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1930's Marius Renatus (Made in Belgium)

Posts: 763 Threads: 110

Hi Folks,

I picked up this great set.

It's a Marius Renatus in Red Diamond Pearl, made in Belgium.

The bass drum is 26", snare and tom are metric and somewhere between 12" and 13". I'm guessing the manufacturing date is around 1930's.

Marius Renatus is linked to Sonorus and as far as I know, they're the only 2 Belgian drum brands ever existed.

For its 80 years, the set is in great shape. Rusty hardware for sure but the wood work and the wrap show no cracks.

The shells are light and are similar to Premier. They appear to be 4-ply birch and poplar with beech re-rings.

The plan is to clean it up and make it playable.

I'll start a thread in the restore section where I will post some more detailed pictures. Please jump in whenever you feel like.

They're already a few things that puzzle me,...

- A big rusty bracket on the floor tom. (Could that be original, maybe to attach the tom to the BD hoop?)

- The throw off lever looks bended.

- The floor tom bottom is closed, was it a common thing?

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Posted on 11 years ago
#1
Posts: 763 Threads: 110

Some more pics,...

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Posted on 11 years ago
#2
Posts: 1570 Threads: 66

Those are in pretty nice condition for their age.It shouldn't take too long to bring them around and they will be well worth it. It does look like the throwoff lever is bent. The way I have straightened such bent steel items is by putting them in a vice and slowly closing it. You may have to readjust it between the jaws a couple of times to find the right pressure spots to get the correct straightening angle but gentle pressure most often reduces the possibility of the metal cracking . Steel is pretty good in this way , anyway.

I have an old Ajax tom , which came with a similar mount on it, to your tom,s. It seems that would be a mounting bracket for a rack tom and I have never seen a boxed in bottom .like that before but 1930's European drums are pretty uncommon-----I would imagine quite a few were used for fuel during the war.

Posted on 11 years ago
#3
Posts: 26 Threads: 2

Hi Stedi....I have never seen this bass drum pedal......REALLY KOOL !!!

Could I make you an offer on the pedal?

Thanks,

Dave in VA

USA

Posted on 11 years ago
#4
Posts: 5356 Threads: 87

Stedi these are really cool old drums thanks for the pics. You find some of the best kits I've ever seen. :) Congrats on the find~!

Glenn.

Not a guru just havin fun with some old dusty drums.
Posted on 11 years ago
#5
Posts: 1040 Threads: 106

Now those are extremely cool. You reall do get the coolest drums. I love the finish and overall mojo. Does the tom play at all? Isn't the bottom just some kinda removable lid or something?

Sysl krysu nenahradi!

-196?-72 6ply White Oyster Amati
-1960s 3ply Red Sparkle Amati
- Zildjian, Paiste, Zyn, Istanbul

http://bandzone.cz/blueswan
Posted on 11 years ago
#6
Posts: 6524 Threads: 37

Is that a cover for the bottom head of the FT ?

It`s a drum,.....Hit It !!

.....76/#XK9207 Phonic Sound Machine D454/D-505 snares !i
Posted on 11 years ago
#7
Posts: 763 Threads: 110

Thanks for the positive reactions,...

The bottom of the flooor tom is boxed in. It's closed with thin ply wood and covered with wrap. When I gently tap on it, I must say that it sounds pretty musical. From the moment I'm back from Christmas vacation, I'll start a thread in the restore section and post some pictures. The skins are in bad condition so I have no idea yet how the drums sound.

Posted on 11 years ago
#8
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