Dixie Drums

[Bharrington]

I was wondering, is anyone familar with the brand, Dixie? I played these drums learning, so did my dad when he was young. I'll try to get some pics up as soon as possible. But they remind me of slingerland, they some type of maple rerings and actually might be mahogany inside. The lugs on all three drums are the single double sided lug (Ludwig Club date style, Steamlined style lugs) The badge is a simple chrome looking sticker (I think) that says "DIXIE" on it. Sizes were 18"x14"(maybe 12"), 12"x8", 14"x5.5" snare drum. The snare was a black pearl wrap, the other drums a blue glass glitter. Anyone?

[Rich K.]

Dixie was a low end, student model...I'm pretty sure they're imports from the '60s...not really collected. I've seen a few that had 14 x 18" bass drums with center lugs.

[DrCJW]

Bharrington, Rich K.:

Right, Dixie was one of the many OEM brand names made by Pearl in the 60s - 70s. Pearl pretty much "modeled" many of their designs after Slingerland at the time, so many similarities.

DrCJW

[mcdrummer]

My first drum set was a Dixie. I bought it at Drummers Paradise in Buffalo, NY. This was a retail outlet of the Kent Drum Company. At the time Kent was buying shells from Royal drum company of Japan. I believe Royal was Pearl. The Dixie drum set that I had was an beginner kit. I got it around 1970. It was 3 pc (sn.,tom, bass) silver sparkle and it had a Dixie logo on the bass drum.

[poppy79424]

I snagged this off of ebay last month. I thought Dixie was japanese.

[gretsch70]

Hi all. I just purchased a Dixie drum set tonight. It's a beautiful marine pearl. 20", 12", 14". Infact, it still looks brand new. I still can't get over as to the condition that it's in. Not a rust stain anywhere.

The Dixie logo does look a lot different than the one I saw on this thread.

Pictures to come.

[NewDecade]

Hey Poppy - I gotta ask - how is your Dixie snare? Didja have to do much to it? Any particulars?

[dde]

Dixie was a low end, student model...I'm pretty sure they're imports from the '60s...not really collected. I've seen a few that had 14 x 18" bass drums with center lugs.

I actually seen a silver sparkle 16" dixie bass drum at an old music store. I remember seeing a brand new old stock Dixie blue sparkle tom as well. This was about 7 years ago.

[teverson-sr]

"Real"branded Pearl drums used these lugs for a relatively short period of time.I bought some Dixie mounted toms(same color) to augment my Kent BDP's,probably 72-73.Luan w/o rerings.This seems to be the second type of badge-there is an earlier oval Dixie badge,also like the earlier oval Pearl badge.The Pearl history website shows drums with this style lug-maybe Revelle?

[OsakaBop]

Don`t listen to `em when people say "low end"- I`m 100% sure that some nice heads and good tuning will make some vintage Dixie drums sound just fantastic. A little love all around them, maybe a little bearing edge attention if they need it. If you are buying, because they are a stencil brand you should get them cheap- but that should automatically mean they`ll sound cheap. I`ve seen some really beautiful Dixie drums that sounded top line. Fiberskyn 3 FAs top and bottom on the toms, a nice Evans EQ3 or EMAD on the bass drum, Remo Emperor coated on the snare- tune them up and you're in business.

[BARFO]

Funny that there is a post on Dixie Drums. When I was around 10 years old
('77), my folks bought me my first set of drums, Dixie. To this day, I have no idea where the snare and floor tom are, but I do have the bass drum and rack tom. It is black/gray marble wrap. I do, however, have an old Slingerland snare that I've had for years and don't remember where I had gotten from. I'm wondering if that snare came with the Dixie set, hmm.

[poppy79424]

I have a dixie snare that look like your discription. Do you have a pic of your dixie's?

Funny that there is a post on Dixie Drums. When I was around 10 years old
('77), my folks bought me my first set of drums, Dixie. To this day, I have no idea where the snare and floor tom are, but I do have the bass drum and rack tom. It is black/gray marble wrap. I do, however, have an old Slingerland snare that I've had for years and don't remember where I had gotten from. I'm wondering if that snare came with the Dixie set, hmm.

[NewDecade]

Hey Poppy, I saw your Dixie snare further up the thread - how'd that turn out - did you do any tweaking?

My red crushed glass sparkle is pretty cool, though the bearing edge was pretty rough & nasty, plus the throw is a problem - it seems to not have enough play to be full on & full off - it's kinda one or the other - i.e. if it's full on, it can't fully clear the reso when switched off ~ and to get it to be full off, the snares don't sit tightly enough when kicked on. Maybe a better snare set?

