the corner you can see
Gittan Nygren, keyboards and vocals, in to the right is Band leader CeGe
Alkvist, guitar and vocals. This
picture is probably from 1978. |
We played a bunch of gigs (since we had a tour bus), and one
night coming home from a gig, I’m riding shotgun in the tour bus, and in the
rear-view mirror I see the back door of the tour bus opening up. My 13” Hayman rack tom fell out, and I see
some random guy picking it up and disappearing into the subway station. Dang, that was super sad!
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Tama Imperialstar with concert toms.
Well, my Hayman drums were insured, and in 1978 (or so), I
replaced the 13” Hayman rack tom with two Tama Imperialstar concert toms; 13”
and 14” in a Platina finish, which kinda matched the remaining gold Hayman
floor tom and bass drum.
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Tama Imperialstar 13”x9” and 14”x10” concert toms, for sale on Craigslist! |
I usually just played it as a five-piece; 13” and 14”
mounted concert toms, the 16” concert tom with legs, the 24” bass drum and my
Rogers Dynasonic snare, or some other smaller setup. The remaining Hayman drums were traded in to
buy more Tama drums! One of the cool
things about playing concert toms is that they can nest, so you can put two
toms in one case! I played this kit
until I moved to California in early 1981 (wasn’t gonna ship the monster Tama
to California), when I sold the Tama to an aspiring female drummer (which at
the time in early 1981 was pretty unusual).
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Tama Imperialstar kit with concert toms, probably made sometime 1976-1978. My kit looked very much like the kit above, with an additional 15" tom. I found this picture on Craigslist, looks like somebody is selling my old kit! |
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Rogers script badge kit.
My friend Janne from Synd ock Skam had moved to California
in around 1978, and by the summer of 1981, Janne had joined a wedding band
named Whiskey, playing guitar and singing.
Again, they needed a drummer, and I found a guy selling a complete
Rogers script badge kit; 24” bass drum, 13” and 14” rack toms, and a 16” floor
tom, and a Dynasonic snare. The kit also came complete with a couple of crash
cymbals, a ride, and a set of high hats, all stands and cases, so this kit was
ready to play, and I joined Whiskey!
Later I also added the obligatory Roto Toms; 6”, 8” and 10”. Later I modified the Roto Tom stand so I only
had to shlep the 8” and the 10”, but they were still heavy. Nevertheless, back then you gotta have Roto
Toms!!!!
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My white Rogers script badge kit, circa 1981. I also added some Roto Toms, because you
gotta have Rotos! |
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In the top left picture you can see Helen and Dennis
McFarland; Dennis was the band leader in Whiskey, and Helen did our
bookings. In the top right picture you
can see our band: Dennis McFarland,
bass and vocals; Ron Robbins, keyboards, sax and vocals; Janne Andersson,
guitar and vocals and myself on the drums.
In the bottom picture you can see yours truly banging away at the
Rogers. We practiced at Helen and
Dennis’ place in Buena Park, CA. These
pictures were probably taken in 1982.
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Gretsch Broadcaster kit.
Around 1982(ish) I decided to sell my Rogers kit including
the Dynasonic snare, minus the cymbals, and get something smaller. I sold the
Rogers to a buddy of mine at work, and bought the kit that I wish that I had
never sold; a Gretsch round badge kit in a wonderful reddish lacquer. I paid $400 (yes, that is four hundred
dollars), for a four-piece, 20” x 14” bass drum, 12” x 8” rack tom, 14” x 14”
floor tom, and a matching 5” x 14” snare. This was the perfect bop kit, but at
the time nobody (except me) wanted this sort of kit, when giant kits
ruled. The kit was equipped with a
Slingerland tom holder, since the original Gretsch hardware at the time was not
very reliable.
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My round badge Gretsch Broadcaster kit. I still miss it! |
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Whiskey around 1983, playing a wedding (I’m sure) with
Linda (who’s last name I’ve forgot) on the guitar, and I’m playing my
four-piece Gretsch kit. |
In around 1986, Janne and I formed a little band along with our bass player Alan Earl, playing all originals written by Janne and Alan, and I used the expanded Gretsch kit. We named ourselves Zane in Zane, and played a few gigs around Orange County. We were pretty serious; I remember all three of us going up to Melrose Avenue in LA to shop for stage clothes!
