BLACKNESS

How many times has this happened already? I see something interesting, covet it, the deal falls through or I reluctantly pass, then find something much better shortly after.

JB Music was on a major "Handog" sale last month, and the markdowns on the new Pearl Sensitone Heritage series caught my eye. PhP12.9k for a 14x5 aluminium, and 13.7k for a 14x6.5 aluminium was an extreme bargain. I don't have an aluminium snare yet, so this looked like my chance. But the more I looked at my existing snares, the more I hesitated. I'm pretty much covered for sizes, and I never set all of them up the same time anyway. So after weeks of rumination, I finally let the sale pass. 

Two days later, I saw what looked like a 14x5 Black Beauty, the legendary black nickel on brass snare from Ludwig, in the FB marketplace at a price I could afford. Research on the seller seemed legit. He was a regular Japan surplus seller based in Pangasinan, with everything from fishing poles, to camping tents, light furniture, guitar amps, amateur keyboards, and a few drum related stuff. He showed me a correspondence with another customer, Moon Fortuno, who was getting a high-end double pedal at the same time. I didn't hesitate anymore. I pounced! It arrived two days later. 

I took it apart after the prefatory disinfection, and found two things. 1) It had no lug gaskets. The previous owner must have removed it to get more resonance. Fine with me. It's easier to tame an overactive instrument than a dead one. 2) Just like my Oak/Maple Hybrid, old Ludwig throw offs are problematic. In addition to it coming with the much-maligned P85 throw and P33 butt panel, one of the lock screws of the throw had a loose thread.  I replaced the screw with an awkward but temporarily working one, then ordered a new P88ac throw/butt set. 

I have it set up now with coated Ambassador batter and a Diplomat snare side. The sound is absolutely WICKED! Boisterous, bright, and happy, with rich harmonic overtones (as opposed to steel's usually inharmonic ones). I have it pitched between my Omar Hakim Signature and Pearl Masters Brass snares, and will be experimenting with other tunings later. 

I never thought I would own a Black Beauty. But then I never thought I would own eight (!) snares either. 

P.S. After weeks of waiting, Amazon sent me box with a cheap looking generic throw and no butt plate. Grrrrrrrr. Thankfully they paid for the return, and sent me a real P88ac set a week later. The BB looks and feels complete now. 

PRESTIGE

In the process of re-wrapping my venerable mid-1970s 12" and 16" Pearl Thunderking toms in purple, I discovered some serious ply-separation. And to make matters worse, the wraps started creasing after attaching the lugs. The 16" still sounded ok but the 12" kinda lost its focus. 

Then last month I saw a 12" x 8" Pearl Prestige Series tom going for real cheap in Cavite. I hesitated for a week before contacting the seller, only to find our he had already sold it. A few days later, it surfaced again, but by another seller, at a slightly higher price, and again somewhere in Cavite. This time I did not wait. I snagged it immediately. 

Upon arrival, I changed the heads to my favorite Ambassador Coated batters and clear resos, and 2.3mm triple flanged hoops. The inside of the drum was beautifully finished, more like a high end snare than any tom I've ever had. And the overtones are more spread out than my 10" Decade Maple, but more focused than my old Thunderking. 

I've been trying to learn more about the Prestige Series, but all I can find are early 1990s used kits in Japan, with no description of the wood used. The word Prestige was also added as prefix to the more known Session lines, the forerunners of today's Session Studio Selects. these were   mid level professional kits with fine finishing and hardware. 

Someone is offering me a 16" floor tom in the same series, in the same color. Who knows, it might be the feature in my next post.

 

THE DARK SIDE

This happened real fast. I saw this 20" Istanbul Agop Azure ride in FB Marketplace for only PhP 2,500 with the note "Baka matipuhan nyo mga idol ☺️🙏". An out-of-production Agop like this would easily go for 10k used, maybe more since Agop doesn't have an official dealer here in the Philippines. The picture showed the underside of the bell with Arman and Sarkis Tomurcuk's signature though, which gave it some authenticity. I suspected either the guy was desperate for cash, didn't know what he had, or a scammer. The next morning I saw another ad from the same guy quoting it at PhP4,500. That's still less than half of the going rate. Had the seller begun to realize the real value of this pie? So I took the risk and jumped on it before he put the price up again. It was all over in an hour, from inquiry, to closing the deal, to payment, to delivery. Afterwards, I asked if he was the first owner, and planned follow up questions to find out why he practically gave it away. But he never replied. I guess this will remain a mystery.

