Howdy! I am Eric from Northern Indiana. I have been into music since I was a kid, took 10 years or more of classical guitar lessons, purchased a cheap PDP kit to play in a punk/metal band 6 years ago and have been drumming every since. I still play guitar, but my main focus has been on the drums. I have been into vintage instruments forever. Currently I have the drums listed below, a '76 Epiphone Genisis, an early 60's Harmony archtop, and an unknown vintage Airline 6W tube amp (I love my Airline).
I recently purchased my first vintage kit from a second hand store locally. It was labeled as a '66 Pearl Arbiter, but little things I have noticed have led me to believe it is something else. I am not quite positive yet as to what it is exactly...but it is older. They all have the silver scripted Pearl logos, no signs of any other logo or badge. They all have a matching blue diamond pearl wrap that looks killer, the hardware is showing it's age a little but functioning. The tom mounting hardware is gone, but was replaced with a Ludwig rail mount which I really like. Once I figure out how to post pictures I will drop some on here and perhaps figure out exactly what this is. Not that it matters much in the end, they sound killer and will be used just the same. I also read somewhere on here about finishing the inside of the drums to help with something...I dunno. I have some digging to do. I would like to finish the insides though...I think it really finishes everything off. I would like to find some original hardware or good quality repops to replace some/most of the hardware too. I think this kit and I will have a good long friendship.
I also have a small array of vintage Ludwig drums in my basement that are waiting for me to put a kit together. I have a nice '59 gold sparkle 26" kick, a '65 white pearl snare that I use with the above mentioned "Pearl" kit in my blues band, a few other gold sparkle marching toms, and a 28" gold sparkle drum that I wanted to convert to a kick.
Other newer drums include my Gretsch Catalina Birch kit, some other cheap-o free kit I got for moving someone in that I mainly use to scavange hardware from, and another unknown kit where the wraps were removed and the shells were stained. The PO did a horrid job, they look like crap. I laced some heads on the toms though and they sound good...REALLY good. They may make a good practice kit at home in the future. They also came with a few handfulls of extra hardware, extra hoops, extra legs and tom mounts...well worth the $30 I spent on it!