Nevertheless - I dig the "ruby slipper" look Yes Sir

[OsakaBop]

Nice drum! New Decade sounds like it`S a candidate for a little snare bed tweaking and edge work. Looks exactly like a Pearl Valencia snare with a Dixie badge- I`m sure you can make that snare work. Good luck with it. We a few threads on snare beds on here- you probably know already. Sumo Dude

[NewDecade]

Nice drum! New Decade sounds like it`S a candidate for a little snare bed tweaking and edge work. Looks exactly like a Pearl Valencia snare with a Dixie badge- I`m sure you can make that snare work. Good luck with it. We a few threads on snare beds on here- you probably know already. Sumo Dude

An interesting thought OBop. When I broke it down to fix it up, I could see that the edges were just horrible, very uneven and rough. However, I was impressed that it even had snare beds. In contrast to my Ludwig Standard snare, which has next to none - odd that. Yet my Luddy has no such problem as the Dixie.

After some careful tweaking, I got the bearing edges evened out, leaving the beds smoother but intact. Maybe they were originally cut too deep? I'll have to search the snare bed threads.

Whenever I get around to some new snare wires and new heads, I'll give it another look. I just figured that the throw was less than a precision instrument here. Regardless of how far the lever moves, it seems to just need a shade more play to get the snares clear - an 1/8" or so. Weird.

But, when the snares are on, I love the way the thing pops, it's got great character. I dig it! Cool1

[vintage drum bug]

Wait a minute guys, I remember seen some info about German drums called DIXIE, Im I right?...
I can't recall if it was on this forum or not. Something about a single man operation (A la Blaemire) whose drum were labeled DIXIE,West Germany...
Could anybody confirm this?...

[NewDecade]

VDrum Bug ~ You apparently are somewhat correct re: Dixie & Germany, although I've only seen that relating to cymbals so far :

http://home.mnet-online.de/cymbalism/cymbalism/cymbals/series/Paiste.html#dixie

I don't know if that goes for drums too. But here's something to add to the scattered information :

http://cgi.ebay.com/vintage-USA-Dixie-snare-drum_W0QQitemZ190377216802QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVintg ae_Drums_Percussion?hash=item2c535dcb22#ht_500wt_1 008

Every little bit helps Yes Sir

My personal thoughts on "Dixie = Nippon" ~ have come from my belief in the absolute inerrancy of the Mighty VDF!

Soap Box Either a clearer, greater truth is afoot....
.... or what you allude to is heresy Eye Ball Eye Ball Eye Ball LoLoLoLo

[jonnistix]

Wow, that does look like a Rogers shell, and from what period? This example has the old 20s-30s style strainer and bottom hoop, is this correct? I'm pretty sure that by the 60s Dixie was an MIJ stencil. This Red Glass Glitter that New Decade posted is, with very little doubt in m y mind, a Pearl made snare. And yes ND, that strainer is less than optimal. I would replace it with a new Pearl model, the P-85 style. The holes will not align, and you will have some work and filling etc. to do but in your case, it is not going to have a negative impact on value, and likely will have a positive impact on both playability and value.
(I have saved the pix here for posterity)

[poppy79424]

Actually I haven't checked it out. I guess ill get it out and check it.

Hey Poppy, I saw your Dixie snare further up the thread - how'd that turn out - did you do any tweaking?

My red crushed glass sparkle is pretty cool, though the bearing edge was pretty rough & nasty, plus the throw is a problem - it seems to not have enough play to be full on & full off - it's kinda one or the other - i.e. if it's full on, it can't fully clear the reso when switched off ~ and to get it to be full off, the snares don't sit tightly enough when kicked on. Maybe a better snare set?

Nevertheless - I dig the "ruby slipper" look Yes Sir

[NewDecade]

jonnistix says "Wow, that does look like a Rogers shell, and from what period? This example has the old 20s-30s style strainer and bottom hoop, is this correct?

WOW Indeed jonnistix - (even though I saw the eboy post - i didn't connect it) Now that you mention it - That shell does look related to Rogers as the seller stated. My dad's old 1950s Champion (made by Rogers) snare looks
v e e e r r r y similar to that USA Dixie. Similar strainer, too, although dad's had the wire wrapped gut or silk snares and hide heads.

Bummer that I don't have any pics - it's a future resto project, but here's a page from Gary N. at the Rogers forum. He was kind enough to point me to his 1957 catalog post :

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb198/GaryN_photo/5727.jpg

My dad's snare is the top center "Student" - he had the whole "Student" drum outfit (middle right of page) - I have most of it intact, though some bits are lost at the moment.

Too freaky if dad's old Champion/Rogers was a proto-USA Dixie granduncle to my MIJ electricit

As for my MIJ throw - I've been fudging w/ it - I've improved it a bit with some readjustment, but the right set of new wires would help a bit more. I'm such a baby crawl2 at this. I'd like to keep 'er original for now.
I guess the throw is like a fake Zoomatic.