Hollywood Drum kit

[123batterie]

Another shot of my drum kit.

[beatlesfan325]

color is black oyster pearl

[Jaye]

AMAZING !!!!!

You hardly ever see a complete vintage Meazzi these days !

Several weeks ago, some music store on eFlay auctioned a few orphan pieces and then that same week another guy in LA auctioned a snare.

I missed the snare in the first auction (some SOB outbid me with 4 seconds to go ), and wasn't going to be denied in the second. I have it now, it's taken apart and I just rec'd some original Meazzi parts from a wonderful gent in Germany who, along wit a friend, acquired a bunch of spare parts when the company ceased operations.

Oy....this first post is over a year old.....123 are you still around ?

That is a real beauty...tell us a story. How long have you had it ? How did you come to get it ? Do you know its provenance before you ?

Is the FT a tympani FT ? Are the t-rods standard or hexagonal ????

How many plys are the shells ????

I am curious. My snare is a 2-ply maple (yes, I am sure...I checked it w/ a magnifying glass).

[O-Lugs]

Wow! I really love those Meazzi Hollywood kits! They are really unusual and gorgeous. Thanks for posting!

[jimbo.s]

Originally Posted by Jaye

AMAZING !!!!!
You hardly ever see a complete vintage Meazzi these days !

Hello Jaye, 123batterie, O-lugs and everybody else, it´s my first post here.

I agree, they are rally rare.

I´m a Swedish drummer, and I have managed to get my hands on a lovely Holly President kit, finish "Legno Ondulato"
(which means something like "Waved Wood"), looks like some black/brass oyster.

My kit cosists of a 20 BD, 13 tom, 16 FT (No, not the Tympani-FT), and a dual strainer (!) 5x14 SD.
All T-rods are hex-heads, M5-thread (Like DW I believe ?? ),
and those smart hooks that attaches to the unholed DieCast hoops.
(Just loose the rods 2 turns - fold them out - replace head - tighten 2 turns - fine-tune - ready ! Clever !)
The issue is the hooks, they are made of some cast Aluminum,
and are a bit brittle (tends to break if You tune the drums way up high...)

Sadly one of the throw-off/adjustable butt was removed (why ??) a long time ago.
The bass drum has holes for two cymbal arm holders (Buddy Rich-style), but there is only one holder left
(why do people remove things ?? )
The L-arms is also missing, they are probably the hardest thing to get, besides the L-arm-Holder.

I haven´t any good pictures of the kit yet, but here´s a link on a close-up on the snare:
(hope it works)
There are some more pix on the left, the lowest one is from the advert from where I bought it.
The other pictures is on the things I´m missing - although I have managed to find a throw-off
(a bit rusty, and missing the long arm, I have to make one), and I´ve also found one adjustable butt.

Jaye - do You have any pic´s of Your Meazzi snare ?

[Jaye]

Hi Jimbo.

Sounds like a fabulous kit. Since you are in Europe, if you like I will give you the contact information of the guys who got me the replacement parts for my snare (it was missing some parts). There is a thread on it at this site:

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=6210

I love the finish wrap on yours...Meazzi had such cool wraps ! Yes, you have the hinged lugs, very cool.

Can you describe the shell construction of all of the drums ? How many plys are they ? What kind of edges ?

[jimbo.s]

Jaye, You can give me the contact info on the PM, it´s much appreciated, thanks a lot !

I´ve read your thread about Your snare, it´s a nice piece.
Only 2 plies ! Cool finish, and as You say : "it's a damn good sounding snare".

My drums are all 3 plies with no re-rings, no laquer inside, very thin resonant shells.
Very responsive drums, dry woody tone.
I guess the edges have a lot to do with the dry woody sound,
since they are very rounded, the way they used to make drums for calf skin heads back then.

A friend played my snare, he is (or at least he was) a drum collector (mainly Ludwig but he knows them all), he thougt it sounded like the old Gretsch-snares !
I don´t know, I´ve never played any Gretsch snare yet, (I do have a 60s RB-kit, but without the snare drum), but the Holly-snare is a really good sounding piece.

One issue is that I have some problems with tuning my FT.
I have to squeeze the head on to the shell (Remo Amb), and thats probably why I get much overtones and less "core".
I have to measure the FT-hoop, to see if pre-international heads will fit.
I had to move the kit to my rehearsal basement in town during x-mas,
so I can´t measure it right now.

My youngest daughter (she´s 13) had a brilliant thought when I had to move the kit :
"Grandma has a piano in her living room, why can´t we have a drum kit ? A drum kit is so much cooler."
You gotta love her, even if she´s a teenager

[Jaye]

PM SENT

All I have is the snare...unfortunately, I do not own a whole kit...some, day, maybe....

The FT head fit is too bad....I know that the Ludiwig coated heads have the most flexible head rings of all heads made....I have used those at times on vintage drums which could not fit other heads. Of course, Ludwig coateds are not as responsive as Ambassadors...so you may solve one problem at the cost of another.

But...if they are not difficult to find in Sweden, you may want to try one sometime and see if it helps the situation at all.

How about a piano AND drums in the Living room (then all you'd need is an double bass)...

[avedis82]

nice!
ten years ago, i had a hollywood set with kind of a rack with wheels on it! everything was attached to the rack... and it was the same colour as yours

[Jaye]

I take it you sold it ?

if so...please tell me you got good money for it...

I cannot even IMAGINE what you are talking about regarding the rolling rack tom hardware...do you happen to have an old picture ????

It sounds ....trippy....