one thing i do miss about a regular set of drums............

ratatattat · Post by **ratatattat** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:41 am

Is the Logo bass drum head. In the past I have always decorated my front bass drum head. I am a sign & billboard artist for a living so I have always had the means to do this easily. I have done many for friends etc. With the upright cocktail ya can't do this. Unless I decorate the shell (don't think I'd do that!).

ratatattat · Post by **ratatattat** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:48 am

multiperc · Post by **multiperc** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:29 pm

Really cool stuff you've done with your drums.
And OMG.... Tell us about the kit and cymbals in the last pic!!!!

ratatattat · Post by **ratatattat** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:47 pm

The last pic are my old radio kings. I picked up the bass & snare as a set at a flea market about 20 years ago for the lofty sum of $50.00. They are a student set that was black & silver duco laquer originally, but when I bought them they were painted over in blue sparkle spray paint, hardware & all! I stripped them, but there was no way to save the original finish, so I painted them. They glow in the dark. I never thought i would actually play them out. I added the toms some time later. I traded a classic series ludwig big maple kit for the 2 toms in black diamond pearl. they sound really tubby & powerful & I really hate to drag them out. Thats why i got into cocktail kits!!
thanks!
mike

ratatattat · Post by **ratatattat** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:49 pm

all of the cymbals are zildijians.

multiperc · Post by **multiperc** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 8:17 pm

Wanna hear something amazing?

I had to read your post a couple of times to let it sink in.....but

I may have told this story in another post (your first drum kit?) but for brevity sake, I was given a partial set of radio king/gretsch drums from a family friend who judging by his death in the 70s, must have been drumming as early as the 1920s or so. I'll never know about the drums because they're long gone - I, as a foolish 11 year old, wanted to modernize the old calf-skinned drums and blue sparkle was my mission. I painted over the entire kit, but was too excited about the results so I hastily removed only the heads and rims. All else was a sloppy coat of dark blue which I followed with a haphazard treatment of silver spray. It got to be such a mess that I then handpainted the lugs in the same silver. Shame on me. I'm so grateful to the gentleman for giving me his even-then antique kit, and also happy that he never saw what a mess I made out of them.
If I handn't trashed them several years later, and if they were slightly different (lugs, toms, probably sizes), this might have been the kit you resurrected. But no.
I guess I wasn't the only disrespectful kid around at that time!

I've since found a similar aged kit, but with a gretsch bassdrum (single tension) and single headed 9x13 and a radio king snare all of which were water damaged and purchased in 1980 at a garage sale for ......$50!!! No shit. I now know better and have partially restored them.

Very Nice drums, ratatattatatat.

The chinese cymbal is so very cool. What exactly is it? And do you still have this kit?

multiperc · Post by **multiperc** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 8:18 pm

Oh, and what size is the bassdrum? Mine is 14x27. I just don't know what to do about that when the original calf heads go south.

ratatattat · Post by **ratatattat** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:38 pm

14x26"bass drum & yup
i do still own these!
the 20" china is a zildijian "china boy high" as it is printed on the cymbal, I think it must be from the 70's.
I've had it since the late 70's I think.

cocktaildrum.com