John, you have a North set, don't you?
I know North drums have little to do with cocktail sets, but I saw a beautiful, mint-condition ( I think) yellow Nexus-configuration North set, Italian era but with North lugs (not Fibes) for $950. The bass drum flares out in a bell, but doesn't have black trim. Should it? Also, do you think $950 is a decent price if I am looking at the set as an investment that might give me a decent return if I sold it? it has 6,8, and 10" toms on the original mint condition rack (I guess those racks don't stay mint long), and 12 and 14" floor toms. The 12" floor tom seems to be an anamoly, since the 12" toms I've seen in the catalogs seem to have been mounted, but the hardware on the tom is all original and must either have been a later option or a factory special order. There is no snare, but I've heard the snares sucked anyway and really aren't collectible.
Thanks for your help!
FW
North drums question for John (or anybody)
North Drums
Hey Willy,
Sadly it is time for me to part with my North Drums : > (
If you or anyone else is still looking you can check them out on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :L:DS:US:8
John
Sadly it is time for me to part with my North Drums : > (
If you or anyone else is still looking you can check them out on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :L:DS:US:8
John
North Drums
Hi Dinkus,
You are so right about parting with unique stuff! It is hard but these are drums that have basically been in storage for a couple of years. I HAVE used them on gigs but either as a 4 piece or with 3 (not the full 4!) rack toms. They are big, and heavy (the antithesis of cocktail drums!) and funny shaped (hard to find cases) and completely worth the effort for the right gig but I just don't find myself using them and we have a LOT of drums in our small Brooklyn apartment (my wife is a drummer too).
As far as wether they 'suck' or not... Consider this, they are made of boat grade (and thickness) fiberglass and are single headed! Let's just say the drums don't have much resonance : > ) but the attack projects like crazy with the funnel pointing out towards the audience. They sound cool, but not what one would call a 'refined' drum tone.
My fantasy for a while was to make a single cocktail drum (24x14 or so) and finish it the same as the norths and then rig up the 3 small toms around it! Now that would have been cool.
For those not familiar with North Drums, here's a picture:
You are so right about parting with unique stuff! It is hard but these are drums that have basically been in storage for a couple of years. I HAVE used them on gigs but either as a 4 piece or with 3 (not the full 4!) rack toms. They are big, and heavy (the antithesis of cocktail drums!) and funny shaped (hard to find cases) and completely worth the effort for the right gig but I just don't find myself using them and we have a LOT of drums in our small Brooklyn apartment (my wife is a drummer too).
As far as wether they 'suck' or not... Consider this, they are made of boat grade (and thickness) fiberglass and are single headed! Let's just say the drums don't have much resonance : > ) but the attack projects like crazy with the funnel pointing out towards the audience. They sound cool, but not what one would call a 'refined' drum tone.
My fantasy for a while was to make a single cocktail drum (24x14 or so) and finish it the same as the norths and then rig up the 3 small toms around it! Now that would have been cool.
For those not familiar with North Drums, here's a picture:
-
fw
Hey John!
I do check out ebay once in a while for Trixon or North sets, or for a tiger's eye pearl 60's Japanese floor tom for my wife's set (let me know if anyone has one!), or for any matching Slingerlands or Ludwigs to augment my other sets.
I saw yours a few days ago online. They look really cool! I've never seen the beige/white combination before. You have a pretty rare color code, and could sell them for more if you found the right buyer. That's the trick, though.
Marc Attinasi at
http://home.earthlink.net/~northdrums/
bought the yellow injection-molded plastic Nexus set I almost bought, and apparently, he just sold it. He put some pictures online on that sight. He runs a yahoo group at
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/northdrums/
which isn't nearly as cool as this site, but operates on the same premise--a forum for people who like weird drums. It's just that not as many people love their Norths the way we love the cocktail sets. Still, you should post to that site, or email Marc himself. You have a very rare set, and he might be interested or be able to get you in touch with someone who is. The white ones and black ones are all over the place, and red seems to be pretty popular, too. The yellows I almost bought were kind of rare, but they weren't fiberglass. The two tone combinations are more rare, and out of the two tones, black with white is the most popular. You might have the only beige and white set left in the world. I don't think they kept the beige color when they sold the company to MTI and started making them out of plastic.
The set I played would have been an amazing heavy metal or hard rock set. The bass drum was one of the most powerful I'd ever heard, and the 12" tom sounded deeper than my 16" floor toms. The ones I played had nice resonance, and the tone was very clear and projected well, but without that resonating head, they didn't sing or have any complexity. But for an era when the idea was to have a lot of concert toms on a set and get one tone from each drum, I think they were probably the best drums available. They do what concert toms should do better than any other set I've heard.
With the yellow set, I thought it would be funny to make an eighties synth pop, Duran Duran style band, and match the drums with black Paiste colorsound cymbals and black Simmons pads.
I did notice there is a small but significant return to concert toms brewing....
Good luck moving them!
Will
I do check out ebay once in a while for Trixon or North sets, or for a tiger's eye pearl 60's Japanese floor tom for my wife's set (let me know if anyone has one!), or for any matching Slingerlands or Ludwigs to augment my other sets.
I saw yours a few days ago online. They look really cool! I've never seen the beige/white combination before. You have a pretty rare color code, and could sell them for more if you found the right buyer. That's the trick, though.
Marc Attinasi at
http://home.earthlink.net/~northdrums/
bought the yellow injection-molded plastic Nexus set I almost bought, and apparently, he just sold it. He put some pictures online on that sight. He runs a yahoo group at
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/northdrums/
which isn't nearly as cool as this site, but operates on the same premise--a forum for people who like weird drums. It's just that not as many people love their Norths the way we love the cocktail sets. Still, you should post to that site, or email Marc himself. You have a very rare set, and he might be interested or be able to get you in touch with someone who is. The white ones and black ones are all over the place, and red seems to be pretty popular, too. The yellows I almost bought were kind of rare, but they weren't fiberglass. The two tone combinations are more rare, and out of the two tones, black with white is the most popular. You might have the only beige and white set left in the world. I don't think they kept the beige color when they sold the company to MTI and started making them out of plastic.
The set I played would have been an amazing heavy metal or hard rock set. The bass drum was one of the most powerful I'd ever heard, and the 12" tom sounded deeper than my 16" floor toms. The ones I played had nice resonance, and the tone was very clear and projected well, but without that resonating head, they didn't sing or have any complexity. But for an era when the idea was to have a lot of concert toms on a set and get one tone from each drum, I think they were probably the best drums available. They do what concert toms should do better than any other set I've heard.
With the yellow set, I thought it would be funny to make an eighties synth pop, Duran Duran style band, and match the drums with black Paiste colorsound cymbals and black Simmons pads.
I did notice there is a small but significant return to concert toms brewing....
Good luck moving them!
Will