Greetings Vintage Drum Friends!
I would like to wish a very Happy New Year to all the folks who take the time to read the articles here at NSMD. May your 2020 and new decade be filled with old drums! For this first installment of Vintage Happiness for the new decade, I am going to write about a special set that was pieced together from orphan drums. And done because of the amazing variety and beautiful differences in the wrap over the short years it was used.
We all have a favorite drum wrap or finish. Sometimes your old favorite gets replaced when you see a drum finish for the first time in person. That is the case for me with vintage Capri Pearl. I had been looking for a Capri Pearl set for quite some time and all of them were in very rough shape and quite faded. In 2018 I finally found a kit that was not punished by the hands of time. It was an early 1961/62 Slingerland Modern Jazz Outfit. The wrap was not faded at all and I was blown away by the complexity and color that was abounding in front of me. (You can check out the article on that set here at NSMD by scrolling down through my articles). Capri Pearl to me is like a wonderful mix of vintage Rogers Mardi Gras and Ludwig Sparkling Galaxy Pearl (my previous favorite). As I did more research on the rarity of the wrap, I soon discovered there were different variations as it was made from 1958-1966. Not soon after I picked up the kit, I found a practically new old Stock pristine 1958 Slingerland 14x20 virgin bass drum. This drum was still in its old canvas drum bag and has the original calf skin heads still on it and looked never played. A true time capsule. The wrap on the bass drum had the colors, but a more purple-ish tint over all and very beautiful. It wasn’t long after this I found the 1965 Leedy 5.5x14 Reliance snare drum in an incredible more colorful version. I was truly blown away and the search was on for the tom and floor tom.
Fast forward to fall 2019 and as I am doing my usual rounds on the internet of vintage drum hunting, I discovered the 1965 8x12 tom and 16x16 floor tom together at Drugans Drums in Chicago. I immediately contacted John Drugan and he informed me the tom and floor tom were indeed together from a set where the bass drum had been damaged and these drums were now orphaned! John also told me these were the nicest Capri’s he’s seen and both the drums were in pristine original condition.
Well that was all it took and when these drums arrived once again I had yet another version. The tom and floor tom both have more of the speckled gold flakes and somewhat larger but still the rainbow of colors in the flakes. Many thanks to Drugans Drums in Chicago for helping me piece the final pieces of this incredible kit together. So now added to the collection an incredible 1960’s Capri Pearl Orphan kit in immaculate original condition in 20/12/16/14 sizes with all original heads and no modifications or issues. Vintage Happiness indeed!
What’s YOUR favorite drum wrap?
Until next time, PLAY those old drums!