Fibes SFT 690 Snare Drum

As I mentioned in my last blog, Drum companies over the years have tried different combinations of shell size, snare strainers, wires, and tensioning systems to build their drums. The one constant was the make up of the shell. It was either wood or metal.

In 1966, the Fibes Drum Corporation was born and fiberglass was used for shell construction. This was truly a first, and drummers took to Fiberglass and sales took off. I remember the first time I saw these drums. It was at Mr. Kelly's, a Jazz club in Chicago. There was Buddy Rich sitting behind a set of Fibes drums driving his band like nobodies business. I remember the snare drum, in particular, stood out. Buddy must have felt that way also. because he used the Fibes Snare Drum even when he was endorsing Slingerland. The cover of his Live in London LP on RCA clearly shows his Fibes Snare Drum.

Buddy wasn't the only player who endorsed Fibes. Jack Sperling and Alan Dawson played them, along with Billy Cobham of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Well, I thought, if these drums are good enough for Buddy and these other great drummers, then I had to own one.

The pictured SFT 690 Snare Drum is one of four that I own. The drums came in various wraps with the strangest being the Fivel finish. This Beauty has the Black fivel wrap. It's really more of a sprayed on finish than a wrap. The drum is very sensitive and is a great all around snare drum that can be used in any situation.

Unfortunately, the Fibes Drum Company is no longer with us. After going through various owners and even a few name changes, the company " gave up the ghost." Perhaps it will reappear someday, but its place in drum history is assured.

The Slingerland Spitfire Snare Drum

Drum Companies throughout the decades have gone to great lengths to build "the perfect Snare Drum." Different shells, different snare strainers, and different snare wires and heads have all been used in the quest for the perfect sound. Slingerland, Ludwig, Gretsch, Rogers, Camco, Premier---- all have taken a whack at it. Some of these ideas have worked, others have not.

In 1979, the Slingerland Drum Company gave customers a look at the Slingerland Spitfire Snare Drum. This drum was offered in two sizes, 5 1/2 x 14 and 6 1/2 x 14. It came with either gut or wire snares and you had a choice of a wood shell, a chrome-plated brass shell, or a lacquered brass shell. It also came with brass hoops and the TDR snare strainer, which Slingerland introduced in 1976.

As one can see in the photo, the drum had the unusual arrangement of off set lugs, with 12 for the batter head and 6 for the snare head. This was supposed to give added sensitivity and clarity to the drum. Whether this was the case was debatable.

Slingerland had offered offset lug snare drums in the early 70's. The 1973 catalog shows a 4 x 14 Buddy Rich model, but both heads had an equal number of lugs. The Spitfire was a different animal entirely. This particular drum is unusual because it's a wood shell covered with chrome wrap. It's a good drum, but it's not better than the Slingerland Radio King.

In any case, the drum was a failure. It lasted one year and then simply faded away.. I'm sure there were Slingerland endorsers who used the drum, but I've never seen any. The history of Drum Companies is filled with many success stories. Unfortunately, this is not one of them.

Ludwig Supraphonic 400 Snare Drum

The 1960's were a wonderful time for drum companies and drum retailers. Business was brisk at the retail level and manufacturers worked overtime trying to pry every last dollar they could from their customers. But one company seemed to stand above the rest, particularly in the exploding Rock and Roll scene. That company was Ludwig out of Chicago Illinois.

The Ludwig Drum Company was no johnny come lately. The company had been in business for years, supplying drums and accessories for every need. But the Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan show sent shock waves throughout the industry. Ringo Starr played Ludwig and that's all aspiring rock and rollers needed to see. It also didn't hurt that Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones played Ludwig Drums. In fact, many of those British Invasion bands played the brand. It wasn't long before American drummers began to follow suit. The Ludwig brand name became commonplace on many of the drums sets of groups that appeared on weekly rock and roll TV shows like Shindig.

The Ludwig Supraphonic 400 Snare Drum was standard issue with many of the Ludwig kits. This metal beauty came with 10 Imperial lugs and triple flanged hoops. Earlier models had heavy brass shells, but later models were made with whatever metal alloy was available at the time. The drum was built like a tank. It could stand any "punishment", yet would still retain response and clarity. Literally, thousands were sold.

It should come as no surprise that the Super 4 is perhaps the most recorded drum in history. Hal Blaine, the great session drummer, used this drum. Hal recorded on 40 number one records, 350 top ten records and thousands of other tunes. Charlie Watts used the drum early in his career before switching to Gretsch. Mitch Mitchell, with Jimi Hendrix, played it. Others include Jim Densmore with the Doors, Dino Danelli with the Young Rascals and John Bonham with Led Zeppelin, who played the 6/1/2 x 14 model.

Happily, the drum lives on. Nowadays, in addition to the standard aluminum shell, you can order it with a titanium shell. Or you can simply buy a used one. They are plentiful and they are not expensive, at least not the brass ones.

There are more collectible Ludwig Snare Drums. The Ludwig Black Beauty comes to mind. But, as far as Drum History goes, the Super 4 takes a back seat to no one.

Slingerland Radio King Snare Drum

I think it's probably pretty safe to say that, at one time, the Slingerland Radio King Snare Drum, was the most popular snare drum in the world. Gene Krupa played Slingerland Drums his entire carreer and many other drum stars of the 30's and 40's such as Buddy Rich, Dave Tough, Ben Pollack, Ray McKinley and Barrett Deems played and endorsed these drums.

