Many of us share the introduction into the drumming world with that first snare drum, or if you are one of the fortunate ones, the “Snare Drum Outfit”! These Outfits were just bundle deals that could have had a variety of things from sticks, brushes, a stand, a cowbell, a book, a case, a drum key, or that all-important cymbal that made more like a modern drum set.
The price point for these Japanese snare drum outfits in the 60’s was in the $35 range, which is just a fraction of the American made versions which were in the $150 range from names like Slingerland or Rogers.
To cut corners on these outfits they kept the cymbals small (usually 8” to 12”) and would mount the cymbal arm to the snare stand or to the snare itself, but sometimes they would add an independent stand (music stand style) for the cymbal.
This first snare is a beautiful Penncrest, sold by JC Penney, and made by Pearl around 1969-74. Mostly the big box store catalog drums came in blue, red, or silver sparkle, but for some reason the standard issue snare drums from Penney’s was Blue Oyster Pearl. This version features a 9-ply Luan shell, Battleship lugs, triple-flange hoops, a tone control and a Pearl “Super-Grip” snare stand.
Pictures cannot capture the beauty of this wrap, the more light the better.
The second snare is what Star calls the “Pearl Finish Snare Drum Kit”. If you got it from the Star Catalog, you would have gotten a “10” Turkish-Type” cymbal, sticks, brushes, and a case (which was a cardboard box with a foldout handle. This particular drum has the standard Red Sparkle Pearl wrap, a 6-ply Luan shell, a Zoomatic-styled strainer, a tone control, triple-flanged hoops, the rare rectangular cymbal mount, a cymbal post, and a 10” cymbal (which has no markings at all). To complete the “kit it has an early 705 round top snare stand.
I just had to throw in this gem from the early 80’s. I built it piece by piece. The snare was my first, a Hoshino (K) six lug, 3-ply Luan shell, originally in silver sparkle, I painted the shell white, because that’s what goofy kids did back then. The Slingerland snare stand came with the drum, I added the cheap cymbal stand made in Taiwan, a CB-700 cowbell and a 14” CB-700 cymbal (which I destroyed through rock-n-roll abuse). My first throne was a folding chair with a cushion on it. Notice the Guiro, a side percussion instrument that I never used, but it looked cool. I did a masterful job of adding tissue and masking tape for that perfect muffled cardboard box snare sound. This is where I started and learned and developed a percussive creativity with a minimal set. (Yes I was happy about playing the drum, no I was not happy about having my picture taken.)
(Editor’s note; Marc, I used to beat the thin little brass cymbal that came with my first snare drum outfit until it was bent out of shape. I would then hammer it back into shape and play it for twenty more minutes until it was time to hammer it again)
As much as young drummers want to emulate their heroes, in the glorious 80’s it was hard to look at the drum heroes of my day like Neil Peart, Alex Van Halen, or Steve Smith (with their giant drum kits that seem to go on forever) and then stare at a lone snare and a cymbal and try to recreate what I was hearing and seeing on MTV. Fortunately we had a hero who could work his magic with a snare and a cymbal and it was more than enough for the music he played, that would be Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats. Slim could shuffle with the best of them and rock out at the same time, and never took a seat. Standing tall, right up front, showing us all that you don’t need all the toys to be great! Slim did add a bass drum and a cymbal or a floor tom on occasion, but those were just luxuries and not integral to how he played. At the end of the day he was one of us kids and we had an outfit like his! Sometimes better doesn’t mean more stuff.
Hopefully I stirred some happy old memories in you, like my own!