Here’s an ultra rare french drum set circa 50s….. Marcel FAIVRE drum sets are so rare, and this one with inverted concert toms and an opening* floor tom is very rare…..never seen before.
The brand: “Marcel FAIVRE Pigall’s Swing” was a music store in Paris. Their drum sets were manufactured by a little Parisian craftsman (P. Casadei who manufactured “Gary” brand) then sold in Marcel FAIVRE stores in Vincennes near Paris, and in Pigalle, a Parisian district know for it music stores but especially for Parisian crazy nights!! A Marcel FAVIER poster of this era, very rare too, circulates on the web.
The drum set: This drum set is in metric sizes 10+”, 13+”, 18+” & SD 14” and composed with 3 plies, reinforcing rings and round bearing edges….Gold glitter wrap with 2 badges….stickers badges on the toms, and a metallic badge on the bass drum skin. The hardware (lugs and strainer) is specific to this brand….All parts are nickel plated brass….aluminum claws and steel tension rods.
The particularity of this drum set is the floor tom which can be opened, and the 2 inverse concert toms….The concert toms were not at all fashionable in France to this era, but they had a utility….The fact that they are inverse corresponds to the fashion for mambo music in the 50s in France where several drum set brands created drum sets with these toms inverted….These 2 toms were concert toms for the storage…..This drum set had been designed to be storaged in 2 drum cases: one for the bass drum, the cymbals and the accessories, and the other for the 2 toms and the snare drum which are storage inside the floor tom! Just two cases for the drummer, very convenient.
A beautiful and so original drum set circa 50 restored for a French Museum.
* Editor's note - Opened = latched.