Here is a rare drum set, because full dress models were very expensive at the time, It was the high end of this brand ! A floor tom was even an option to the basic model.
The brand :
METJAZZ is a French brand created just after WWII by Jean METZGER. He began his career around 1918 in the Paul BEUSCHER workshops in Paris and, during WWII, he began to create his own instruments. He resigned in 1946 to create METJAZZ, an acronym for "MET" for METzger, and “JAZZ". He worked with his three sons, Henry, Jean Claude & André, and the workshop was located in SUCY EN BRIE near Paris. They made banjos and drums, and were quickly successful and known for their high quality instruments. Great french drummers of this era wanted a METJAZZ kit, including André Jourdan (Django Reinhardt) and Arthur Motha (Edith Piaf)... Even Zutty Zingleton played a Metjazz drum in 1954! METJAZZ was a very innovative brand, by design, and patented inventions. But in the mid fifties, Metzger made a mistake when he didn't patented his tom holder system which was very similar to the Rogers Swivomatic system some years later (Rogers patent dated 1962). METJAZZ worked in collaboration with ASBA, which provided the hardware. Jean METZGER dies in 1961, and his sons try to continue the adventure, but the small workshop (which produced about twenty drum sets per month in the 50s) closes its doors in 1964.
Drumset :
This full dress drum set dates back to the mid fifties, and its beautiful "fan" decor is made of painted engravings and inlaid brilliants ... Three ply shell with re rings, rounded bearing edge ... Nickel-plated zamack lugs, polished aluminum hoops and nickel-plated brass rods... Metric sizes GC 60cm (23.6") / CC 35cm (13.8") / Tom 30cm (11.8")... and calf skins.
I've completely restored this drum set which was shown during the exhibition "Roll & Swing, the drum set's birth in France" at the MUPOP french museum.
A bientôt,
Emmanuel
olDrums Vintage & Custom
http://www.oldrums.fr/