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Yours truly, playing my beloved left-handed Gretsch
kit, with Zane in Zane, circa 1986. I
sold the kit in 1987 for $900, complete with cases, hardware and cymbals, and
I’ve regretted it ever since… |
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Slingerland kit with concert toms.
Around 1993(ish), I bought a Slingerland kit with concert
toms; 22” x 14” bass drum, and 12”, 13” and 15” concert toms. They were originally white, but I had them
recovered by Orange County Drums and Percussion in Laguna Hills in a
psychedelic blue. I later donated this
kit to my kid’s school, Vista Verde K through 8 in Irvine, but I still have the
15” Rims tom mount, which is at the bottom of my drummer’s case of
miscellaneous stands and stuff (from what I understand, most drummers have a
cache of old stands and hardware, so I’m not alone in saving old stuff. You never know when you might need
something!).
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The Slingerland Pop Outfit |
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Pearl Prestige Session Select kit, Wine Red.
Around 1997(ish), I bought a Pearl Prestige Session drum
kit, a special order from West Coast Drum Center in Santa Ana: 22”x16” bass drum, 10”x10” rack tom, and
14”x14” floor tom, in a reddish mahogany color called Wine Red, not unlike the
old Gretsch kit. I think I bought this
kit to reward myself after 6.5 years in night school, going to Irvine Valley
College and Cal State Long Beach! At
some point, I had bought a Gretsch chrome over brass 10 lug snare, which
matched great with the Pearl kit. I
collected some cymbals here and there, like the 18” Ufip ping ride I still use,
and a 16” Zildjian medium thin crash that I traded for all my old vinyl,
sometime in 1993(ish); I still play the 16” medium thin crash. The kit sat in its cases in a closet,
patiently waiting. I also replaced the
Pearl I.S.S tom mounting system with the Pearl OptiMount tom mounts, and I also
put on the Pearl Super Hoops with the engraved Pearl name. A while later I added a Pearl Prestige
Session 12” x 10” rack tom, to fill out the kit. The 12”x10” tom was the same color but a
different badge, so I switched the badge from the bass drum, so that the toms
would have matching badges (silly, I agree).
So, if you ever run across a Pearl Prestige Session with a different
badge on the bass drum, it is probably my old kit!
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My Pearl Prestige Session Select, complete with the
added 12”x10” mounted tom. |
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My Gretsch chrome over brass snare. Now I wish I never sold it! |
Later I added a 24”x16” Pearl Masters bass drum, which kinda matched the Pearl Prestige Session, but I never played it. It sat in its case in my closet for a few years before I sold it.
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My un-played Pearl Masters 24” bass drum, which I
later sold. |
Eventually I sold the Pearl Session in 2013(ish) to a woman drummer who wanted a really good looking but affordable kit; I think I sold it for $400… Like many of my old kits, I wish I never sold the Pearl Session kit, it was a pretty cool custom kit, but where are you going to store them all? I also sold the Gretsch snare for quite a bit more than I had paid for it, but I still regret it!
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The Pearl Prestige Session Select Craigslist
picture. The kit is set up for a
right-handed drummer. |
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Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute, plum color.
Around 1998, I bought what would become my workhorse drum
kit; a Japan-made Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute; 10”x9”, 12”x10”, 14”x12” and a
22”x16”, in a lovely plum color from Guitar Center in Fountain Valley, CA. Even though I don’t remember the date, I sure
remember the occasion; Guitar Center was having a tent sale, either on Memorial
Day or Labor Day, and Kathy and I showed up around 8AM to check it out. The Yamaha’s were stacked outside, and I
couldn’t stop drooling over the kit.