After the prefunctory sanitizing bath, it put on quite a show for me. The ping is distinct but very low pitched, the lowest of all my ride and crash-ride cymbals. The wash is also the lowest, and the bell is the smallest of all my Turkish-style cymbals. It weighs only 1976 grams, the lowest I've read of others on the web. I don't know why, but I almost always end up with the lightest cymbals in the model, either by choice or by chance. 

This is the closest I’ve got to a "dark" ride like "old K's". I've been practicing jazz riding last week alternating between my 22" A Zildjian and 22" Paiste 2002 China set up. What will having three rides set up be like? Stay tuned. 

TWO REVOLUTIONARY ICONS

In my mind, there are two iconic, revolutionary hihat models in modern cymbal history. One is the Avedis Zildjian New Beat. It debuted in the early 1960s, was the first to pair a medium top with a heavy bottom, and became the defacto standard for hihat sounds. I first heard one up close from a US Navy show band at UP Abelardo Hall, and immediately fell in love. It had a distinct "chiff" sound when pedaled and buttery sustain when half-open. I saved up all my gig money and eventually got them in 1975 from Salonga's Music Cubao for 650 pesos, a princely sum at the time. Based on info in black.net.nz, mine are a late 1st generation version from the early 70s. This was just before Zildjian started making cymbals heavier to serve the rock music market, and when the variances in weights within a model was widest. Mine had a particularly light top weighing in at only 782 grams, and the bottom at 1223 grams. This combination made them sound more airy than all other New Beats I had played on backline kits. They originally came with a trendy sticker and ink labels indicating which was the top and which was the bottom. The sticker has long disintegrated from wear, and all that is left of the ink label is this vague outline in the inside of the bottom hat. But graphics aside, I have been perfectly content with the sound and feel, for they were everything I needed and wanted. 

The second icon is the Paiste 2002 Sound Edge. Introduced in the early 1970s, this uses a bottom with rippled edges which prevents airlock, creates a firm "chip" sound when pedaled, and an aggressive sustain when half-open. Unfortunately, they have not always been freely available locally, and were so expensive I couldn't afford them when I was younger. Heck, I can't even afford them brand new now either. So when a pair popped up this past week in the FB Marketplace for less than half the going rate of a used pair, I got curious. What would it be like to have both New Beats and Sound Edges? Adding to the allure was that these are coveted vintage "black label" 2002's. Resistance proved futile, and I grabbed them immediately. The serial numbers revealed the production dates at 1981 for the top and 1979 for the bottom. I usually prefer light cymbals, and this pair falls perfectly in the lighter side of otherwise ultra-consistent Paiste quality control, 826 grams for the top, and 999 grams for the bottom. As I had hoped, the Sound Edges are the perfect counterpoint to my New Beats.

Zildjian and Paiste eventually copied each other. Many of Paiste's hihats now bear a similar top/bottom weight ratio as the New Beats, and Zildjian created their own Mastersound series with rippled bottoms. But now I have both of the originals. To celebrate my double contentment, I spent an afternoon giving both the full spa treatment of cleaning and buffing. Hihats have not figured in new rhythms I've been working on, but I may be inspired to give them a little more attention. 

MY 10" JOURNEY

I’ve had a couple of 10” snares. The first was a Pearl Short Fuse , which was replaced by a Pearl Firecracker. While the metallic, ringy, rambunctious Firecracker was a blast to play, I missed the Short Fuse's happy wooden pop. 

