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Your Very First Kit???

Started by jokerjkny, January 30, 2003, 12:18 AM

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jokerjkny


gdawson44

I got it in a seedy pawn shop. I had a (don't laugh) brown sparkle Ludwig, all concert toms, and a Roger's steel snare with Camber cymbals. I didn't have any hardware so I mounted the cymbals on drumsticks  taped to PVC piping and jammed this contraption upright in my bed frame.

felix

I got mine for free.  My parents wouldn't let me have a drumset.  They wanted me to play piano (boy where they ever right).  So I hustled the contraband kit in my room and sequestered it away!  It was a red sparkle japanese mahogany 3 piece.  It was all broke up, stud ripped out of the kick, busted snare mechanism etc.  I used to put the snare in my lap to play since I didn't have a stand.  I had a krut cymbal, no hat and one mounted tom...I played that for almost a year, my grandma then got very ill.  Before she died she told my dad to get me a drumset.  He bought me a Tama swingstar kit which I thought was the most beautiful thing in the world.  It had a zildjian hi hat and a paiste cymbal.

The rest is history.

Carn

Well, my friend is an awesome drummer, and I wanted to give it a go, so I worked alot for a year, got me a Tama Swingstar...and that is still my one and only set :)

boose44

Summer of '69. A 5 piece set of Pearl's Tiger's Eye with a chrome snare and hardware.

Gad, but Pearl's were cheap back then. The tom mounts were nothing but a slotting plate bolted to the drum. A far cry from today's optimounts.

History has come full cirlcle though, as this weekend I'm going to try to pick up a set of Pearl Master's Birch.

-bruce

TBfan

i`m still playing on my first kit. i just bought new pedals cymbals and heads except my ride .... thats the original old one..... paiste alpha series.
it is now 11 years old. "Sonor Force 1000" i think it is called; my drum teacher bought it for me;

paul

My first kit was a 4 piece white marine pearl Slingerland with a pair of Premier bongos and hard cases.  It also came with 13" hats, 18" medium crash, and a 22" medium ride, all Zildjians.  The ride has been a mainstay for me since getting the kit in 1963.


felix

That is just an awesome photo paul

Paul DAngelo

Very first?  Same one I have now.  

Bought a used '65 Ludwig set in '67, then added toms, second bass drum, etc.  Still play the Ludwigs at home although I acquired a set of Pearls that I use for gigging.

It's old but sounds good and is loveable:

http://members.cox.net/pdrums/ludwig_drums1.html

search64

I still play my first kit with some additions. It was a black Pearl Export with Sabian B8's and I absolutely loved it. The B8's were my first irritation so I saved up and exchanged them for K's. By that time I had already bought me a double Iron Cobra. I ordered two toms 8 and 10 inch, and they arrived at the store about two months ago, but I can't afford them :D. (But I'm going to win the lottery this month.)

Tony

My first kit was Japanese made and consisted of bass drum w/ black wrap, a blue sparkle tom, a red sparkle floor tom, a Slingerland student snare that I had gotten for lessons, and Camber hihats, crash and ride.  I played that kit until I was 15.  Along the way, I stripped off the wrap and painted the wood with exterior latex house paint. ;D  What did I know at 13?

BigBillInBoston

My very first kit was an old (1940's?) set of professional-level Slingerland Radio Kings (with pedals and cymbals) that my Dad bought for me in 1960 when I was in 7th grade from a retired guy who lived in the next Iowa small town over from ours. Huge BD, beautiful black marine pearl finish, all cymbal and tom mounts bolted on to the BD shell. BD had multicolored flashing lights in it!! I "traded in" (I expect for practically nothing) this kit towards a new set of Ludwigs in 1963.

I'm sure those Radio Kings would be worth very good money to vintage collectors today...Oh well.

The Ludwigs (gold sparkle, 20"bd, 8x12 tom, 16x16 floor) I had until about a year ago when I sold them on Ebay. I kept the Ludwig Supraphonic snare (which still sounds great although I have others now as well). I also kept all the A Zildjian cymbals I bought in '63 (15 hats, 20 ride, 18 crash/ride and 18 sizzle) and I still use them today. The link below shows the Ludwigs just before they were sold on ebay.

http://www.ofoto.com/PhotoView.jsp?collid=96183139105&photoid=15918292205&UV=976981741753_41759292205&refreshkey=1043937071591

BigBill

felix

That kit still looks in great shape Pops.

Paul DAngelo

Quote from: BigBillInBoston on January 30, 2003, 07:48 AM
I "traded in" (I expect for practically nothing) this kit towards a new set of Ludwigs in 1963.
Just checking out your sets.  Super nice Yamaha set.  

Being an old Ludwig-er though, I noticed that your gold set is just about the same as my blue sparkle kit  ('65), except the bass drum spurs are different.  Everything else, lugs, mufflers, tom mounts, are the same.

I always loved Ludwig's Chamgagne Sparkle.  Ginger Baker used to play a set of those and I thought they were beautiful.

timmin

Tele-Star roolz like Ozzy!  ;D


My first full-sized kit, I got when I was 15 and I was finally serious about learning the drums. It was a 5-piece kit with no name brand anywhere on it. One of the kick-drum spur brackets had "made in taiwan" stamped on it. Then I added the 4 CB700 concert toms to make it a 9-piece kit. I thought I was Neil Pert by this time. ;D I had an 18" krut cymbal and a set of hi-hats that had no name. When you stomped the hi-hat pedal too hard, the top hi-hat cymbal would turn inside out.


BigBillInBoston

PDrums, your correct about the similarities and differences. Originaly my kit had both "telescoping" spurs and a telescoping BD cymbal arm. I think '63 was the last year for these. The inflexibility of adjustments in the cymbal arm bugged me so I replaced it with the one shown in 1965. I also moved the BD tom mount assembly higher on the BD cause I'm tall. (I am "BigBill" after all  :) ). However, these two "adjustments" which left the dreaded "extra holes" in the BD probably cost me a couple hundred $'s when the drums were sold.

BigBill

Paul DAngelo

Timmin - Looks like you were one of them "hippie" kids with that long hair!   ;D

BigBillInBoston


Paul DAngelo

Quote from: BigBillInBoston on January 30, 2003, 08:03 AM
However, these two "adjustments" which left the dreaded "extra holes" in the BD probably cost me a couple hundred $'s when the drums were sold.
I've got the dreaded "extra holes" in one of my Ludwig kick drums as well.  I'll probably have them forever, so resale value won't be affected!

Thunderbolt1000T

My first kit was bought in fall of 1973. It was a silver sparkle Slingerland. snare, bass, ride tom, and a hi-hat stand, with hats, and a cowbell. $250.00 from a newspaper add. Within a couple years, I moved up to a used red sparkle Ludwig, four piece, with crash, and ride cymbals. I remember how happy I was to have that extra tom, and extra cymbals Made me feel like a pro! Ahh, youth. ;D