My first kit

My Father (a classical Oboe player) wanted me to learn the accordion but I hated the idea and failed miserably at that. I had been listening to Shocking Blue, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, all of whom my father hated! I was mesmerized by the drum and bass combination. I had to learn how to make that exciting sound for myself.
My father relented but insisted on my taking lessons from a drum Tutor, Gordon Dougie. I was in despair being forced to learn snare drum rudiments, mama-dadda's and parradiddles, trad jazz was not where I saw myself heading. Funny how life goes I love that style now! I remember throwing several tantrums when I could not grasp what Gordon wanted me to learn.

Back in 1972 I bought my first kit, a red Trixon. It cost me the princely sum of $50.00 NZ, a real bargain!
It had a Ludwig speed king kick pedal and a pair of Premier copper timbales and Premier stands. Cymbals were Zynn 14" hi hats (which turned inside out), a Krut 16" crash and a zyldjian 20 inch ride (with a crack which had been repaired with a hole drilled to stop the tear).
This kit (pre international) featured calf skin heads which by then were becoming difficult to find.
I learned a great deal about tuning!
I found this photo on the net as I have no surviving images of my particular kit.
This kit is very much the same as mine with identical wrap.















From the Trixon catalog late 1960's


















I wanted real volume so my next kit was a Hayman like this one. I bought this from someone going overseas in 1976. Again no surviving images though the kit was exactly like this one though a little beaten up.



















Seeking yet more volume, in 1978 I bought a Stainless steel on fiberglass Fibes kit from Frank Gibson Snr at Drum city Balmoral. It had previously belonged to Brent Eccles of the "Angels".



From the 1972 catalog





















Then in 1989 when living in Helensville I bought a Slingerland kit like this
off Gabriel (our postman).





















Slingerland produced a choice of vinyl wraps in 1976. My kit's finish was raised embossed vinyl, patterned in golds the same subdued green tones as in the image below called "Green Aztec."





























On reflection this kit remains my firm favourite for tonality. I wish that I still owned it. I improved it with the best cymbals I was ever to own and eventually sold it back to Gabriel to pay an overdue tax bill. I wonder where it is now?


1/2 size red Aria kit 1991 was purchased to get me back into playing at next to no cost. A child's sized kit it was no match for my hard hitting style so it had to go.


Tama Swingstar I bought from my sign writing colleague Mark in 1992.
One other of my colleagues decorated it for me in his traditional Samoan tapa design in cnc cut vinyl over the gloss black wrap. It looked sensational and very Polynesian. Again no surviving pictures. It was a very versatile kit which I learned to play sweetly as well as my harder style.










My last real kit 1998 was a Drum Workshop, champaign sparkle, 4 piece (with Sabian cymbals) just like this one. This kit was purchased from Frank Gibson Senior of Drum City just before he passed away. It cost me close to $5.5K, the most I have ever spent on an instrument.


I didn't get to play it much as in 2001 I developed Rheumatoid Arthritis which badly affected my wrists. It was sold when we moved to our Northland home in 2005. Drums faded into the past for me while I learned a new instrument, the acoustic bass guitar.

A new matching snare drum for my kit

I recently bought an additional snare drum from TradeMe.

The listing read:

"This drum started it's life as a Pearl Free floating shell - was converted to a snare by Bruce King using 16 Slingerland lugs. It has COB hoops and except for not having a zoomatic strainer, looks exactly like the real thing. In excellent condition. Fitted with coated pointsripe and active snare system. Comes with a hard case (a hard plastic briefcase which is converted to a drum case).















This is a very nice snare drum, so I decided to sell my Yamaha Stage custom 14 x 5 inch.
Here's the original catalog image from 1973.

Link to more information about the Buddy Rich 4 x 14 inch snare.






















Now my kit looks integrated with snare and toms matching the Maple hoops of the bass drum and most importantly it sounds great.

Now that Julie and I have moved house we have set up a large music studio in the loft with plenty of rehearsal room.