A few days ago a mint condition Pearl M1060 “Popcorn” 10" x 6" snare showed up on the Facebook Marketplace going for half the price of a new one. This is the most expensive 10” model in Pearl’s current lineup. The 6-ply maple shell, 2.3mm Superhoops, and Masters lugs scream quality. I messaged the seller asking to trade with my Firecracker. No go. I asked for a discount. No go again. When he said he had another inquiry on the line, I jumped. Down payment that night, then balance the next day upon pickup? Deal! The seller tempted me with an extra soft case and I bit. Full payment and courier pick up followed the next morning. 

When it arrived and without tuning, it sounded like a timbale. All drum and no snare. After fiddling around, I found the snare wires only respond within a narrow range of tightness. This is unlike any other snare I’ve ever had. But once it’s dialed in, the characteristic happy pop of a wood snare is joined by a slight throatiness due to the added depth, and is focused due to the maple shell and heavier 2.3mm hoops. I put on a new Ambassador coated batter and Puresound Blaster 10" 16-strands. Perfect!

The Firecracker is on sale now that this Popcorn has taken its place.  I usually say “never say never”, but this may just be the last stop on my 10” journey. 

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UPDATE 1

The Firecracker got sold to a musician wanting a snare for his 5-year old nephew. Cute :-)

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UPDATE 2

I changed the Aquarian snare side to an Evans Snare Side 200. The drum now has a ring, something I look for in a snare sound. 

MY FIRST LUDWIG

This is another "one that got away" story that fortunately had a happy ending. Just when I thought my snare collection was complete, not just one, but two circa-1980s Tama Artwood Maple 14-ply (!) 14x8 surfaced in the FaceBook Marketplace. One was cheap but in rough shape, the other in better shape and 5k pesos more. The only thing that made me hesitate was the thickness. 14 plies means the shell will be very stiff and better for high tuning. I have enough smaller snares for that, and therefore wanted it for lower tuning. By the time I decided to pull the trigger, both had already been sold. Lurking in the background of Facebook was a circa-2000s Ludwig 14x8 Classic Hybrid Oak/Maple in mint condition. More expensive than the Tama's, but negotiable. I justified this as an advanced prize for surviving another school year, contacted the seller, got the price down to Reverb USA levels, and paid GCash on delivery. 

It came tuned high and already sounded nice, like a darker version of my Pearl Masters Brass. It arrived with 2.3mm triple-flanged hoops, Remo Ambassador batters, and Remo Diplomat snare side heads. Since I wanted to use it as a fat snare/tom, I swapped them for a heavier Evans Hydraulic batter and Remo Ambassador Snare Side, and it was not quite what I wanted. So I put the Ambassador batter back, threw on a BigFatSnareDrum, and tuned it low. Much better, and this made it easier to switch between a "normal" snare and a "fat" one. After changing heads, I was able to dial it in to snom territory in no time. Of all my 14" snares, this is the easiest to tune. 

On the hardware side, the throw is supposed to be a P-85 but looks more like a cheap replacement. The P85 is notorious for sticking when you're in a hurry, so the previous owner must have swapped it out. But the locking bar was apparently left out, and the cord was merely tied to the strainer. Thankfully, I keep all my old parts and screws that have been replaced. I dug up an bar from an old Pearl SR017 and a couple of unused lug screws. Problem solved. It's not pretty, but it works. The moral lesson is: keep you old parts, even if they're broken. You never know when you'll need them.  The butt plate is an original P-32 though. They both use flat-head screws to secure the snare strings, which I find sadly archaic. The original snares had a couple of misaligned wires, so I got new Gibraltar 20-strands for it. The shell is immaculately finished in and out, and there is absolutely no rust on any of the hardware. 

This may seem like the odd-man-out in a sea of Pearl drums. I'm not close-minded about brands though. It just turned out that way. I prefer the hardware of contemporary Pearls. But Ludwig shell finishing is second to none. I can't wait to hear what this will sound like in a recording. 

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UPDATE

I got an INDe throw off and butt plate a month later. They were a breeze to install, and work flawlessly. Then I discovered a strange after-buzz. Tightening all the lug screws solved the problem. I don't know if this is the norm, but it seems Ludwig makes fantastic shells, but their hardware and hardware-related QC is wanting.