Premier drums ?

[jackassrock]

I was given a set of Premier Royale drums to keep as a practice set. They are in pretty good shape, and don't sound completely shitty, they just need a little love, and I'm prepared to give 'em the attention they need in order to save the wear and tear on my Yamaha Recording Customs. I've been whoring these beautiful drums out to every drummer I play with, because of the convenience of having a full time kit at the practice space, but that's over.

Anyway, I need a set of T-rods for the kick drum, and can't seem to find them anywhere. They are a lot shorter than any others I've found(about 3 1/2 inches from end to end), and Premier doesn't even sell drums in the US anymore. They are standard thread (I heard they used metric threads in the 70s, so I lucked out on that by about a year), just shorter than any bass drum rod I've ever seen.

Does anyone know someone I can talk to about this ? I'm gonna just use some bolts for now, but I would like to have the right ones so I can tune it by hand instead of with a wrench.

[GAR]

I had a brass 4x14 Premier piccolo, the threads were fucked!

I don't recall the reason why, it was 20+ years ago but what I remember was that they had their own little standard hardware thingy - Whitworth thread.. some shit like that but it wasn't SAE -or- Metric thread.

I think I found my extra lugs at Pro Drum Shop on Vine, in Hollywood that it needed and I gave it to our drumer.

Pro drum stocks and carries every kind of vintage part you could imagine..
Professional Drum Shop Inc (http://www.prodrumshop.com/)

<cite>www.prodrumshop.com</cite>

854 Vine St
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3783
(323) 469-6285

[jackassrock]

Thanks, I'm emailing them today.

[Nitro Express]

I can't tell you how much time I've spent with my thumb up my ass waiting to get band practice going because something has broken on the drum kit. Drums are a pain in the ass. I hate carrying them, I hate waiting for them to be setup and waiting for something to be tightened and fixed.

[Nitro Express]

I had a brass 4x14 Premier piccolo, the threads were fucked!

I don't recall the reason why, it was 20+ years ago but what I remember was that they had their own little standard hardware thingy - Whitworth thread.. some shit like that but it wasn't SAE -or- Metric thread.

I think I found my extra lugs at Pro Drum Shop on Vine, in Hollywood that it needed and I gave it to our drumer.

Pro drum stocks and carries every kind of vintage part you could imagine..
Professional Drum Shop Inc (http://www.prodrumshop.com/)

<cite>www.prodrumshop.com</cite>

854 Vine St
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3783
(323) 469-6285

I was restoring a car with a French carburator and had a bitch of a time finding a tap with the right metric pitch and twist. But non-SAE or metric? That's some fucked up none sense. Whitworth must have had glorious plans of conquering the planet and forcing everyone to use their standard.

[GAR]

It's especially worse for percussion because of the vibration.. Keith Moon HAD to have used Premier because he could get 'em free.

And that's correct: everything breaks on the Premier shells. Something's always fucking up: a lug shell cracking letting the tension nut pull thru.. thread cross-cutting, and there was another problem I recall with the rims!

You have to buy Premier rims because of some metric bullshit: a 14 inch snare is not exactly a 14 so you can't use standard heads? And then they haven't made those heads in 30 years, so even a free shell isn't free.. because it's slightly under sized or something so the rim kinda floats funky under tension.

FUCK vintage Premier. Having an extra kit around, you'd be better off putting your money into a keeper set of cymbals, and some beater shells that are standard head sizes such as CB Percussion, then Pearl, Tama and Yamaha or Ludwig (in range of low to high as is affordable to you.)

[GAR]

And they're beautiful shells, its a shame. I wouldn't take a free set of Premiers from my own experience and if that company's still around and want to reemerge in the US market they've got to do a full face-change for the company to address the fact they're modern, using standard sizes with standard hardware lugs because this shit gets lost and breaks, then where are you when you can't find a dealer and Ebay has no donor shells for parts?

[jackassrock]

Ugh ! Now I feel like Charlie Brown lying on my back and looking at the sky after just missing that damn football again.

Luckily I do have an extra tom for parts if I need it, and I found some regular tension rods (not the t handled type) that should be the right length. If this turns out to be a giant hassle though I'll ditch those things without a thought.

[GAR]

Just be careful not to over-tighten the shell screws, or the lugs cuz if you strip something you'll get into trouble.

[Diamondjimi]

Wow,GARbage is NOW an expert on drums... :lmao:

[GAR]

I moved over to guitar after I got a paper route with the Pasadena Star-News age 13 and got a Kay SG copy.

[indeedido]

You're like Edward. If Al's gonna play my drums, I'll play his guitar.

[GAR]

- only I couldn't afford a kit. I got a pair of sticks for Band and started with the rudiments and couldn't quite get it why I had to learn that stupid shit if Ringo wasn't doing it with all them screaming Shea Stadium girls.

Of course now I know the importance of the original Ludwig 26 rudiments or whatever..

And I asked my papers distributor - he wasn't the one for Ed as a kid but he knew the guy who was. Ed grew up at least 3 or 4 miles away and probably flipped papers more than a decade earlier but that's about the only similarity besides doing the "paint your address number on your curb" scam.

[kwame k]

Is this what you're looking for? Premier Bass Drum Tension Rod, single arm w/ball tip (http://www.drumatix.com/lf-hw-29.html)

[kwame k]

Try Gibraltar......they make decent replacement parts.....http://www.gibraltarhardware.com/pdf/customparts.pdf

[jhale667]

Wow,GARbage is NOW an expert on drums... :lmao:

:lmao:

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I always thought the drummer in this band was cool...


