Keep an eye out on ebay UK for the parts...You could also post in the Wanted to Buy section of the Forum in chance that a member may have the parts you`re looking for...

Cheers

Thanks for the reply, I've already found the tension rods on e-bay. I take it it's the other parts that will give me some trouble, but we'll see. I've also found some pics, it must have looked something like this:

Definitely not a Piper drum, those were 5'X14', this one is supposed to be a 4' (won't really be sure until it arrives). A Pipperette then? Still looking... And I have yet to find out whether Premier or Edgware parts were used for Ajax as well.

How do we know it`s a UK drum ?

Beverly and Rose Morris made 4" shells but didn`t have staggered lugs.

Dallas and Ludwig provided drum trim to all British drum builders. By the early sixties, Ludwig was no longer marketing in the UK and Dallas was the only one left. Premiere bought the co. in 1975. From then on, everything is Premiere related.

I`m typing from memory but I`m pretty sure Dallas was the provider for Premiere until Premiere purchased Dallas to corner the market.

Your shell looks MIJ Stencil !i Pearl and SONOR used vertical grain, but SONOR was veneered as opposed to sheets like Pearl. Dallas did not have shell ovens. Pearl, Premiere, Ludwig and SONOR,....did !i It`s not SONOR so I thinking Pearl.

My memory isn`t young anymore so this is open for correction.

Thanks for the info mate. Like I said, I'm new to the world of vintage drums, so this is a learning experience for me :)

This was sold to me as an Ajax shell. Still not sure what it is, I'm looking around for clues. To the best of my knowledge so far, vertical grain was typical of European manufacturers (Sonor still uses it).I found pics of Ajax 4" drums from the '50s (round badge) that seem to have a similar shell construction (see below): vertical grain and r-r. In the photos I can still see the print of a square badge on the shell, much like the blue badge used by Ajax. My seller said that he still has the hardware (not the badge, sadly) and he's going to send me photos of it, I suppose that might help identify the drum. When I get my hands on it, I'll look for serial numbers just in case.

Still, even if it's Japanese, it's OK for the 20 pounds (including shipping) I paid for it - it's going to be an experiment again :)

Cheers

I have an Ajax square badge for sale...If you need it, let me know by pm...

Cheers

Rose Morris (Broadway)(Autocrat) and Boosey and Hawkes (Ajax) have badges that fit that hole pattern around the air vent on the shell.

This table and the Weebly.com Hindle and Heely vintage UK drum site may help you.

Thanks for the info, I'd already found that table. I was wrong when I said that vertical grain is typical of Europeans in general - as far as I can tell, the Japanese used it as a rule, so you're right in that. There are exceptions of course, but it seems only Sonor used this method for most of its shells - other manufacturers used vertical grain in certain models at certain times (I've yet to discover who and when), the rest is horizontal. For example, I've seen Ajax shells from the 1950s in 3" and 4" with vertical, while 5" seem to be horizontal. I also think it's related to the type of wood used: birch and beech vertical, maple and mahogany horizontal etc.

Until the shell gets here, there's no way to be sure - my safest bet at this time is the wood type and the faint imprint of the badge that can still be seen on the shell - still trying to find a Japanese badge of that size, now looking in the MIJ section of the forum (great work!!).

Alex

Pics of the parts will help a lot.

The shell could be sourced out, drlling it and badge`n it happens during assembly. When we find out who got the shell, we can figure out who made the shell.