Correction! George Meecham ( I wrote Norm ) ran the factory. He seemed like

an old school fitter & turner guy , who also did the brass band instrument repairs

on a bench right next to the shell molds which were on the second floor of the factory. The fittings were made by an outside metal shop, stored in bulk at the factory and nickel plated in lots as required. The most common problem was Scottish pipe band snare drums coming back with the lugs stripped clean off because they tuned the things so high . I also was there when they made the silver Navy ceremonial drums and every ounce of metal had to be accounted for during the process, even filings ! Morrie's star student Barry Harvey of course went on to be the drummer in seminal Aus band Chain.

I'll scan the catalogues I have and post em sometime.

I remember stripiing lugs like that. Used to take a week and a bit to get all the tension on. We would have them screwed down so tight the bearing edge was above the rims, so we would pack a rim from a busted head underneath.

Well I am almost there,this is my 1969-70 Drouyn restoration. I have known this kit for over 30 years and although it was handed to me in a bin(bad bad condition) I am very happy with the outcome. Initally this kit had a black pearl wrap which was damaged so I decided to expose the original timbers Queensland maple and rose alder and sympathetically restore.This kit had various aftermarket mounts screwed into the shells which have been removed and the holes filled with QLD maple, all lugs where salvaged and rims except for bass drum were cleaned and reused.The Bass drum hoops were destroyed so I had some new ones made.This kit has been reskined with Remo suedes and sounds amazing (Huge) This kit is about to do its first paying job in 10 years,Icant wait.

This is the reason I love this site,I see things here I have never seen before.the restoration kit looks great,Like those lugs and love the badge, it is really distnctive,never seen one that shape.I think I would recognize that brand if I saw one from 50 feet away now.The wood is beautiful too,and this was a covered kit. The grain on the tom looks kind of porus like mahogany to me.Which drums have the queensland maple and rose alder? Or is it an inside outside ply thing?

Great restoration. I've moved back to Sydney now - if I'm down your way I may drop you a line and come in for a look. And if you ever decide to part with them, let me know. Damn, those lugs were inspired by Premier.....

I am glad you like it,the rose alder is the inner ply and QLD maple is the outer visible timber. This is a unique kit, masive bottom end if tuned low but if tunning is high it sounds bright with a lot of attack very cool for jazz. 9 lug floor tom. I will try post some better pics. Next job is matching some older sounding cymbals.

Not a problem but I dont think Ill be in a hurry to part with these treasures.

I cant get over the sound. Cheers

Howdy all,

Nice restoration job thedrumhead777! I have the exact same kit (except in a 6 piece config) sitting in my garage waiting for restoration. I have started on a few of the toms but have been carefully sanding them back for quite a while now (not wanting to take too much of the shell away). I've almost finished one of the shells and they are being stained in a red mahogany finish then sealed. How was the condition of your original hardware? Did you get the pieces electr-plated at all? If so, approx. how much per lug / hoop?

Cheers,

Zeyn

another Aussie drummer who used Drouyns for a while in the early 1980's was John Prior from Matt Finish.

Here's a clip featuring them:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKX5rbsvZu0[/ame]

That's a stupidly deep rack tom....