And thank you (and ALL,) for hanging in there with me for -two months-! Great comment comparing the kit to an old Packard. It's true. The drums are an era frozen in time. I know what I have. It's why I put so much into it willingly. When we play, we put our souls into it. I treat everything I do like it's music... I find the groove and pour my soul into it. We're all like that, or we wouldn't be drummers. 'The Heart and the Soul of any band.' If you don't have a drummer that can make people feel him... you don't have a band.

Re: the art... I wanted my fingerprint on the kit. When you free-hand art it 'looks' like a person did it. Not a machine, or printer etc. The imperfections make it real, organic. I also wanted to follow folk art tradition by decorating and personalizing the kit. Calling it Big Blue gives the kit the only thing it was missing... a name. It already had a fully-formed personality of its own. Now it has a name too.

We've got a Rockin' band of brothers right here at VDF.

Oddball- Here's a shot of the Rogers Swivo with the extended beater. I laid down the Rogers beater for length comparison. Without the extended beater I'd be whacking the drum in the lower third of the head! It's a BIG drum. see below

More/better pix when the backdrop arrives. :p

John

John the W&A bass head logo will really top it off nicely. Was my pleasure to help out. And a huge thank you for everything!! If I'm ever out your way would love to see them in person and see how they sound. Glad your having fun with them. You poured your heart and soul into these. Well deserved! Thanks for sharing the journey along the way. Been so fun to watch. You and Bev are wonderful people. Hope we can meet up in Delaware! I'd love to hear more about her sailing adventures. If I hear thunder coming from the west I'll know it's you on Big Blue. :D

I was in a western swing band called Big Blue a while back. That kit would have been a ball to play in that context.

That bass drum with a stand up bass, ooh la!

Kit looks amazing even if these aren't the "good" pics! Hey did you digitally paint the edges on these pics? They look funky and really cool, painterly even...

Top notch all the way sir! Way to go!

Mitch

Photoshop baby! I just hung some sheets behind the drums so the drums would stand out better, but it was all wrinkled and folded so, wipe, wipe, wipe, in Photoshop and nasty wrinkles gone. :p

Thank you all for the comments and compliments.

Patrick - Yes! The -perfect- Big Band kit! They're LOUD too, so that competing with horns et al is no problema.

Glenn - Delaware Drum show in Feb or March I think. I'll have to look it up.

John

Wow:D Big Blue looks great. Your backdrop is perfect; it's all about the drums.

I wonder if I'll hear local news reports of "Sonic Booms" heard in your area!

Enjoy,

Bob

And there she is in all her glory...Big Blue! That is one super cool drum set, John...you did her all the justice she deserved...and did it well! Fantastic job on the resto (and documentation)...and now you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor! Well done, Amigo. Clapping Happy2

I forgot to mention - free-hand graphics on the BD reso? Absolutely sick my man! Very cool...

Thanks Aaron, Bob, Mitch -

'Free-handing' the logo art was scary. Drawing is something you have to keep up with, or you lose your chops. I haven't drawn anything in a very long while so I was worried about not being able to pull a line, or a curve without screwing it up. Those permanent markers are just that; permanent. No second chances and I was working on a calf head that's older than me. I just wanted it to be 'all me,' and not something generated in a computer or a printer. I have always liked the look of something that was done by hand because it's personal, it was done by a human being not a machine. Screw perfect. I wanted 'my stamp' on the kit. I can't wait to add the W&A logo to the top of the BD head!

The backdrop arrived! I'm going to attempt another photo shoot. Stand by for more and hopefully better shots of Big Blue. Then I want to take the time to thank everybody and bring the restoration itself to a close. I'm sure people will continue to comment long after this is over.

Final photos to come...

John

An absolute stunner Mr. Purdie! Big Blue looks like 2 million bucks. And thanks for taking all the time to 'splain' the process all the way, it really was lot of fun. Do we get a sound file? I wanna hear that bass drum go Wooomph!