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Drum finishes 2019


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On 5/28/2019 at 7:38 AM, Weaklefthand4ever said:

Bring back champagne sparkle and white marine pearl /drool

Did you ever see the clear, acrylic shelled drums? Guardsmen used orange, Precisionaires and I think Bridgemen one year used yellow. They only caught on for a couple of years. The traditionalists were freaking out over them. "Dadgummit, you can't be creative like that. It's blasphemy!"

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58 minutes ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

Did you ever see the clear, acrylic shelled drums? Guardsmen used orange, Precisionaires and I think Bridgemen one year used yellow. They only caught on for a couple of years. The traditionalists were freaking out over them. "Dadgummit, you can't be creative like that. It's blasphemy!"

Oh yeah. The old Ludwig Vistalite drums. We had some in high school in the early 80's (green because we were the Notre Dame Fighting Irish) and for a short time I even had a little Vistalite "Jellybean" drum kit. The problem with them was that as tensions started to get higher (granted this was pre-kevlar heads,) we would try to double hoop them and the shells would collapse. Plus they usually sounded like you were playing a 15" oil can. I think the only thing that maybe sounded worse were the Corders drums we had at Bama. 

35fd3ca18528d0f8717a17e6e3bdb296--drumme

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Yes, those are the ones! They looked cool as all get out on the field, but I remember the guys from the Guardsmen saying they really were a piece of doo. 

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3 minutes ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

Yes, those are the ones! They looked cool as all get out on the field, but I remember the guys from the Guardsmen saying they really were a piece of doo. 

So this leads to the question:  Would 30 years of product advancement since the Guardsmen last marched in competition in 1990 allow a similar look but better product in the 2020s?

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15 minutes ago, xandandl said:

So this leads to the question:  Would 30 years of product advancement since the Guardsmen last marched in competition in 1990 allow a similar look but better product in the 2020s?

Sorta kinda...LOL. Pearl makes a formed shell acrylic instead of the rolled shells. That would at least improve the strength of the drum. Floating cages would probably solve some of the tension problems as well. But at the end of the day I would still have my doubts. Nothing resonates like wood. Believe it or not, several of us who build custom pool cues have a background in instrumental music and we tone match our wood choices for pool cues as well. 

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44 minutes ago, xandandl said:

So this leads to the question:  Would 30 years of product advancement since the Guardsmen last marched in competition in 1990 allow a similar look but better product in the 2020s?

Point of order: Guardsmen last used Vistalite drums in, I believe, 1976. Vistalite drums were a passing 1970s fad, like pet rocks or disco. 

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6 hours ago, xandandl said:

So this leads to the question:  Would 30 years of product advancement since the Guardsmen last marched in competition in 1990 allow a similar look but better product in the 2020s?

Nope. Ludwig still makes Vistas, but it's a heat-formed product, and being outside all summer and under tension is never going to be a good match for the essential technology in forming the shell. 

From my memory, among finalist corps, Blue Stars used Slingerland's clear TDRs in '74 (and maybe Ludwig's barber pole variety in the tenor line in the mid-70s?), Kilts had yellow snares in 74 and 75, Guardsmen had orange drums throughout the line in 75 and 76 (I believe someone from their staff worked at Ludwig back then), PR had red Vista snares in '74 (and 75 maybe?), and Muchachos had red Vista snares as well in that same period. After '76, not recalling any of the big corps still using them.

 

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9 hours ago, Slingerland said:

Nope. Ludwig still makes Vistas, but it's a heat-formed product, and being outside all summer and under tension is never going to be a good match for the essential technology in forming the shell. 

From my memory, among finalist corps, Blue Stars used Slingerland's clear TDRs in '74 (and maybe Ludwig's barber pole variety in the tenor line in the mid-70s?), Kilts had yellow snares in 74 and 75, Guardsmen had orange drums throughout the line in 75 and 76 (I believe someone from their staff worked at Ludwig back then), PR had red Vista snares in '74 (and 75 maybe?), and Muchachos had red Vista snares as well in that same period. After '76, not recalling any of the big corps still using them

I still just don't think (even with the floating shell cages that we have now....which btw are AMAZING) that the drums would be strong enough for today's tensions. Slingerland is 100% correct that the heat will certainly make that shell move some. Since there's no seam, you won't have the issue of that bond breaking and the shell blowing out sideways, but I think the higher tension heads of today would just crush the thin shells. 

On a side note, I didn't know that Slingerland ever made am acrylic shell drum!! I remember the TDR's well as they were SO much easier to tune than the old Ludwig challengers. Spirit and several other corps used Ludwigs for ages and I think just about everyone double rimmed those old Remo Powerstroke (power blow) heads to the point of stupidity. If I remember correctly, different started to switch over from gut to aviator cables at some point as well (I know we did.) Premier also made the Resonator which SCV used. Some groups didn't seem to like them but I absolutely LOVED them. And I think Yamaha came out with the "Field Corps" or whatever in mid 80's with the super-mega-giganto die-cast rim. Ahhh the 80's.

To bring it back on topic, what finishes did we have as standard back then? I remember white, black, red, chrome, black pearl, white marine pearl, ALL the glitters, brushed gold (thanks Suncoast Sound,) and I think that's it. I guess Yamaha had a brushed silver. There might have been some really horrid fake wood finishes as well but I can't remember for the life of me. 

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47 minutes ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

To bring it back on topic, what finishes did we have as standard back then? I remember white, black, red, chrome, black pearl, white marine pearl, ALL the glitters, brushed gold (thanks Suncoast Sound,) and I think that's it. I guess Yamaha had a brushed silver. There might have been some really horrid fake wood finishes as well but I can't remember for the life of me. 

Yamaha still has that brushed silver as one of their stock finishes (I think most of the Yamaha corps now are getting basic black, and then just putting wraps over).

Slingerland tried clear acrylic for one year, then let Ludwig have that market. Every once in awhile you'll see a "Phantom" Slingerland set for sale, which was their all clear outfit, but aside from seeing Stars use them, I've never seen a clear TDR since.

As for old school finishes, don't forget SCV's original copper wrapped Slingerlands. Best looking finish of the early to mid 70s, unless you count Bridgemen's yellow tiger striped drums from the first years of DCI.😀

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16 hours ago, quietcity said:

Point of order: Guardsmen last used Vistalite drums in, I believe, 1976. Vistalite drums were a passing 1970s fad, like pet rocks or disco. 

Thank you. Being a non-percussionist who was frequently yelled at by school teachers for tapping my fingers on the desk during class BITD (I know, today it's What's a Desk?), I took the last DCI year of Schaumburg-Hoffmann Estates Quaker Oats crew so Terri won't yell at me like the teachers.

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