I hear ya, but I saw an opportunity to upgrade to a better kit without having to fork over any cash.

Besides, I like Premier drums, the quality is top notch, especially the chroming on the lugs.

I only wish those hideous legs weren't put on the kick.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to why they don't fetch more?

Premier never really caught on here. I have heard that the company had a lot of management problems over the years and never really had any solid distribution in the States. Ultimately they shut down their UK factory a few years ago and sent production overseas. I read on another forum recently that they are pretty much non existent as a company now and that they recently sold the name to a low end musical retailer who will use the name for their house brand of drums. A sad end to a once great maker of some of the best drums ever made.

I suspect that the pre-international sizes up until '68 really hurt them in a big way in the US. When everyone was using calf heads it wasn't that big a deal because you could get a new skin tucked to the old flesh hoop. Once plastic heads took over, it was a real problem. Remo is the only manufacturer who ever made heads to fit other than Premier itself. They still make them but you generally have to order them direct or get a dealer to order them. How many people would want to deal with that hassle when you had so many great American drum companies? Not that many apparently.

Even though they went to standard sizes in '68 I think that one reputation stuck with them for many years and dissuaded a lot of buyers. Couple this with the management and distribution problems and it's kind of surprising they lasted as long as they did.

Ya, that's what I was thinking, one thing I would add is the slotted tension rods, I never liked them. I'm sure it was a pain to find a slotted key back then here in the states. You'd have to pull out your trusty screw driver.

Screwdrivers suck, even the mini, they slip off all the time. A quarter works fine on mine and is comfy to hold.

I accidentally deleted the post on how I aquired this kit. Well, too make a long story short, I sold my Whitehall kit and a dw pedal to Music Go Round and they gave me enough to get the Premier kit.

I love the look of them except for the hideous modern kick legs and of course they sound great.

parts hard to come by and odd drum head sizes

nothing to do with looks or sound just....keeping them running and maintained; like an discontinued British car used as a daily driver in America. Gotta really want it.

the 73- 82 were easier to live with ...like this era:

https://www.hawthornedrumshop.com/shop/1970s-premier-polychromatic-red-resonator-drum-kit

Peak (100% pure) (last of) English Premier before Yamaha got involved

~~~~~~~~~

I had a Sept. 1971 set New. (mahogany 3P w/ring) All regular head shells, the odd 8X14 second tom, and the wacky funky 390 tom holders. I..played / kept/ for 26 years.

If I had had the slightly later (return to birch 3P w/ring) set- like the one at Hawthornes- missed it by a couple years- might still have them..

I've had my premier kit since the mid 70s. Mahogany shells sound really nice. Chrome plating top notch, 2000 snare has a mechanism that works like a supersensitive, cast low profile rims, beautiful sharks tooth lugs. Downside may be the hardware and the metal that some of the hardware is made of.

Erich

It's a cool kit, Johnny.

My only experience with Premier was in college. The school had a full kit...but it was some kind of shell-within-a-shell design and those things weighed a ton and were always back breakers to move around. I think they must have been a later model than the one you got.

Premier made some cool looking little bop kits -with the 18 X 12 (!) bass drum, if I recall correctly.

Those would have been Resonators which the earliest catalog that lists them that I have seen is '75.

Not the greatest sounding kits.

My take was worst sounding expensive kit.