Against all odds (we didn’t have much money at the time), Kathy said “do
you want them?”. I couldn’t believe my
ears, and of course I said yes!!!! I
literally ran into the store to get a sales associate, paid the $600, and the
rest is history. I played that kit
constantly from around 2010 through 2014; I must have used it on a hundred
gigs! I switched out the YESS mounting
system for RIMS mounts, and I put DW floor tom brackets and legs on the
14”x12”, to make it into a proper floor tom.
This is the time I fell in love with the Yamaha modular tom holder,
which I used on several other kits. I
still have the Yamaha Birch Custom Absolutes, they are safely stored away in
our little storage attic, and I’ll never sell this kit!
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Playing my Yamaha Birch Custom Absolutes with
AlterEgo, sometime in 2010. |
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Pearl Forum Bop Kit.
Around 2000, we had moved in to our townhome in Irvine, and
since it had a walk-in closet, I decided to make that into my little practice
hangout. Mind you, I was not playing
with anybody seriously, but I did do a couple of jams with this guitarist blues
player I met at Home Depot. At our local
Sam Ash store, I found a brand-new Pearl Forum bop kit (according to the Pearl
catalogue, this would have been the “FX 785C” kit) with 10”, 12”, 14” toms, an
18” bass drum and a 13” (or maybe 14”) metal snare for some two hundred and
sixty-nine dollars! With a nice red drum
wrap, I couldn’t resist, and that became my practice kit for a long time, with
new heads of course! Eventually I had to
upgrade the tom holders to the standard Pearl BB3 bass drum mount and a couple
of Pearl BT3 tom mounting brackets, and later I added a 13” matching mounted
tom, and this kit got played a lot! I
even played the kit for a couple of gigs, just for fun.
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The Pearl Forum drum kit series, from the Pearl
catalogue. |
Yamaha YD-9000 vintage kit.
By the way, I had some experience with “investing” in drums;
back in 2010(ish) I had bought an old five-piece Yamaha YD-9000 (the Yamaha
9000 was the precursor to the Yamaha Recording Custom) kit for $400, including
a no-name snare! The kit had 10”x10”,
12”x10”, 14”x12” and 16”x14” hanging toms, with a 20”x14” bass drum, in a nice
reddish / walnut finish. Long story
short; after driving all the way from Irvine to Lancaster (a 230 mile round
trip) to pick up the kit and putting in a couple of hundred bucks into new rims
and new heads (and of course a bunch of time cleaning and polishing), I was
able to sell the Yamaha 9000 for $900! I
was a drum set restoration pro! (Problem
with trying to make “real” money buying and selling drums on Craigslist is the
time it takes to hunt, not to mention the driving and fixing, but maybe now
since I’m retired…).
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A Yamaha YD-9000 drum kit. Note the tom mounts are mounted right on
the toms; no YESS mounts on these drums.
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Pearl Export ELX, various colors.
Around 2004-2005, I also stared to collect the odd Pearl
Export ELX drums, getting them from Ebay.
I don’t really remember what compelled me to start this little
collection, but they ended up at my friend Emile’s house as a practice kit
before I sold them, probably around 2012.
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My little odd collection of Pearl Export ELX drums;
10”x8”, 13”x10” and 20”x16 with black hardware. |
Tama Stagestar bop kit in a blue wrap.
For my son Michael’s 10th birthday in 2004, I
bought him a used Tama Stagestar bop kit from Sam Ash in a blue wrap. This kit had 10”x8” and 12”x8” rack toms, a
14”x14” (I think) floor tom, and 18”x14” bass drum and a 13”x5” steel snare. It also came with some hardware, enough to
piece together a little kit; however, Michael soon chose guitar as his main
weapon, and the Stagestar drums just collected dust. (BTW, Michael still plays guitar, you can see
his stuff on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@leiflindwall). So, I probably bought back the Stargestar kit
from Michael, and I started bringing that little kit to practice. I think I finally sold the kit back in 2013,
minus the 13” snare, which I used as a practice snare.
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A Tama Stagestar bop kit; the kit I bought was a blue
wrap. |
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Made in Japan Stencil Kit, probably made sometime in the
1960s.
