what was your first drum kit & when did you start playin

ratatattat · Post by **ratatattat** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:50 pm

Hi everybody, I was just thinking about my first set of drums my mother purchased for me second hand from the local newspaper for my 8th birthday. They were mixed up finishes, a late 20's 28"Ludwig Bass drum in blue & silver duco, with a ludwig 5 x 14 snare drum, student model in wmp, & a duplex 10x13 tom. The bass pedal was cast iron I think, I promtly broke that & replaced it with a used ludwig speed king. anyway I was just wondering when & on what did everybody here learn to play on.

mangorockfish · Post by **mangorockfish** » Sat May 06, 2006 4:56 pm

1961. Red sparkle 3 pc. Sears & Rareback set. My mom co-signed for me to finance the $100 so I could make payments. I was in the 7th grade and never looked back.
Mango'

ricky · Post by **ricky** » Sun May 07, 2006 11:08 am

My first kit was a late 60's early 70's Slingerland bass and toms and a cheap cb percussion chrome snare.The hardware was real rickety from what I remember.The cymbals I clearly remember being older A Zildjians...one was a crash /ride ,they just had the stamp logo in them and at the time I had no idea what kind of cool older cymbals I had.I traded the kit and cymbals for cash...wish I never did.I ended up buying a tama kit with some of the money.

PETER · Post by **PETER** » Sun May 07, 2006 11:24 pm

I use to play rented drumset during my school time(Age:13)Roger,Premier,Ludwig etc.At the age of 15 I got my 1st drumset that's Tama Swing Star(Red Colour).It's a present from my Dad.My girlfriend(my wife now!)present me a 6pcs Tama Concert Toms at my 16's birthday!

hehe!

Dinkus · Post by **Dinkus** » Mon May 08, 2006 5:40 pm

My first kit was a blue sparkle Champion kit. Kick, snare, tom splash. Parents paid $75.00, a month later they realizes that it would cost more to upgrade after I busted a few parts out and purchased me a 5 piece Dixon kit with hats and ride. I kept the ride until last year I gave it to a kid just learning. About 8 months after that I took a loan out for $3000.00 to buy a Pearl kit (a 12 yrs old) made $125.00 a month with a $113.00 month payments. I quickly became a gear junkie. Damn parents created a monster.

Dinkus

multiperc · Post by **multiperc** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:34 pm

My parents' 'leading' also had a big affect on my first drums and all those that followed. My first 'kit' was a sheet metal, mylar film, spring tensioned toy drumset which I smashed to pieces within several hours on a Christmas mornning.

My next first was generously given to me by an old family friend who had been a swingin musician of sorts as a young man in the 1920s. The drums were peeling black lacquer and I was given his 28" Radio king bass drum, a 10" Gretsch tom and a 14" Radio King 'floor' tom (it had a 3-armed cradle stand) All calf heads, and a pair of 12" stanople hats. The toms had tacked bottom heads. Where was the snare?? There wasn't one...

After recieving my first proper drum on my 12th birthday (a ludwig supraphonic) I took it upon myself to make the 'blue sparkle' drumselt of my dreams (you lucky bastard, Dinkus) - I took the old drums apart, ripped off the bottom tom heads and proceeded to attack the nude shells with alternating layers of blue and silver spraypaint. I should have been put away for that....or at least grounded!

I visited the old friend ailing the hospital years later and thanked him for his generosity. He passed away not knowing what carnage his drums suffered in my hand but knowing in his heart that he had inspired a young drummer.

dickdog · Post by **dickdog** » Mon May 08, 2006 8:00 pm

A 4 piece red sparkle tempro, that i kind of took over from my brother. 2 years latter I got a 4 piece gold sparkle tempo for my birthday. Less one of the snares, I painted them black, and I thought I have the badest 7 piece drum set in the world. Oh yes the 70s

ratatattat · Post by **ratatattat** » Tue May 09, 2006 9:30 pm

cool y'all, that's what I'm talking about!!

JGove33 · Post by **JGove33** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:22 am

1998. I was 12...a little later than most people. I played a few instruments before I picked up the drums...hence the late start. My first set was a $100 single-headed 5-piece CB-700 set...I still have it up in my attic. It's champagne colored. It wasn't the prettiest set, but it was a great starter.

-Jeremy

multiperc · Post by **multiperc** » Wed May 10, 2006 1:36 pm

Jeremy
I was 11-12 when I started too (although that was decades ago) and drums weren't my first instrument either - here's to ya, brother!
That single-headed kit sitting in your attic sounds ripe for a conversion project! Could be an ultra portable micro kit - and with a champange finish to boot!

JGove33 · Post by **JGove33** » Fri May 12, 2006 9:47 am

Yeah, I've been debating about maybe converting it. I just converted a basix set to a micro-kit/expresso-type kit. So, we'll see...I've gotta take some pics and get my stuff up on here.

-Jeremy

fw · Post by fw » Sat May 13, 2006 2:16 pm

The year was 1987, I was in 8th grade, and I got a 70's silver colored CB700 5-piece--12/13/16/20. The bass drum only had twelve lugs total. Ha ha. I still have the cymbals--amazing 70's hollow logo A. Zildjians--14/16/19. In '99 I recovered the drums in black and grey fake fur. I sold them a few years ago to one of my students. The best thing about those drums--I learned everything about tuning, head choice, and drum repair from them, since they were impossible to tune and broke all the time. I miss them.

Oh, my second kit was funny, too--in '93 I got a red Remo Legero set so I could tuck my drums under my bed in my dorm room.

'62 Slingerlands from there in '98 along with a dk10, my cocktail set in '02, and my ridiculous silver sparkle Ludwig marching drum kit now (10/15/15/26).

tikifreak · Post by **tikifreak** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 6:16 pm

It was spring of 1984. I had finally moved from the parents house, and it was time to get a drum kit - something I had wanted since I was 5 and heard The Beatles records playing in my big sister's room. (NOTE: the folks were not about to let me play drums in their house, with me and my siblings they had all the noise they could handle! I did get to play sax in the school band, though.) My friend, Phil, had his eye on a big new set of Ludwigs and so I purchased his old set. An approximate 1975-vintage Ludwig Vistalite (clear) standard setup: 22" kick with 12", 13", and 16" toms + 14" clear snare, all with the olive and blue badges. In late 1985, I sold these to a used music store for $100., now (of course) they are collector's items! Thankfully, I kept the 70's-vintage vintage Zildjian hi-hats, which I have used ever since.

The next kit was a 1976 Premier, same sizes, but in white (wood) and with a second floor tom (16" x 18" or 19" deep!). I stiil have and use the Premier "2000" model snare, with the special parallel-throwoff snare mechanism. Those drums sounded pretty good but the tom mounts were not very strong. I sold them to my nephew in 1998.

Next up was a 1996 Pearl Export standard kit (same sizes). I couldn't pass it up at a garage sale for $100., including a hi-hat stand and two cymbal stands. This was my set until I discovered cocktail drums last year. Now that my cocktail kit is almost finished, I wonder when I'll ever play the Pearl kit again.

I played my first gig with the cocktail setup on June 21st at Summer Solstice Celebration. It's still not completed (some custom hardware is in work at machine shop), but is playable as is. When it's done, I'll be submitting photos and a complete rundown. I'm very proud of what I've assembled, and have gotten nothing but compliments on it's look and sound. Less (to carry) is more!

cocktaildrum.com