Over the x-mas holiday my friend Cory and were talking at the bowling alley, I mentioned I played drums and he responded with "I've got this old kit in the basement of the office, it really needs to go away, make me an offer and its yours"

Of course I asked for some pics and a few weeks later received these.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnmanny/sets/72157628809288291/

I was intrigued and did some research which told me they were Niles Era "Football" badges

which put them in the late 70's early 80's. Looked like a nice big C.O.W. 3 ply kit.

I could see a set of roto toms, 5 other toms a bass hi-hats and some other jazz as you can see in the pics.

So shot him an offer, he accepted and I set a date to drive from St. Louis to Michigan.

That date was Friday the 17th.

Friday I get a call from Cory "hey man, wanted to let you know I found all sorts of stuff, this thing is HUGE!

I count 11 drums and 9 cymbals cases and a whole shed load of other stuff" Of course I asked if he wanted more money since it was larger then we had originally known. "No its cool, we made a deal I'm sticking to it", so I grabbed and extra bill from the bank on my way home just in case it warranted some more moola.

Got out of work, met a friend at home with his Forester and the journey began around 4:30 cst!

Rolled into Michigan around 12:30 est am, had a cocktail and went to bed as tomorrow was going to be nuts.

Woke up, called Cory and the adventure was on!

My Mom in her Liberty and Marty and I in the Forester headed over, then into the basement.

WOW he wasn't kidding.

Hard cases abounded full of C.O.W. goodness...but whats this...toms all the way from 10-18? Whats that stack of cymbals..

is that a K?

Took a quick inventory, handed over the allotted sum then loaded up. As we loaded we looked closer..an extra speedking,

a Ludwig "Speed" hi-hat stand, a Slingerland Hi Hat stand, a bunch of flat base stands...new in box bass and tom mounts?

I gave him another Benjamin and we headed home, both of us very happy.

After spreading a tarp out on my mothers nice white rug (hey she offered!!) we pulled them all out.

Of course I started with the cymbals.

Old A's abounded from 14" to 22", an old Krut Special crash (which is fantastic by the way), a Camber (lol) and wait...

where's the stamp on this 20....odd hammering.....yup. Its a K!!!!

From my limited knowledge it looks to be a '67 New Stamp (edited), 19 7/8 diameter, no keyhole, signed under the bell and pretty thin.

I would have driven to Michigan and paid the total sum I paid, just for this one pie.

The drums, they just kept coming. No snare, but the bass did come with a MINT front hoop, although no claws or rods for it.

One tom has some surface rust, the 18 is covered in some odd goo that will need to be cleaned off.

BUT...no dents, no damage, all original heads, complete with original owner duct tape with kitchen sponges to kill the resonance.

The bass drum had some water damage and a bit of blistering on the inner ply, nothing horrible.

I didn't even investigate the hardware as there was just too much of it.

Quick cleaning of all the cases, and we stacked them inside each other where possible for the drive home.

From 10 cases to 5, we consolidated, I slid some newspaper between the cymbals and we went about our day.

Bowled with the family, ate a wonderful meal and listened to albums all night with Dad and Marty.

Got up the next day, Mom made a killer breakfast, we loaded the car and took off. Left around 10+/- got home around 4:30.

Checked on our kitty, then unloaded the car.

Luckily the week before I had already re-located a friends kit, and cased up another borrowed kit for its owner to pick up.

Glad I did as I have FILLED my drum room.

Now where to start....nothing was labeled and I've never worked with a Slingerland of this vintage...or a kit of this size for that matter.

Got all the hardware sorted first, then started hanging drums...and hanging....and hanging...and well you get the point.

Yanked the tape and sponges off, gave a quick (shoddy) tune and played them....then started laughing.

Surrounded by 11 drums (no snare still) and 9 cymbals was hilarious amounts of fun. I felt like Phil Collins and Neil Peart, the bass drum (still damped by what looks like a roll of duct tape and a pillow case on the one head) while dead had some punch to it.

I grabbed my Gretsch Catalina Club snare (13x7) for the great overtones it has, and it fit right in.

The bashing ensued and the just kept laughing and playing.

Now I had basically built a half circle of drums, only accessible by ducking UNDER the roto toms, of course I smacked my head on the stand, didn't realize later it had bled over the back half of my head as I was having so much fun!!!

I finally had to pull myself away to go to bed, this week is a big week as we're starting the house purchase process,

I will get pics tonight after I get my wide angle lense back and restoration will start this week.