We drummers preserve that the drum set was the defining invention of the twentieth century. By the Roaring ’20s, the marching drums borrowed from the parade floor had been taking middle stage within the outrageously syncopated new music known as jazz. Think about the sense of pleasure and of sheer anticipation!
It was clear one thing actually particular was taking place. And in that Jazz Age, the American makers Leedy, Ludwig, and Slingerland pulled out all of the stops and produced drums through the later ‘20s and early ‘30s that had been visible showstoppers, their beautiful magnificence unsurpassed to this present day.
On this swift chronological run-through, we’ll pick among the main modifications in end choices that drummers have loved—or tolerated—since then, by to the just about limitless prospects obtainable right this moment.
Tasteful Furnishings
Leedy was an early frontrunner, and its turn-of-the-century drums had been produced from strong walnut or mahogany. They had been crafted items with the staid seems to be of fantastic furnishings or classical stringed devices. However this was showbiz, and following the distress of Phrase Warfare I and the Spanish Flu pandemic, drum-making pioneers rapidly realized their designs ought to replicate the sheer delight of the brand new music.
Drums with extravagantly coloured finishes actually bought going across the center of the ‘20s. Leedy supplied its metallic snare drums in black or white enamel from 1924 and the next yr prolonged the look to its wood-shell drums. However this was only a prelude. Ulysses Leedy and his visionary sidekick George Method launched many firsts within the improvement of the drum set, and Method is credited as the primary to wrap drums in colourful plastic—of which extra shortly.
The perennial favorites (White) Marine Pearl and Black (Diamond) Pearl sat alongside stunning Crimson and Black Onyx and beautiful Rainbow Pearl. Ludwig was sizzling on the heels of Leedy with Peacock Pearl, Emerald Inexperienced, Marble Pearl, Lavender Pearl, and Turquoise Blue.
The erstwhile banjo firm Slingerland moved firmly into the drum enterprise in 1928 and instantly joined the fray with equally thrilling choices, together with Opal (Peacock), Sea Inexperienced, and the Coral Pearls, alongside many others. The much less standard and short-lived of those finishes at the moment are mega uncommon and really collectable.
Sparkle finishes, too, first appeared round this time, and it was widespread for makers to take ornament additional nonetheless by sticking diamonds of multicolored sparkles on to the fundamental end. It was a carnival of colour. However it didn’t cease there. The monster 28-inch bass drums of the time had been fronted with skins handpainted by factory-employed artists, typically depicting romantic Alpine scenes. Then, electrical lights had been positioned contained in the drum shells—to heat up the animal hides—making a magical stage presence.
Such was the novelty of those innovations that they had been referred to universally as Full Gown finishes. But that is nonetheless solely half the story. Probably the most celebrated of ‘20s drums are the brass-shelled snares, which stay on the pinnacle of the maker’s craft. Probably the most fascinating are the exquisitely hand engraved drums, notably the black-nickel-plated brass ones with intricately patterned panels. At this time we regularly bracket these collectively below the evocative title Black Beauties, whether or not made by Leedy, Slingerland, or Ludwig.
In addition to the shells, the brass hoops, too, had been typically engraved and resplendently completed with lacquered imitation Artwork Gold (Slingerland) or Nobby Gold (Leedy). Remarkably, a number of snare drums had been plated totally in 24-carat gold. Ludwig known as its model the Triumphal fashions, which appears a good description.
Contrasting Colours
In the meantime, paint know-how paralleled developments on the planet of plastics. The ‘20s noticed the rise of the car business, and the chemical large DuPont sped up manufacturing traces with new-fangled spraying strategies. Drum makers took up this new experience, which enabled satin-smooth shell finishes and the flexibility to fade colours out and in seamlessly. Twin-color fades appeared in Blue-Silver, Black-Gold, and extra.
Like many drummers, as a child I assumed the time period DuCo was a contraction of Twin Coloration, however in actual fact it derived from DuPont Coloration, acknowledging the provider of the paint. DuCo dark-light-dark shell fades had been standard by to the ‘50s, however thereafter they started to look quaint and had been demoted to student-line drums. Solely lately have multi-colored fades and bursts turn out to be enticing once more, now as high-end adornments and infrequently with glowing finishes.
Let’s get again to these early plastic wraps. They had been produced from nitrocellulose (aka Celluloid) and DuPont used the model identify Pyralin, from pyroxylin, one other sort of nitrocellulose. The pyro prefix is a little bit of a giveaway: these merchandise are flammable—which isn’t too intelligent when confined to fiercely sizzling levels with drums sporting inner lights.
Certainly, the flammable nature of Celluloid, utilized in movie work and wartime aerial reconnaissance, led to the event of flame-resistant options, together with the Mylar used for plastic drum heads. Inevitably, drum manufacturing was severely lowered in World Warfare II, as had been the flowery ending choices. It took some years to get again on observe, however within the meantime, Celluloid was slowly being changed by safer acetate.