The 1930's-60's Radio King was made of either metal or solid wood. The solid wood models, which are highly prized, came in two sizes, 5 x 14 and 6 1/2 x 14. It came with the Krupa strainer and double flanged hoops. The top hoop was engraved with the words, "Slingerland Radio King". The drum was offered with either nickel or chrome plating. By the late 1940's, the drum was actually referred to as the Gene Krupa Radio King, such was the influence of this Chicago drummer.

Throughout the 50's and 60's, Slingerland continued to offer the Radio King. The metal model was made of brass, as were the hoops, which were now known as stick saver hoops. The name of the drum changed to the Super Gene Krupa Snare Drum and other models, playing off the Radio King name, were added to the catalog. The Gene Krupa Sound King, the Concert King, and the Super Sound King were made to entice drummers everywhere. These models achieved various degrees of sales success.

The pictured drum is from the 1950's. A few Drum Historians and Collectors believe that these drums from the 50's and early 60's were the finest drums that Slingerland ever made. This drum is also covered in a White Marine Pearl Wrap which was Krupa's favorite finish.

Slingerland is still in existence---now owned by Gibson Guitars. But this drum is from a time that is long passed and will never return.

Rogers Wood Dynasonic Snare Drum-B and B lug

This particular drum holds a special significance for me. As the reader can see, it's a Rogers Wood Dynasonic with "Bread and Butter" lugs. These lugs were made of brass and they tended to break and crack. It's unusual to find a drum like this with perfect lugs. The drum is also wrapped in the rare wine red ripple pearl. It's difficult enough to find a Wood Dynasonic in any finish much less this wrap. But that's not what really sets this Rogers Dynasonic apart from others.

Many years ago, I went to see Louis Bellson at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago. Louis would come in every year for a week stay at the club. I would go to every show and marvel at his playing. One time, I decided to bring this drum into the club and show it to him. I was somewhat nervous but, hell I thought, what was the worst thing that could happen.

He saw me come in with the drum and he motioned me over to him. He had big smile on his face and said he wanted to talk to me about the drum, but after the show. Needless to say, I stayed until the last set was over. What followed was one of the most enjoyable times of my drumming career. Louis picked up the Dynasonic and started to recall his time with Rogers Drums and Buddy Rich. In particular, he focused on a drum caravan that toured Japan in the 60's. Buddy, Louis, Philly Joe Jones, and Art Blakey were all part of the troupe. Louis played the Rogers Wood Dynasonic at the time. According to Louis, Buddy was enamoured with the sound of Louie's Snare drum and wanted him to give it to him. Louie quickly changed the subject and the drum never changed hands.

Louie graciously signed this drum for me that night. It was a wonderful night that I will never forget

Elvin Jones and Gretsch Drums

The Jazz Showcase has been one of the premier Jazz clubs in the Chicago land area for many years. Other clubs have come and gone, but the Showcase rolls on. It was at this club that I heard the great Elvin Jones right after he left the John Coltrane Quartet.

I remember the night quite vividly. My date and I arrived early...in fact we were the only people in the place, outside of the owner. The club, as it were, was really a storefront. The location of the club would move every few months. Sometimes it would stay in one place for a year or more, but then it would move somewhere else. This particular venue was a one off. I never saw anyone else play there and I don't believe it was ever used again.

In any case, Elvin arrived with his wife Keiko and began setting up his drums. He played Gretsch Drums and the kit was a Satin Flame Wrap. I gathered my courage and went up to him, introduced myself and began to chat. What followed was over a hour of conversation involving Gretsch Drums, Coltrane and his new trio. There are no words to describe how I felt. My teacher, Max Mariash, had spoken about Elvin with great admiration and here I was talking to one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time.

The album cover pictured was the first release by the Elvin Jones Trio. That night they played many tunes from this release. Joe Farrell was there, but Jimmy Garrison was not. That night was the start of a love affair with Elvin's playing. Not counting the great Louis Bellson, I saw Elvin Jones play more than any other Jazz Drummer.

Gretsch Gladstone Snare Drum

Billy Gladstone was a theatre show drummer in New York City in the 1930's. He was accomplished drummer who also had some very definite ideas about drums and their construction. He invented an ingenious tuning system that allowed him to tune his snare drum without lifting it off its stand. This three way, or in some cases, two way tuning system was revolutionary for the time. Billy also believed that the drum shell should be free of any reinforcing rings that would in his estimation distort the true sound of the drum He took his ideas to Gretsch and the Gretsch Gladstone Drum was born.

It was through my teacher, Max Mariash, that I became aware of this drum, albeit in a rather roundabout way. As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, Max turned me on to Papa Jo Jones. The first picture that I saw of Papa Jo showed him sitting behind a complete set of Gretsch Gladstone Drums. That was it.....if the great Jo Jones played those drums, I needed to find out more about them.

Back in the day, the 1960's, there wasn't a lot of information about drums. No one thought about collecting them. You bought a kit, used it until it fell apart, then you bought another one. But I, like many others, were fascinated by all the different drum companies and their products. Those drums that interested me, like the Rogers Wood Dynasonic Snare Drum, I wanted to buy and play. The Gretsch Gladstone fit into this category.

I never thought I would ever get to play this drum until one fall afternoon I walked into a drum shop in the upper Midwest and, lo and behold, there sat the drum you see pictured at the top of this entry. To say she's beautiful, is a colossal understatement. The drum is a dream to play. All in all, the Gretsch Gladstone occupies a special place in American Drum History.