Sometime around 2010 (and this is a big guess), I bought a
Made in Japan (MIJ) Stencil kit, which was probably made in the mid-1960s. For those of you that might not know, a MIJ
Stencil kit was a Japanese drumkit, and according to a Google source (and I
believe this source to be reasonably accurate):
“The nickname "stencil brand" is because these
drums emanated from one of only FIVE Japanese companies du jour: Nippon
Gakki/Sakae (Yamaha), Hoshino Gakki/Star (Tama), Yamamoto (Gracy), and Pearl
Musical Instruments. American importers would coin a name and logo for a drum
brand, and in stencil-like fashion, these factories would create a badge and
bass drum logo head to brand the kits, which may be shared with many OTHER
stencil brands out there.”
The kit I got came from a garage sale; the guy running the
garage sale had a bass drum (without the front head) filled with assorted drums
and hardware, and I bought the lot for ten dollars ($10.00). I don’t remember a bunch of details, except
that it was wrapped in a blue sparkle wrap, and it may have been a four-piece
or five-piece. What I do remember is
that the tom holder was a genuine Ludwig double tom holder and bass drum mount,
which I sold separately to a Ludwig afficionado for $50.00 (and that was
apparently very cheap). Over the next
few weeks, I took off all the hardware, cleaned the shells, polished the
chrome, and put it back together, and I sold it for maybe $50.00. Kept me busy for a few weeks!
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Mapex Pro M “Micro” short stack kit.
Around 2011, I decided that I needed a smaller kit to drag
around to gigs. I found a Mapex Pro M
“Micro” short stack kit on Craigslist, and I picked it up, complete with
hardware, for $350! My kit was a green
lacquer kit, in some very cool sizes:
10”x5” and 12”x6” mounted tom, a 14”x7” hanging tom, a 13”x5” snare, and
a 20”x16” bass drum. On my kit, I
replaced the clunky Mapex tom holder with a Yamaha modular tom holder, and I
also used the Rims mounts for the toms.
I bought some soft cases; the 10” and 12” toms fit in one case, and the
13” snare and 14” hanging tom fit in another, so transport was pretty
easy! Nevertheless, I could never get a
satisfactory sound out of the 14” hanging tom, and I later sold the kit (and
regretted it of course!).
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My Mapex Pro M “Micro” short stack kit. This picture was taken at a Halloween party
we played in 2011 (I’m pretty sure) at the Mission Viejo, CA Elks Lodge. I still have the AlterEgo banner in my practice cave. Great memories! |
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Yamaha Stage Custom, deep red lacquer finish.
However, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, so around 2012,
I decided to buy yet another smallish kit, this time a Yamaha Stage Custom in a
deep red lacquered finish (which, incidentally, is one of the few kits that I
bought new). I remember driving all the
way up from my house in Irvine to Guitar Center in Hollywood, where they were
holding the kit for me; they were having a sale, and I think I bought the
five-piece kit for $569 or so. I played
the kit at gigs, and later it became my practice kit, then the kit that was
left behind at Emile’s game and practice room at his house, then back to my
practice studio where it still lives, minus the snare drum which I sold. (I like 13” snare drums, since I can get then
closer to the bass drum, so that the stick hits more in the middle, as compared
to a 14” snare; in the practice cave right now I use PDP snare drum that I bang
the living daylight out of…).
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A stock photo of a Yamaha Stage Custom Birch in red;
10” and 12” mounted toms, the wonderful Yamaha modular tom holder, 14” floor
tom, a 14” snare and 20” bass drum. I
still think this kit is one of the best values out there for drums; the
Yamaha overall quality, birch shells, great lacquer finishes and solid
hardware makes this a great beginner and semi-pro gigging kit. I still have mine that I bought in
2012(ish) as a practice kit in my garage practice studio. This kit you see here sells for $895 (in June
of 2025), so I think this is still a great value. |
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Drum Workshop Collectors Series, Black Badge kit, blue
fade.
