Howdy All,
I am the new and very happy owner of a late 20's/early 30's Walburg & Auge' drum kit! It needs a ton of work, but by the time I get through with them they'll look like they just left the factory. Lots of dirt, dust, rust and restoring to do, but this is an old and very rare kit and well worth any $ and effort I put into it. The kit is Marine Blue Pearl and it is in really good condition. No breaks, no marks, or burns on the wrap - it is clean and perfectly aged.
The kit is composed of: a whopping 14x28" bass drum, 16x16 floor tom, 14x14 floor tom, 7x11 and 9x13 rack toms, 14x5 snare. (see photos) The kit is from the late 20's/early 30's based on what little information on early W&A drums I was able to find on the Internet.
The Story:
Every once-in-awhile something incredible will appear in the For Sale section that is a freak of nature... this kit is one of them! Last week a first time poster stopped by the site just to advertise a drum kit he had for sale. I was fortunate enough to spot the ad shortly after it posted.
The ad was for a vintage W&A kit (6 drums,) for $600. No photos. I pm'd him right away and a few hours later he sent me a bunch of photos of the kit. I 'almost' soiled myself when I saw what they were. Needless to say, I -immediately- called the number he provided me and we sealed the deal. Really nice and interesting guy too! His name is Gus Mazzocca, he's the 'second' owner of the kit. It was his first drum kit that his dad bought for him (used) in 1950. It turns out that Gus is a Print-maker! He's a well-known modern artist and he was a professor at the University of Connecticut for 30 years! It really was fun to meet him and he was a pleasure to do business with. Everything went smooth as silk.
It turns out that it would have cost me about $600 to pack and ship the kit (6 drums plus a monster 28 bass drum,) interstate from him to me. That's when my buddy, Glenn (FER428) stepped in and volunteered to pick up the kit for me and meet me half way. This transaction was only possible for me because of Glenn. His help made it do-able. The man spent 5 hours on the road today just to do me a favor. Don't worry, I really hooked him up! He didn't want anything for doing me the favor, but I took good care of him anyway. Good guy, not many out there like him. Big heart. Below is a photo of Glenn and me. My wife dubbed us, 'The Squatch Bros.'! I guess we do look a little 'Squatchy' with our scruffy grey beards! It was a gas to meet him. I'm only sorry that we didn't have enough time to hang out. His son Dan, who played chauffeur, has a gig tonight, so they had to hit to hit the road again right after the exchange. We're planning to hook up for the next Delaware Drum Show in February so we can spend some time together. The whole adventure was a blast, fun and exhausting!
Here's a shot of Gus standing by the drums right before they left his house: see below
Here's a shot of the Squatch Bros! Glenn & myself. Freezing our as$es off in Clifton, NJ. see below
"Before" photos of the drums will be in the next post. Watch this space for progress reports. I'm going to do this one right!
John
