Drummer Boy?

[xiaoyao]

Has anyone heard of a company or a line of drums called "Drummer Boy"? Found a set for sale, but can't find any info on it. Looks like it could be vintage 60s or 70s, but hard to say really. Maybe just a local, individual drum maker?

Here's a link to the Craigslist posting:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/msg/1704240893.html

Thanks - new to the forum - pretty cool

Dave

[O-Lugs]

Never heard of the company but it looks like a good deal for solid maple shell kit (if that's really what it is). They aren't what would be considered "vintage" by today's standard definition. That price is probably pretty fair if that's what you're looking for. They appear to be high-quality, well-made drums from what I can see. Welcome to the forum!

[Zach94]

is that whole kit single tension? no lugs?

[jonnistix]

Can't really make it out, but those appear, from what I can see, to be free floating shells, not single tension. Anyone else see that?

[lucky]

Welcome to the forum, snag those!

[xiaoyao]

hi - thanks for your responses. the owner says they have a "brass rod system and thumb screws instead of conventional lugs" but he can't determine how old they are. Hopefully I will have a chance to get down there and check them out, cause it does look promising from the pics

[O-Lugs]

The dimensions and badge, alone, suggest that they are not more than 20 years old. No vintage drum sets were made with 20 X 18 bass drums. And the simple rectangular screwed-on badge suggests a small shop operation -not a well known company. That's why you can't find any information on them. It's not very likely there was even a catalog printed with these drums. This was a phenomenon that started up in the 90's when small shop "boutique" builders sprang up everywhere. Many of these drum sets are very high quality, but just not desirable to the vintage drum collecting faction. But, for a solid shell maple kit, that's probably a good price.

[xiaoyao]

Thanks OLug - That's pretty much what I was thinking. Probably would have to do a search in the state licensing dept to find any info on when the company existed.

[wayne]

A lot of those builders only ever made 1 or 2 kits and realized how much went into them compared to the return.Unless you have financing or a line of credit,working out of your pocket would never pay off in the long run...Remember a company called Woodstock Drums?.They made stave shells when they started getting popular,and they looked great,but soon disapeared.

[O-Lugs]

Hi. Yes, I agree. There were countless hobby builders who had "companies" they ran out of their garages -literally. The downside is that there is no enduring historical value attached to any of those kits. The upside (many times) is that they are usually well-built/finished drums due to the fact that all the work is done by one person who can take the time to get all the little details right. And that was often their selling angle, too.

It's difficult to say what the tuning system is from the pictures If the lugs are not anchored in some way to the shell, then it is a single-tension system -where the top and bottom heads are simultaneously tensioned when the thumb screw is turned. I'm not sure what ramifications this has on getting the widest possible tuning range, but I'm sure the idea behind it was to try and allow the shells to "float" between the two heads and make it a "more active participant" in the overall sound. If you have the money and the inclination for such a thing, then they might turn out to be real gems! I'm very curious about it. Let us know if you decide to nab that one.Burger Kin