Hi,

Cool drum! I am by no means an expert, but I think that you have a Premier 1036. I have the same drum, except with 8 lugs, called the 1026. If you look in the late 70's and early 80's catalogs, there are lots of photos. I think that yours is probably a late 70's because of the throw off and lugs, but there are definitely people on here that know more than me.

I know this drum i believe to be one of their more entry-level snare drums. Now I had one that was 5x14 that I got with my Royale kit new in 1986. My friend in my h.s. drum line had one that was the same size and was part of the affordable snare drum kit that was probably a late 70's. his was much, much better than mine. His was a great snare. Mine was a cheap version of the same thing. Mine didn't sound as good, didn't feel the same, and mine was pitted and rusty within a year. his worked flawlessly, sounded crispy and articulate, and looked like you would expect a Premier drum to look. You probably got the nice one so enjoy. They are more rare I know in 6.5x14, just like a Supra.

Hi you all!

Thanks for the quick answers!

Yesterday night I tried it for the very first time, and even if I did not change the skins (but they're old enough...!) and after a bit tuning, it sounded VERY good - crisp, loud, no "metallic noise" at all... very good!

@dieconashi: you're right, yes it seems a 1036. The vendor called it a "Model 36", so maybe he was meaning that...? I looked for "Model 36" on internet but found no infos, so I simply thought it was a strange way of calling it :)

I did not realize he could mean 1036 DOH

@drummingbulldog: you say

...and mine is a 6.5x14 , so it is expected to be more rare...?

...this sounds good!! :D

How much do you think it is worth (I don't think I'll ever sell it, but just to know if I payed the right price, or more, or less.... ;-) ) ?

As you probably notice, I'm not an expert, but I'm in love with this old drums that sound so magical to my ears... new things, even very good things, are not built with the same love and handcraftedness (I GUESSED this word, translating from italian... I hope it exists :P ).

Thanks a lot so far,

Ben

I am not a Premier guy but I would say what you paid is probably good for this drum and for the vintage in general. It's not one of their top of the line snare drums. The 6.5x14 size is more rare for that drum. I'd say if you like it and it sounds good and you didn't pay over 125-150 you probably did well. Enjoy it and don't worry about making money off of it.

This drum is an late 70s/early 80s "36", the deeper version of the "35" which was born from the successful Beverley "21" also made by Premier. The "35" was the first Premier drum to be factory fitted with square head tension rods and the first 10 lug snare with steel hoops. I suspect it was introduced specifically for the US market riding on the back of the "21's" reputation for being a good Ludwig "400" copy.

Hi Mike,

thanks a lot for your kind answer.

The numbers that are graved inside, do they refer somehow to the "date of birth" of the snare?

I recently bought another Premier snare, and as soon as I have some time to spend I'll post pictures and (the same questions) that I made for this "36" model, and it has the same numbers stamped inside (actually, not the same numbers, but stamped the same way), so I was wondering what they mean...

Sorry for my english, I hope you understand what I write - sometimes I don't understand even myself eh eh eh :-)

Cheers

I would put your snare around the very early 1980s. It has the "70s" badge which goes up to about 1981, and it has square tuning bolts as opposed to slotted heads. These came in around the early 1980s as far as I know.

This is definitely a " model 36" as described in their catalogues and was a "standard" rather than an "entry level" drum as it came with some of their standard range of pro kits - they didn't make many ranges back then !!

I have one identical to yours, and it's a cracker. It's a lot heavier than an 8 lug version from the late 1980s / early 90s I had for a while.

If you can see a four digit stamp inside the shell, I believe it refers to week number / month. Hence 0281 would be the second week in January 1981.

I'd hang on to this drum if I were you.

Hi garethfoxwililams,

thanks for answering!

I agree with you, I recently bought this one and another one, but I'm in love with this one and I could not find the time to change the skins to the other... everytime I have some time to spend on playing, I grab this one :)

I'm pretty interested in the words you wrote

As you can see from this picture,

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21139102/PremierSnare/Print.JPG

the numbers seem "16 7" .... I don't think it is from January 1967 ;) but... maybe april (16th week) 1977 ...?

Anyway, it is just a curiosity: it does sounds very very well, I really like it.

In the next weeks I'll try to change skins and make some pictures of the other one...

Thanks a lot,

have a good drumming day!!

Which drum head configuration works best on a 1036?