As far as drums goes, around 2014-2015 I bought a used
four-piece DW kit for $1,100, complete with Protection Racket soft cases,
10”x8”, 12”x9”, 14”x11” (fast toms) and a 22”x18” bass drum. This black badge kit had been born in 2001
and came with its fair share of battle scars, but I spend some time covering up
the most egregious flaws, took it all apart, polished the chrome, added a
Yamaha modular tom holder (which would drive DW snobs crazy), and this became
my gigging kit. I also added DW floor
tom legs and brackets for the 14”x11”, to make it into a proper floor tom. I also bought a DW 13”x5” snare in a red
satin finish, which is now one of my gigging snare drums. However, when I temporarily stopped playing
back in 2017, I retired the DW (took it all apart and put it into its cases and
stored it in my garage). Nevertheless,
in 2023, I brought out the DW out of retirement and used it for a few gigs, and
I do love my DW kit! Even so, after I
bought my British-made Premier Genista kit, the DW is back in retirement,
safely stored in our little storage attic!
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Gig ready! In
this picture, I play the DW as a four-piece.
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Here is a video from May 2025, where I'm playing my DW kit as a four-piece.
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Taye Tourpro, black oyster wrap.
In 2021, at the tail end of the Corona Virous craziness, I
made what I thought was a great purchase, a Taye Tourpro five-piece drum kit
for 350 bucks! The kit consisted of a
10”x8.5” and 12”x9” rack toms, a 16”x16” floor tom, a 22”x18” bass drum, and a
14”x6” snare drum, all made from bass wood.
In my mind, Taye is one of the most underrated drums; this was a great
looking and well-made kit, and I proceed to take the whole thing apart, clean
the whole kit, polish all the chrome, put it back together, and then a few
months later, I sold it for $300! I’m a
lousy business man, that’s for sure!
Only issue with Taye is the funky bass drum mounted tom holder, which is
unusual. Anyway, whomever bought the kit
got a great kit, and I hope he still enjoys it!
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My Taye Tourpro kit, ready for sale! |
Eastar EDS-540 Bu bop kit.
In around 2021, I started playing with The Heartbeats (our
Edwards work band) and shlepping my drums Yamaha Stage Custom kit to practice
(we practiced at Edwards) made me think of buying a smaller kit, just for
practice. I found the Eastar EDS-540 Bu
bop kit in a Tony Williams yellow at
Walmart, and for $249.00, it was hard to resist buying this little kit! It had
some cool sizes (10” rack tom, 14” floor tom, 14” snare and an 18” bass drum),
and it came complete with all the hardware, and even a drum seat! So, I thought I give this little kit a look,
and I went ahead and ordered the kit. I
mean, for $249.00, how bad could it be?
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The Eastar EDS-540 Bu bop kit. |
Well, even though it was very exciting to get a new drum kit (even a low budget kit like the Eastar), one of the first things I did was removing one of the lugs. Unfortunately, the lugs on the Eastar are not cast; instead, they are made from a cheap sheet metal stamping, and the mechanism holding the lug screw insert was made from an equally cheap metal stamping. This, in my mind, equated to a very weak lug, which would probably not hold up to tuning in the long run. So, even though the rest of the hardware did look OK (and the kit would probably be OK for a kid, at least for a while), I decided to return the whole kit to Walmart the next day. That was the shortest time I’ve ever owned a kit, and as usual, you get what you pay for!
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Sonor AQX Jungle, blue wrap.
So, even after the Eastar disappointment, I was still
looking for a smaller kit for practice, and I found a really cool little Sonor
AQX Jungle kit at Walmart for some $500 bucks brand new:
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Sonor AQX Jungle four-piece: 10”x7” rack tom, 13”x12” floor tom, 16”x15”
bass drum complete with a riser, and a 13”x6” snare, all in covered
poplar. A great little kit! |
It was soooo exciting to get a new little kit; it came delivered in one box, and as soon it was delivered, I proceeded to put it all together. For the price, it is a really well-made kit, with Sonor’s signature heavy duty hardware, and I would recommend this kit to anybody looking for a little practice kit that you can fit in the trunk, and also bring to small club gigs. Unfortunately for me, I could never get a good sound out of the 16” bass drum (probably due to my poor technique) even with new heads, so the next day I returned the kit to Walmart. Dang it, another kit that I just couldn’t keep!
