bbeyer and tommyp!

Many times, we can learn quite a bit from bringing up old posts! TP, as always, excellent information about all this!

-Mark

I revived the post because I was looking for a Spurs solution on the 20 inch Fibes bass drum that I recently acquired, which has Ludwig arched spurs on it, which were mounted incorrectly from day one, and they are the original spurs to the drum. Somebody put them on 90° off of the set up that Ludwig designed them to be used. They should’ve been higher up on the drum and mounted horizontally not vertically.

Anyway, I did some searching on eBay and etc. for other brands of Spurs that might be close to the Ludwig Whole pattern and work out better on a Phibes, and came up with these milestones that were for sale in Canada. The holes that are there only need to be hogged out a little bit and in my opinion these will look better, and perform better due to the fact that they angle forward slightly, in comparison to the Ludwig’s which just pointed straight down.

This is my first experience with mile stone parts, and having them in my hand got me wondering about the history of the company, etc. and I did a little bit of poking around online and didn’t find much.

Bryan!

I saw your posts/pics on the spurs debacle after you picked up that Fibes 14X20 clear Crystalite bass drum. I’d swap out those Ludwig’s too! Just an awful installation by the 1st owner. You will no doubt come up with a solution. As to the history of Milestone … Paul Mason bought the company back in the mid 80’s I think. It was always a small “boutique” brand in its heyday, so there probably isn’t a lot of backstory. If memory serves, Milestone was started by two brothers that owned a drum shop in Canada, and it gained some traction from there. They did have a few names playing them though, but not enough to really make any serious inroads. The main complaint with them wasn’t the drums themselves … it was the hardware! The spurs you picked up look pretty nice though. Certainly sturdy. You may just have to make a plate to cover all those other holes, and re drill and mount whatever you go with correctly. By the way, my 1st Fibes set which I bought brand new in 1973!, was a little “jazz” set in clear Crystalite. The bass drum was a 14X20, and it KILLED! I gigged those steady for 10 years! I added to the set and it ended up at 7 pieces including double bass. Still playing Fibes today … which I know you know!

Tommyp

Tommy, when you added another bass, did you get another 20”? Or something else?

I’m sort of planning on using the 20 along with my 22, on stage with the Pink Floyd Tribute. Nick Mason played fibes, but he had two 22’s I believe. Nobody really even knows about his short stint with the brand.. but I thought they’d be great regardless, for the sound and for the look on stage with the Floyd light show stuff.

Anyway I just ended up finding the 22, and then the 20.. and nick used different sized bassdrums in his (I think?) Pompeii Ludwig kit, and with his current Saucerful of secrets DW kit.

So I thought maybe at least one guy in the crowd might notice that I’m paying homage to Nick by using the fibes in a 20,22,12,13,16,18.. and of course roto toms.

I set up all four kick drums that I own with the same resonant head and felt strip with fibes logo… so I can use them interchangeably.

Don’t know if it’ll actually ever happen, because dragging another bass drum along brings forth another issue… hooking it up to the PA! We run a behringer X32 and we are out of inputs.

I’m considering the idea of y-cabling the two bass drum mics together… or faking one and using a double pedal

Bryan!

The bass drum I added was a 14X22! So the 22” became my main drum on the right, and of course the 20” on the left. It worked out really well, and the 20” sounded really good with the 22”. For pedals I was playing Rogers Swivo-Matic’s, and still do! That pic you took of the four bass drums all set up the same with regard to heads/logos is a GREAT pic. Catalog worthy back in the day for sure. Interesting on the possible “Y” cabling of the two mikes. That’s a pretty intense set up with the PF Show. 32 channel board and you’re full up! I hear you on the slight agony of taking out two bass drums .. but .. would certainly be impressive to see and hear! Gotta do it. At least once, if not more … especially in the right venue. 😎👍🏻😎

Tommyp

Awesome! I was thinking actually of using the 22 on the left and the 20 on the right, just because my right foot is stronger. The guys I’ve seen that run two bass drums seem to use the larger one on the left foot. Either way though, is fun!

😎👍🏻😎 !!!

Tommyp

Just read that Ron Dunnett bought Milestone and will have snares at the Chicago drum show.