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The Evolution of Drum Harnesses


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I believe that Robin Menke from SCV created the fiberglass tenor harness at SCV in the early 70's. It was copied by many corps in that decade. I thought it was so cool that their drums could be folded up (so the drums heads were perpendicular to the ground and close to the player) when they were not playing so as to alleviate the weight distribution of being so forward heavy. Plus their drum lines were close to perferct visually. :worthy::worthy::worthy:

But when Blue Devils came out in '76 with the North Tenors I fell in love. Their uniforms made the harness completely disappear but the drums must have felt like carring tymps :ph34r:

John

I know SCV had them for the tenors in 1973 and perhaps earlier. Have no idea why we didn’t think to use them for the snare and bass drums until much later?

I know Lou Avilla was making them in his garage in the 70’s for SCV. Maybe he got the specs from Menke? I’ll have to ask him.

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My high school had these big nasty fiberglass and metal timpani carriers (that had more padding than you could imagine) They were purportedly early 70's vintage since that was when they carried timpani... I couldn't tell you the manufacturer, but I became interested in them because when I carried timps in corps, (79 and 80) we were always looking for a "better mousetrap"...those WEREN'T it! (in 80 we used two modified snare straps, with a back strap, and a pillow....it was very comfortable!)

I remember seeing the Bridgemen with some crazy contraption that looked like metal straps with counterweights on the back...they looked heavy as ____!

Tom harness wise...I remember the old McCormicks holders, not the most comfortable things, but they worked (Crossmen used them in the mid-late 70's) I played Slingerlands in the early 80's and they were ok....the Ludwig/Musser harnesses weren't too bad, and they sure beat the straps I used in high school, and the parade corps I marched with....the most comfortable were the Pearl carriers we used in 1983-84...(but I hated the drums) The carriers I used in 85 (Premier) weren't bad at all, more like the Ludwig..but I have to say the Pearl were the most comfortable!

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Almost forgot about this one.... Westshoremen in 78 and 79 used two snare straps with a back strap on their snares. They removed the leg brace, and had a welding shield with foam Velcro-ed to the drum, it took the weight off of one shoulder, and distributed it evenly, and also kept the drums at a very level height! They were apparently VERY stable and comfortable!

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Almost forgot about this one.... Westshoremen in 78 and 79 used two snare straps with a back strap on their snares. They removed the leg brace, and had a welding shield with foam Velcro-ed to the drum, it took the weight off of one shoulder, and distributed it evenly, and also kept the drums at a very level height! They were apparently VERY stable and comfortable!

Queen City Cadets did this nack in 74-75. They used two snare straps, one over each shoulder, and a padded block of wood to push the drum out from the body to make it level.

And McCormick was not the only company to make tympani carriers. Slingerland made them in the late 70's. They were the same as the tenor and bass carriers.

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They were the same as the tenor and bass carriers.

And the carriers weighed more than the tymps did. Engineering on carriers was never Slingerland's strong suit.

Edited by mobrien
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The North drums and carriers weighed 53 pounds. I have one of the 76 drums. (the 12 inch)

I tried out on those drums and almost made tenor line in 78 but at 15 that would not have been a good idea. It was wise of Rick to pick the other guy and send me to Timpani.

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Long story short, we had a reunion in 2006 which got me reminiscing about drum corps. I couldn’t get to Pasadena in 2007 but in November 2007 Pasadena came to me. Our former AAG corps directors, Mike Duffy and 10 former AAG ladies invited me to a get together where they exchanged mementos of their trip via photos, videos and stories. I still remember Mr. Nagel saying to me ‘You should have seen their drum harnesses, Linda!’ Wendy H, a former snare drummer, said ‘I think they’re called carriers now’. I was excited then and couldn’t figure out why until now. As a former drum major of 7 years, I had seen many a parade and watched the drummers. They’d rarely complain but I could see their pain. That’s why this topic interests me. Thanks for starting it Keith. I went through hundreds of AAG photos and tried to find a chronological. Thanks to those that submitted posts to date; inventions in garages, harnesses weighing more than drums and the need for lighter drums seems likely. Please continue to contribute to this thread for historical purposes.

Thank you, signed, the messenger :smile: Here’s 1 of 16 photos. This is 1972, triple drums and snares with straps.

carrier-72-1.jpg

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This is 1973 because of the flag design, snares with straps, triples with a hip belt and basses with padded harness, vinyl with upholstery buttons? Our harnesses changed in 74...

carrier-73-1.jpg

I'll try to get answers at our next get together which won't be for a while. In the meantime, I'll leave it up to you :-)

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BITD - everything was carried by a snare strap, or a version of the strap - snares, tenors, bass and some timps lines would wear crossing straps.

In 71 I played triple tenor in Garfield, and we used three snare slings...one over each shoulder plus a third around our waist to keep them from bouncing around as we marched.

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From my recollection, SCV's tenor line first used the fiberglass harness, worn under the tunic, in 1971. That set the standard for subsequent tenor harnesses throughout the 70s--e.g., clear plexiglass tenor harnesses worn outside the uni by Kingsmen and Kilts in 74 and Slingerland metal tubes used by many tenor lines in the 70s (corps, including Scouts, came up with variants).

SCV was the first snare line to use fiberglass harnesses (under the tunic) in 1979.

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