I have a Kester design Du-12 Flat Jack snare drum that is in excellent condition. I'm searching for fellow Flat Jack owners, or anyone who may know the value of this 1965 snare drum.

I typed in flat jacks in the search box.... looks like there are three or more owners who have posted...

I have purchased three FlatJacks in the last year, including a 14" snare that I recently acquired via ebay for under $100 delivered. I purchased a 16" snare and a 22" bass about a year ago as part of a larger group of drums from a local estate. I sold these two drums several months ago.

Based upon the little information available on-line and the few entries about them on drum forums, I do not believe that these drums have a significant amount of collectable value. They are very interesting from a mechanical standpoint and are certainly unique. There are a few people who are devotees of these drums. I will note that none of my FlatJacks are in pristine condition, so perhaps my view on value is slanted.

Rick

Hey Flat Jack drummers/collectors.

I recently created a central location for the Flat Jack history. I included a 1961 brochure from my collection.

Kester Flat Jacks

Anyone have a photo of him?, wish to send photos of drums? or add more history?

David

Hello Flat-Jax Owners;

My Name is Ray Coahran and had taken drum lessons from Ralph Kester

and also have one of his first Flat-Jax drum sets. Yas he made some marching Flat-Jax drums and Notre Dame marching band used these drums For about 2 Years. (I took lessons from Ralph from 1945 to 1953 in So Bend, Ind.) Ralph had a drum studio in So. Bend, Mishawaka and then moved to Dallas, Tx, and opened one there. All these studios were called "Drumland" and he had this copyrighted in the late 40's or early 50's. The complete set consisted of floor tom, 2 base mount toms, snare drum, base drum. All the drums were mounter on the bass drum bar plus there was a cow bell, wood block holder that also mounted on the bas drum bar. All this fit into one lgr.

case and was pretty heavy. Usually the staps would break or the handels come off because of the weight.

He married a lady named Ann and moved to Fl, He also had 2 daughter.

I can'tThe Band remember there names. I lost track of them when he passed away.

Ray

Good to have you on the forum. We have another former student on the forum also. I took all of the Flat Jacks posts and put them together.

In the last few days I just started a tribute page to his drums. It would be great to get a photo of him and more history. So if I can post your comments on the page it would be great.

Flat Jacks

Thanks

David

Hi David; Yes it is OK to use my info. I hope it is helpful. I starded playing drums obout the age of 7 and took lessons at school for a while, Ralph moved to Mishawaka in the 40'sand opened his drum shop called "Drumland" and had it reg. He was always inveting different types and set ups for several yrs. He had developed a set that your bass petal was striking the dr.head from the floor up. He had a 3 piece set that he used for a while and then started developing the Flat Jack set. Before he past away, Ralph offered the dyes to ths set to me, but I was not able to continue the mfg. of them. I'm 75 and still use his kit. I have a BIG Ludwig set that I use with the 5 piece group now play with. Have played 20 yrs. w/them

D' DrummerD' Drummer

David; If you e-mail me, I have a couple of pictures of Ralph and a catalog of his Flat Jacks. I'll be glad to send them to you if you like. E-mail me at

Ray C

I just added the photos and catalog that Ray sent to me for the web site. I really appreciate the original photos and the catalog.

This makes the Ralph Kester page very personal for me to own them.

Enjoy!

David

Ralph Kester Flat Jacks