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British-made Premier XPK, Blue Lacquer.
I don’t remember what compelled me to buy the Premier XPK,
but sometime in late 2022 – early 2023 I found the kit on Craigslist, and I
immediately fell in love! This is a
great British-made kit, probably made sometime late 1980 - early 1990. A really deep blue lacquer; 10”x9” and
12”x10” rack toms, a 14”x12” hanging tom, a 20”x16” bass drum, and a 14”x5”
matching wood snare. As usual, I took
the whole kit apart, cleaned the shells, and polished all the chrome. I removed the mounting brackets from the hanging
toms, put Gibraltar RIMS mounts on the 10” and 12”, and used the mounting
brackets on the 14” tom for legs, to make the 14”x12” tom a proper floor
tom. I still have the kit, and with a
bunch of muffling, I use this kit for smaller, indoor gigs. It is soooooo cute, I love it!
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My British-made Premier XPK kit, set up as a
four-piece. |
Below are a few videos, featuring the Premier XPK kit:
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PDP New Yorker, silver with the 18” bass drum.
Nevertheless, my quest for a smaller kit did not end; I had
seen the PDP New Yorker, in a 10”, 13”, 18” and 13” snare configuration, but by
2022, PDP were no longer making that configuration, instead they had switched
out the 18” bass drum for a 16” bass drum in their New Yorker kit. However, around 2023, I found a used PDP New
Yorker in the old 18” configuration, so after driving for about an hour and a
half and paying some 350 bucks, I was the proud owner of a PDP New Yorker kit!
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My PDP New Yorker kit.
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My PDP New Yorker kit, on stage with Smack Dab! |
Even so, right now I play my Premier XPK kit for smaller gigs, so the PDP New Yorker kit is temporarily retired to our little storage attic. Doesn’t hurt to have a few kits in storage, right? However, I do play the 13” snare drum in my practice cave.
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Mapex Mars Birch, blood orange sparkle wrap.
So, in early 2024, I got an unexpected little bonus from my
job, and I immediately thought of a drum kit I could buy. Since I had owned a couple of kits with a 24”
bass drum in the past, I still have a soft spot for a 24” bass drum. I had found the Mapex Mars kit with a 24”
bass drum on Google, and since I had had a Mapex kit in the past, I thought I
would give it a try, and for $500 for a brand new four-piece kit, I think this
is a great deal for an intermediate kit!
The kit is a 12”x8” rack tom, 16”x16” floor tom, a 24”x16” bass drum,
and a matching 14”x6.5” snare drum, all in birch, with a pretty “Blood Orange”
wrap. A couple of weeks later, I special
ordered a matching 13”x9” rack tom (I had been warned by Drum Center of
Portsmouth that it would take about 9 months to get it, and indeed it did…),
which was delivered the day before Christmas eve, 2024!
Even so, I have yet to play the kit; in order to make it
playable, it is gonna need new heads, and also some new 2.3 mm hoops, since the
stock hoops are really thin.
Nevertheless, like all my other kits in storage, they are safe and sound
in the storage attic. Who knows, maybe
I’ll decide to start playing it!
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Mapex Mars drum kit, with a 24” bass drum. Only difference is the color; mine is the
Blood Orange sparkle. |
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My Mapex Mars 13”x9” tom, safe and sound in its box
and stored away in the storage attic. |
Sound Percussion Labs (SPL) Velocity, one blue and one
red kit.
So, sometime in the spring of 2024, after our usual Smack
Dab band practice on a Saturday, Kent the bassist and I decided to stop off at
our local Guitar Center in Laguna Hills, CA.
I think I was planning to buy myself another bag of drumsticks (I’m not
very particular when it comes to drumsticks, especially for practice); I
usually buy the 10 pairs of sticks for thirty bucks per bag, and bang
away. Anyway, as luck would have it, as
I walked into the drums section, what do I see but a brand new five-piece SPL
drum kit for 99 dollars!!!!! This was
the SPL Velocity Series, which had originally been selling at Walmart for
$599. This was crazy; you never see a
beginner kit with a 20-lug 22” bass drum, let alone a 14” x 5.5” 10-lug snare
drum, and actually very decent heads to boot.