:guitar:

[kwame k]

Yup, me too Jay!

[GAR]

Try Gibraltar......they make decent replacement parts.....http://www.gibraltarhardware.com/pdf/customparts.pdf

The bolt spacing may be different but if you draw a line between old boltholes as a centerline for the new holes, you can plug the old holes with bondo:

Take some masking tape piece to the outer shell.
Mix some bondo, use a razor safety blade or putty knife, and spread from the inside shell filling the hole.
After 10 mins, take the blade and scrape the excess off the inside, and slice off the what oozes from beneath the tape.
Then redrill.

Cool thing you can do before you reassemble, is using RustOleum flat enamel, you can take a mini-paint roller and finish the inside of the shell in white. Like the old keystone badge Ludwig shells.

This is a great trick if you have a kit of mismatched shells to fake conformity.

[kwame k]

Jesus MacGAYver, the dude just needs tension rods..........

[Sucker of Satan's Penis]

Since I know everything: let me fill in here..

- he ain't gonna find any. He says they're standard thread but what standard: metric?

If so he shall partake of your Yamaha lugs by force for your Unbelief. However, the Premiers are longer so that won't work.

I don't think. Actually, I don't even exist let alone think. But if he can't find none, new hardware will be the case.

Selah.

[kwame k]

STFU Gar

[Sucker of Satan's Penis]

Infidel.

[jhale667]

STFU, GAyR...


http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h217/jhale667/Insult%20comic/Achmed4.jpg

[GAR]

There's a 7-piece set of Fullerton-era Rogers shells with hardware n the OC Craigslist, $500 bucks. I couldn't believe it!

rogers big R drums 70's 7 pieces (http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/msg/1360223202.html)

http://images.craigslist.org/3o63p13lb5Oe5S15R7995078cb8bb24c71734.jpg

Badass kit to have around, just for jam or recording kit.

Looks like: 24x18 kick, 16x16 and 18x18 floors toms, and a 12/13/14 set of rack toms.

I saw that and was thinking of this thread, for the same reason that unfortunately when one lug goes, you're fucked because of proprietery dimensions.

For those who don't know, Rogers developed this ball-swivel mounting system allowing complete positioning freedom but unfortunately, that ball inside or the jaws that clamp on it goes dull and you're done. They don't make that hardware anymore.

Lovely tone, but because of this proprietary hardware you'd have to have lots of free time on your hands to make it worthwhile or a generous tech at the drum shop willing to help you out refitting to something modern like .. I dunno, Pearl? Something good besides shit Taiwanese Gibraltar mounts.

[kwame k]

wrong as usual, Clay.......getting something right would be a first for you.

[Nitro Express]

Jesus MacGAYver, the dude just needs tension rods..........

LOL! Yeah. First go find a large maple tree. Cut it down and age the cure the wood a few years. Then go find a big radial saw and cut the trunk into thin slabs. Then glue the slabs together alternating the grain until it's almost 1/4 inch thick. Then heat the lamination with hot steam and bend it around a round form. Cut the excess to length and once you have your drum shells.......

[kwame k]

Don't forget to die-cast the hardware, too ;)

[GAR]

Have either of you guys shared your particular problems before regarding the proprietary nature of shell rods and lugs?

Kwappy you're supposed to be a drummer. Guys like you get a problem, they just get rid of the whole kit and get a new one, so we don't really need your negative analytics.

Let's focus on the problem at hand, and not the little problem in your own little hand.

[Nitro Express]

Now you have me thinking about uses for old drum kits. Roll the pieces down a steep San Franciso hill trying to hit people below. That would be fun or maybe setting them on fire with petrolium and rolling them. Or smashing a big enough drum over someone's head and seeing if you can trap their arms and torso inside of it and them run off with them chasing you wearing a tight fitting drum.

[GAR]

My preference is for the old lighter mahog/poplar/mahog shells, they're more resonant at lower volumes which is better for recording than the multi-birch or maple ply modern power shells.

To me, if I had to I would spend the money for new lugs and fill n redrill.. I like the older nitrocellulose wraps, the wood, the smell of the wood and the sound so I'd consider it an investment in sound.

Older import lowball kits like Pearl, Crown, Sound Percussion or CB in rough shape are worth something to a beginner - but they're not worth refurbing with new lugs and rims and crap.. because the used private-party deals out there for decent gear are so many in number it makes better sense to just buy another used kit and sell the kit with problems to someone else willing to take a shot at fixing em up.

[jackassrock]

In case anyone wants to take the time to quit the bitching about each other for a second and get back on track. I found some rods that are the right length, just the regular turn with a drum key variety, and everything worked out fine. I also changed out the spurs for modern type and I am now in the business of not letting my Yamahas get destroyed.

Did you guys know that those things are $5000 new for a 5 piece ?

[GAR]

... for Yamaha MIJ original, or the Premier?

[jackassrock]

The Yamahas.

It's ridiculous. I was at the GC the other day and asked the drum guy (just out of curiosity) how much it would cost to get another 18x24 kick drum for my kit. The answer... $947

[Nitro Express]

Fuck all that complicated and expensive shit. These drums seem to work fine.

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