Great thread!!! 18-12-14 bop kits are my FAVORITE! They are near and dear to my heart, my favorite sizes to gig...I've bought and sold LOTS of 18-12-14 kits, as well as kept a handful. Someday when I'm done dealing in vintage drums, my plan is to have a collection of 18-12-14 kits left over. Gretsch, Rogers, Ludwig, Slingerland, Camco, Sonor, Premier...they all have unique properties with their 18" bass drums that set them apart.

The first bop kits I ever heard were two Gretsch RB sets that my first teacher kept in his basement, and used to teach lessons. After that I was on a search for one, and looked for 15 years without finding one I could afford. I found a blue sparkle Ludwig Jazzette kit that wasn't quite the Gretsch RB sound I was looking for, but still very special and awesome on its own, and that led me to buy any Jazzette kit I could get my hands on! Most have been sold, but I still have the blue sparkle one.

In the past few years I've been very fortunate to find 3 Gretsch RB bop kits that I could afford.

The first is this brown set...it's an original Gretsch finish that was custom ordered in 1968 by Ron Davis, who was Chuck Mangione's drummer at the time...these appear on the back of the "Chuck Mangione Quartet" album cover. The finish is a brown lacquer on top of a clear plastic wrap. These are my favorite sounding and feeling drums to play, and they have a special connection for me, since I grew up in Rochester where Ron, Chuck, and many other musicians in that circle came from.

[img]http://www.classicvintagedrums.com/gb1.jpg[/img]

The next set is a 1958 3 ply 18-12-14-4.5 kit that I found on craigslist. The seller couldn't sell them at a garage sale for $1000 or best offer, not could he find a buyer at an estate sale! He finally resorted to craigslist. So far I haven't seen another original all 3 ply bop kit 18-12-14 in it's original wrap. I'm sure they're out there, I just haven't seen one. These sound beautiful, especially with all the original calf skin heads. Very warm, fat, singing tone.

[img]http://www.classicvintagedrums.com/red_bop.jpg[/img]

The last is a kit I recently got, and is a "holy grail" for me. Early 60's, 18-12-14-4.5, original Burgundy Sparkle. Near mint condition, all early 4 digit serial numbers. These also sound stunning, and all of the heads fit easily.

[img]http://www.classicvintagedrums.com/burg_bop_02.jpg[/img]

Sorry I couldn't pick just one...thanks for letting me ramble on about my favorite subject!

-Bill

Damn, man! Too cool.

That chocolate milk brown kit is a thread-ender for me! I really like the look of that one! Hey, Bill, wanna trade?

Bill, my friend, all 3 of your gretsch kits are awesome!!! thank you for sharing them!!! WOW!!Bowing

I'm absolutely loving the Ludwig Combo hybrid that I've been slowly putting together for the past year or so. It's a Combo set from 1965 (12" tom and 20" bass), and I added a 12x15 1966 marching snare with bowtie lugs as a floor tom, all rewrapped in blue peacock satin. (Excuse the incomplete bass hoops -- it's a work in progress.)

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=14835&d=1269748268[/IMG]

My 13/16/22 RBs are very much rock drums; they're deep and low and require a bit of punch to get them to really open up. The Luddies, on the other hand, sing with just a tap. I can play lightly, with thin sticks, and they still resonate for years. Love 'em!

It's funny -- the conventional wisdom is that Luddies are the consummate rock drums, while Gretsch cornered the jazz market. I seem to be doing it backwards. :)

I'm not much of a jazzer, although who knows how things might have turned out if my cousin would have sold me his Gretsch set when I wanted to start playing? I know that he got it in the late '60s when I was 7 or 8 because I noodled around on it every time I visited my aunt.

It was a BDP (or something like it) 12-14-20 with round badges. The 12 clipped on to the BD hoop. His only cymbal was bass-mounted. Since he wouldn't sell, I was forced to look elsewhere and wound up with a massive concert tom set of white Slingerlands.

I suppose the statute of limitations is up, so now it can be told: I borrowed these drums from my unsuspecting aunt (Cousin Harry was 1,500 miles away) in the summer of 1982 when I was having work done on the Slingerlands and gigged them with a rockabilly band. It was one of the best gigs I ever played with that band ... the parts were the same, but the sound and feel were much different.

The guitarist, one of the biggest Stones fans known to man, implored me to find a way to keep those drums. I told him that if my cousin was interested in selling them to me, he would have done so in 1977.

The drums are still in the family. My cousin had them refurbished at Columbus Percussion in the '90s and gifted them to one of his nephews. My contribution was a Slingerland Yellowjacket pedal.

I'm a funkster that plays on a jazz kit. Early 60's Camco 12x20/12/14 w/ 5x14 in burgundy sparkle!

[IMG]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x246/dolfan54/Drums/IMG_0584.jpg[/IMG]

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great stuff Kapperdog. i've got the very same kit with some of the original hardware and 2 slightly smaller rack toms( 6x8 and 8x8)----looks to me like you are using a 9"? i agree that the weak spot is the kick but i have played around with different heads; am currently using a pinstripe marching head as a batter and a DW self muffled head as resonant. this is the best combination so far ; the drum has about as much punch as a mediocre 20 with less throat.i lap skin heads as well and do have in stock an entire buck skin ready and waiting to be cut. these are a little thicker than most calf so this may be the ultimate ticket. i will let you know.

Actually, it's an 8" maple Taye rack tom mounted on my cymbal stand. I never had the original rack toms. I'm still looking if anyone sees them. I watch eBay but, I think they are pretty rare.

I even talked to Buz King a couple times about getting some and he didn't have any. He did mention he was thinking about doing a re-issue of the same set if he got enough interest.

I told him I would be good for 1 or 2 sets. I'm sure I could sell a couple for him. I have never seen anything that compares in size and sound.

Since I am up to about 15 vintage sets and only gig twice a week, I don't play the King much because it seems I always have something new to take to the gigs. LOL

I still have 3 sets I've never even played. LOL

The set that does it for me is my 1965 Sonor set 14x18 bass,8x12 and 14x14 toms.4x14 matching snare...But i also have a pick of a few Rogers ,Camco, Ludwig,Slingerland sets.. But the Sonor is the best...Mikey