$600 plus shipping
The Specs:
18x18 bass drum
8x10 tom
9x12 tom
14x14 floor tom
Thin 6 ply maple shells
Custom glitter/sparkle paint finish
Slingerland copy lugs and hoops
Die cast air vents
RIMS suspension rings
Tom mounting system
Folding spurs
Die cast bass hoop claws
The Story
In 2002 I started building drums at my George’s Drum Shop in Ohio. They were bass drums, toms, and snares in typical sizes. The components were Keller maple shells, simple World Max or Cannon clone shell metal hardware, and wrap finishes from Precision Drum Company. Very simple. Nothing fancy. Most of them had George’s Drum Shop badges. Very similar to what many other drum shops were making at that time.
In 2007 I decided to get much fancier with my drum building and start an actual drum company. I started the Lawrence Drum Company with 100 Keller maple shells. I upgraded the hardware to die cast metal parts instead of less expensive cold rolled steel parts. The lugs were die cast Slingerland Radio King style lugs. I upgraded the hoops to Slingerland style. The rim of those hoops flanged inward instead of outward like regular hoops that flanged outward. They were also more rigid and heavier which caused a noticeable difference in the sustain of the heads and the fullness of shell tone.
The lacquer finished was painted by a drummer friend of mine, Tony, who had a very sophisticated paint shop in Fargo North Dakota. He had done custom paint jobs for several major companies’ endorsing artists. The first three sets were to be the catalog kits. I asked him to come up with “car glitter” finishes in champagne glitter, orange glitter and baby blue glitter. The paint was very thick on the shells. This kit above is what I deemed “too much baby blue glitter.”
The other two kits were larger with more standard sizes. These were the only three kits built for the Lawrence Drum Company. What happened? The bloomin’ 2008-2009 recession happened! Thank you very much Mr. Bush. I had to shut my drum shop down within three years due to lack of sales – and it had been going so well up until then. C’est la vie.
So why am I selling these drums? Well, I am selling all my drum sets except for my 1972 Ludwig SuperClassic kit in Oyster Black “Bowling Ball” finish. Why that one? Two main reasons – Sentimental attachment and weight. The 13” and 16” toms were given to me by Roger Hawkins, the drummer for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. He had used them when the Section did two tours with Traffic in the early seventies. He put them in the studio’s attic after that tour and didn’t use them for about 30 years. I found a matching 22” bass drum and a 12” tom on Ebay. Plus the fiber cases were stenciled with the Traffic logo and Roger’s name. They were plastered with defunct airline stickers and tags. They sound great. Nashville drummers used to rent them from me to use on recording sessions. I’ll never let them go.
The weight? I had been playing my Taye Parasonic kit and Gretsch 57 Renown in Motor City Red kits, but they were just too heavy for me to be carrying around. They seemed to weigh more at the end of the gig. I’ll be selling them and their cases soon. The dang vinyl cases are almost as heavy as the drums. The Ludwigs are much lighter in weight because their shells are lighter. The shells are mostly made of a thick slab of poplar which is a very light weight wood. The metal hardware is mostly cold rolled steel - much lighter than the die cast parts on the other two sets. AND fiber cases - light weight. I’m not playing enough these days to warrant having so many kits – maybe three or four gigs a month.
The Baby Blue drums do not have badges (no Lawrence Drum badges were ever made) but I have some Famous Drum Company badges that would look real good on them. How does the kit sound? If I do say so myself, they sound great. They are in excellent shape for a 20 year old kit. Any of my students who have played on them at my home teaching studio know how good they sound. The 18x18 bass drum has good low end and a lot of punch. They sat in my studio most of the time. They’ve been stacked in a corner of our house for about a year. I dusted them off but will give them a more thorough cleaning and will post updated pics. There has been no fading of the finish.
What’s wrong with them? There are a few bumps and bruises but nothing you would ever notice on a gig. One of the bass drum hoops got cracked in my move from Nashville to Memphis in 2018, but I fixed that shortly after the mover. I need to put a batter head on the bass drum – the Silent Stroke head is still on there.
How much? $600 and I’ll throw in the set of Remo Silent Stroke heads that have been on them since Covid. I’ll also include the Dixson bass drum riser that I used with them. I will ship at your expense. Nested in two boxes.
