Was able to procure this cool set from a longtime friend. It was originally owned by his stepfather whom played in local rock and country bands.
The set was eventually retired and stored in an attic.
So the story goes my friends stepfather moved on to various other drum sets. a camco concert tom set, and a rogers. He also owned a PA and various monitors for his bands to play local venues.
One day some nefarious characters decided to rob his house, stealing nearly all of his gear, save for the old Ludwig hiding in the attic.
Insurance eventually paid out and he was able to get some new drums, Premier XPK 75th anniversary, a nice set of A zildjians, and a new PA system.
In the years that followed a guess some nostalgia struck him and he gigged the old Ludwig set for some shows.
Sadly he passed away and his family removed his original bass drum head and all of his friends and family signed the drumhead at his funeral. ( the drum head still resides on my friends bedroom wall.)
But sadly the old drum set ended up back in the attic.
Fortunately for the XPK kit it was stored in cases and my friend started up some jam bands with his biological father and they still uses the XPK.
About five years ago my friend reached out to me about fixing up the old Ludwig, cost of parts, etc. i gave him a rough idea, and we decided i would do all the work, he’d cover the costs and i would do it just for the chance to do a video review of the set on YouTube. Then of course things happen and time passes. Back into the attic it goes.
So a couple of weeks ago my friend asks me if id be interested in the XPK. I asked aren’t you guys jamming anymore?
Long story short i told him id get the XPK back into tip top shape, id cover the cost of new heads, odds and ends and we settled on a price for the Downbeat.
He said “ i only offered this kit to you, i know you’ll take care of it.”
I told him i would preserve it replace what’s missing, and preserve the story of its original owner as best i could.
My intention is to type out a small essay with pictures detailing the set, its original owner and his local bands. I even have old business cards he had from back when.