At this time, drum makers use a variety of plastic supplies, and with out getting slowed down in industrial chemistry, it’s helpful to know somewhat of how the quite a few pearls, sparkles, and glitters are differentiated. Prepared?
Mazzucchelli in Italy and Delmar within the USA are main suppliers to all of the well-known drum corporations. This explains the similarity in lots of wraps, though they could have appeared with totally different names in varied catalogs over the many years. Traditional wraps had been of three sorts: pearls, sparkles, and glass glitters. That final one is precisely that—crushed glass suspended in a coloured substrate. The glass particles have ranged from fantastic to extra pronounced and gratifyingly lumpy (as with Rogers, Gretsch, Premier).
Sparkles are shaped from three layers: a backing, the sparkles themselves, that are principally silver flakes, and a coloured overlay that transforms the glint to the nominal colour—pink, inexperienced, blue, and so forth. Silver sparkle merely has a transparent high layer.
Pearls had been historically sliced from a big block of plastic supplies. Within the basic course of, the plastic is melted to a liquid in a big tank, after which otherwise coloured plastic items are stirred in till the specified sample is shaped. That supplied the striated sample of Oyster Pearls (from varied makers with varied names) or the raked zigzags of Slingerland’s Agate and Tiger Pearls.
The character of this hands-on course of explains why no two examples of wrap are similar—and in addition why it has been unattainable to re-create exactly among the authentic vintage designs. As soon as the fabric has cooled down, it may be sliced into skinny sheets, which simply occur to be 54 inches by 24. Probably not the perfect measurement for big bass drums, however Mazzucchelli evidently has no intention of enlarging its molds only for drummers.
The Second Traditional Period
Due to Gene Krupa and Buddy Wealthy, so-called White Marine Pearl was by far the most well-liked drum wrap till the appearance of rock’n’roll. With the prosperity and outrage of the ‘60s, classics returned and had been joined by psychedelic headache-inducing newcomers.
Ludwig’s well-known Psychedelic Crimson, Mod Orange, and Citrus Mod Pearls had been added to the Satin Flames of Gretsch, Slingerland, and Camco. These latter had been produced from polycarbonate sheets holding little prisms of sunshine, which gave a 3D impact. Sadly, although, they’re susceptible to scratching and cracking.
The ’60s—and into the ’70s—was additionally the time of chrome and copper (Slingerland) cladding, heavy fiberglass (Fibes, North, Staccato, Pearl), and see-through acrylic Plexiglas (Zickos, adopted by all people else). Ludwig went overboard with its Plexiglas Vistalite drums, which ultimately supplied a number of decisions of patterns and colour mixtures.
The ‘70s OAPEC oil disaster and new well being and security rules mixed to deliver these exotics to an abrupt finish. The later ‘70s downfall of prog rock in favor of down-to-earth punk was the ultimate straw. Punk drummers wouldn’t be seen lifeless with hippy psychedelic finishes. Plain black returned.
Sizzling on the heels of punk got here the Asian revolution. Earlier Japanese “stencil” copy-kits had sported gaudy—some would possibly say tasteless—wraps that right this moment have a rising kitsch enchantment. However the critical motion was began by Yamaha with its Recording Customized sequence, impeccably completed in Piano Black lacquer.
It struck me as a superb advertising stroke when Yamaha satisfied drummers that birch was one of the best wooden for recording, that plastic wraps had been stifling their drums, and that block-color lustrous lacquering was the one sonic alternative. It was onerous to argue with Steve Gadd as their entrance man.
Out went all of the wraps to get replaced by solitary black, inexperienced, yellow—and gray. Clear stains adopted within the ‘80s, nonetheless in single hues. And with the emphasis on particular timbers, pure finishes gained reputation all through the ‘90s. The introduction of unique hardwoods, from bubinga to jarrah to zebrawood, heralded the boutique and customized period of high-end drums, rubbed with oils and waxes, and possibly even French polished.
At this time we’re in a world of, frankly, an excessive amount of alternative. A look at Delmar’s website reveals boundless choices using versatile supplies that vary from the basic acetates to PVC and Sicobloc, to not point out TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) and ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, after all). The catalog’s Pantone colour chart guarantees the minutest of tinting subtleties, whereas any graphic design is feasible.
The latter-day kits of Neil Peart represented a benchmark for eye-catching extravagance. However for some, even they pale alongside ‘20s Peacock Pearl and ‘30s Silver Butterfly Wing.
Concerning the writer: Geoff Nicholls is a musician, writer, journalist, and lecturer based mostly in London. He performed drums on BBC2 TV’s award-winning Rockschool in 1984 and 1987 and wrote Byte The Music for BBC Radio 3, which gained first prize on the New York Radio Pageant in 1994. His books embrace The Drum Guide: A Historical past Of The Rock Drum Package (2007) and The Drum Handbook (2003), and he’s an everyday contributor to Rhythm journal.