My Cahon and I have a live gig

Richard Adams Nigel Gavin

Last Friday night Julie and I traveled to Kerikeri to meet up with Nigel Gavin and Richard Adams for a performance at the Marsden Estate Winery.

Nigel and Richard opened the evening with a couple of ethereal pieces before inviting me to sit in with them (literally) on my cajon.

We blended well, very quickly, with the cajon directly plugged into the PA system.
Plenty of bass, very little midrange and a tiny bit of treble gave us a very commanding drum sound in the mix. The AKG mike does the business again.

I had a blast, the audience did too!

Vintage Ludwig bass drum pedal restored

The bass drum pedal project is finally at a stage where I've been able to attach it to my old bass drum and get a feel for how it plays.




















I designed a different pedal to beater link from the original link rod.
After noticing the wear caused by the rod link to all the three connecting pivot holes in the brass castings of the foot plate and the fulcrum beater clamp, I decided to bolt a pin through the pivot holes. I then fabricated a stainless steel bow strap. All the tension and friction is now transferred to the pins which distribute the load and the wear to replaceable components.
Every modification I have made is reversible in the event that this old pedal becomes a museum piece at some future time.



















Now that I've secured the leather beater to the shaft there are now no loose parts and the pedal plays noiselessly. I installed a new spring in the pedal post and tensioned it to my liking.

Surprisingly the pedal plays very well. It takes some getting used to as the foot plate is relatively short by comparison to the modern pedal that I have been playing. The short foot plate means that only the ball of my foot fits on it. Keeping my heel on the floor the pedal is relatively lively and responsive. The beater is lighter than my modern felt one which means it has less mass and will therefore alter direction more quickly.



















I have come to like the aged look of this pedal so I've decided not to nickel plate it after all. Some of the steel components are quite badly pitted with corrosion so I have simply wire brushed these items and coated them with boiled linseed oil.

My Cajon has a microphone

Last week I fitted my AKG C411L active microphone into my Cajon.

This mic is designed for stringed instruments, in my case I had used it in my one string skiffle bass for around 10 years but I have found that it is also suited to the tonality of the cajon.

As always placing it in the sweet spot is the secret to getting a good sound.
















The AKG, 9 v phantom power supply and preamp fits neatly against the outside left panel of the box attached by velcro strips. The 1/4" Jack plug from the amp plugs into the the microphone power supply control box. The mic output lead is connected via a 3 pin Cannon plug set into the box back panel, that way I can remove all the exterior gear when not in use and transfer it to my one string bass which has the same mic set up.




















In my cajon I found that the microphone sounds best placed just above the port at the rear of the box. The microphone is secured with contact gum inside the cabinet at the 11.00 o'clock position at the inside rim of the port.

Played through my 50 watt Jansen Bassman tube amp with its 4 x 12" speaker quad box it sounds huge and very convincingly kick drum and snare like.

Drum kit complete

That's it I'm ready to go.

The fiberskyn arrived in the mail from Auckland along with a new 14" 6 lug rim.

The Tomtom was an old pearl export shell which had been modified to take floor tom mounts by my old friend Tony Parker.

Tony had removed the original wrap and unsuccessfully attempted to stain the maple shell.
I sanded the shell back to the bare wood and laminated a plug to fill the hole left by the removal of the metal bass drum mount. I then finished the shell with a number of coats of boiled linseed oil. The plug infill looked a bit obvious to me so I selected a copper penny that I have been keeping and soldered a brass stud to the head side, sorry Elizabeth! The coin is a New Zealand penny from the year of my birth, 1957.














I found a chrome bezel from an old door lock set and set the coin into the bezel, a perfect fit, then screwed the assembly through a small hole drilled in the plug. The whole thing has concealed my repair and looks like it was meant to be there.

The hardware went back on after which I fitted the new skins and tuned them.
I tune my tom skins equal tension top and bottom.