Hi Guys,
i wonder whether there are any experts that know about this: I own Fibes Acrylic Clear drums but all shells have a scratched Serial number (no pressed by any machine, but handwritten). The serials fit (e.g. very close for every drum in the range of 173xx). Its the fibes Nazareth Pennsylvania USA Badge (drums are from about 1975).
Does anyone know anything about that scratching of serials? It looks like that was done on purpose by fibes.
Hi Guys, i wonder whether there are any experts that know about this: I own Fibes Acrylic Clear drums but all shells have a scratched Serial number (no pressed by any machine, but handwritten). The serials fit (e.g. very close for every drum in the range of 173xx). Its the fibes Nazareth Pennsylvania USA Badge (drums are from about 1975).Does anyone know anything about that scratching of serials? It looks like that was done on purpose by fibes.
Hello!
The Fibes CFMartin Organisation/Nazareth Pennsylvania USA ""square" badge is the 4th and final badge used before CFMartin sold Fibes to Jim Corder in 1979. Your clear Crystalites being purchased in 1975 would indeed have that badge .. and .. serial numbers etched into the bearing edges by hand! Interestingly, Fibes serial numbers have little to do with dating the drums! They were for an inventory control system put into place by Fibes/CFMartin. Of interest is, my 1st set of Fibes .. bought brand new in late 1973/74 .. were clear Crystalite shells, and had the 3rd Fibes/CFMartin badge which was rectangular .. and .. four digit serial numbers written by hand on a little sticker that was stuck to the badge in the corner! The serial on the tag matched the etched serial on the bearing edge, and as I recall, had the YEAR of the drum indicated by the last two digits. However ... that all went by the wayside with the 4th and final Fibes/CFMartin badge as your drums have. Those serials were "usually" 5 digits, but there seemed to be no correlation to the month or year of manufacture ... and again, more of an inventory control/tracker. The serial on the badge matched the etched serial on the bearing edge though. This was also done with the fiberglass shells that were then wrapped in either chrome, brass, copper, FiVel, etc. So, hopefully that might help answer your query on the etched serial numbers! I will add ...
... when Fibes was owned/run by Bob Grauso from 1965 to 1970, there were NO serial numbers or numbering systems of any kind on the shells. After Bob sold Fibes to CFMartin in 1970, is when all that started. As is the case with so many things, there can be exceptions here and there! But for the most part, that is the history on the etched serial numbers on both fiberglass and Crystalite shells. I play/gig on two different Fibes COF sets, with one being PRE CFMartin .. 1967/68 Fibes Buddy Rich COF .. and one being a 1972 Fibes/CFMartin, also in COF. Of interest on the 1972's is there are serial numbers etched into the bearing edges, but none on the badges! Things were a bit haphazard in this area with CFMartin ownership. But again, by the time the 4th and final badge was in place, and that took place around mid 1974, they seemed to get much more uniform and stringent in their numbering on both edges and badges. I'll also attach a couple pics of the 3rd and 4th Fibes/CFMartin badges for you!
Tommyp
Hi there, thank you very much for the detailed answer! :)