Long and sordid story short, I ended up buying two of these kits, one
blue and one red, thinking I could resell them and make some money. How wrong I was! I eventually sold both kits at a loss, if you
count what I had spent in sales taxes and gas, but you win some, and you sure
lose some!
For the whole crazy
story, you can also check out my blog post “My Failed Investment Strategy… Only Crazy Drummers Think Like This (I
Hope)…”
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SPL Velocity in a red wrap, stock photo. |
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SPL Velocity in a blue wrap. This is the picture I used for my
Craigslist add. |
British-Made Premier Genista, Scandinavian Birch.
I have been in love with the British-made Premier Genistas
for a long time (these were made late 1980s – early 1990s, as far as I know); I
love the styling with the big chunky bass drum lugs, and their beautiful
lacquer finishes. So, when a gorgeous
four-piece kit in an Amber lacquer came up at Musicians Friend sometime in late
2024, I just had to have it! I was a
little apprehensive about buying something used from Musicians Friend, but to
my delight, the kit was boxed up really well with plenty of bubble wrap, with
no damage from shipping. This kit
consists of 10”x8” and 12”x10” mounted toms, a 14”x12” hanging tom, and a
22”x16” bass drum. As usual, I proceeded
to take the whole kit apart, clean the shells, polish the chrome, put DW floor
tom brackets and legs on the 14”x12” to make it into a proper floor tom, and
then put it all back together! Right now,
this is my gigging kit for when we play outdoors, and I love it!
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My British-Made Premier Genistas, set up as a
four-piece. |
Here is a little video I made explaining how I fit a Yamaha modular tom holder on to the Premier Genista kit:
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Sometime right before Christmas, 2025, I found a Premier
Genista (Taiwan) on Craigslist for not a whole bunch of money, $200 for a
four-piece kit. The kit had seen a lot
of gigs, and been stored away for a
while, given the grime and the rust, but I thought I could clean it up,
and hopefully resell the kit and maybe make a couple of bucks. This was a lacquer kit, 12”x9” rack tom,
16”x16” floor tom, 14”x6” snare and a 22”x18” bass drum. I spent quite a bit of time taking the whole
kit apart, cleaning it up, and polishing all the chrome. In the
end it came our really nice, and after putting in about $50 in parts and gas
money to pick it up, I sold it for $300.
So, at least I didn’t lose any money this time! Of course, all the hours I spent cleaning
polishing I didn’t get paid for, but it kept me out of trouble for a good
while!
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The Premier Genista (Taiwan) drum kit ready for sale
on Craigslist. |
Below are a few videos I made for my little YouTube channel, featuring the Taiwan-made Premier Genistas:
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Slingerland (USA).
So, in the early spring of 2026, and against my better
judgement, it was time to buy yet another drum kit. I found this old Slingerland kit on
Craigslist, for not a whole bunch of money, so I had to have it! The picture showed this red five-piece kit,
with the old (70s) style single-headed toms.
Well, $150 changed hands, and I was now the proud owner of
an old Slingerland kit with single-headed toms; a 12” x 8” mounted tom, a 13” x
9” mounted tom, a 16” x 14” floor tom, a 22” x 14” bass drum, and a 14” x 5”
steel snare. As usual, I proceeded to
take the whole kit apart, clean it up, polish the chrome, etc. etc…
For the whole Slingerland story, you can also check out my
blog post “Saving The Old Slingerland Single-Headed Kit!”
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The old red Slingerlands ready for action! |
Below are a few videos I made to kinda chronicle the Slingerland saga:
This is how it started.
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So, is this the end of the story you might ask? Well, being the inveterate Craigslist junkie
that I am, don’t be surprised if there are more drums and more updates to this
little blog post in the future. For
instance, with the exception of my Ludwig practice pad, I have yet to own a
Ludwig drum kit, something that needs to be rectified in the future, and
whatever the kit, if I find a good deal out there, then I gotta have it! Stay tuned!
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