What a beautiful outfit. It must be pure joy to practice on that kit. Thanks for sharing.

Best.

Stephen

THANKS to ALL that have commented!! Glad that you have enjoyed!

OldSchool/Gary: I wasn't exactly sure what you were referencing/seeing in the pic.. so .. I removed the Ride cymbal and grabbed a shot of the TOP of the bass drum showing the cymbal mount and badge. Was it just a reflection? Do you still see it in this shot? An addendum: I know what you were seeing now Gary! It was part of the actual cymbal mount that "looked" like it could have been a badge! Just the angle/lighting is what did that I think.

Hoop mounted spurs were still the order of the day in 1950 at WFL/Ludwig! The first pair of "fold out" spurs ( #1305 ) were debuted in/around 1955, although a "disappearing" spur ( #1303 ) came out in 1953. Up until then though, they were all hoop mounted.

Tommyp

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my inquiry, Tommy. You are correct. What I was seeing was part of the base of the actual cymbal mount. Working with just one functioning eye can be a pain in the behind at times. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Outstanding example!! Beautiful!!

Is there a story to the dolls head on the shelf?

Ed

I must say, that is a Beautiful set of Drums. I bet they would record like a dream.

Buddy had good taste and so do you there is just something about that 1 up two down with a big bass drum that shouts i am cool and those are very cool and as you know tommy These kits are addicting.... :)

Tommy that's a great looking kit! Truly amazing condition. Quite the collection of snares you have too. How many do you have? Looks like 1 for everyday of the month? Yes Sir

THANKS for all the commentary guys! Let me answer some of those queries:

OldSchool/Gary! : NEVER an inconvenience! I was pleased to add some pic content and to solve the mystery. THANKS!!

BigE! : There is indeed a story to the dolls head! ( always a story, right?! LOL! ) The thumbnail sketch is: Back in 1978 through 1985, I was playing/touring with a ten piece horn/funk band, and back then one could play 200 nights a year.. AND .. with better then decent pay. This particular band had full management and rehearsal space which was owned by the manager. The managers daughter was cleaning out her stuff one day and was throwing out that dolls head as it had parted company with the body. Drummers being the CRAZY one's we are, I took the dolls head and gave it a mowhawk haircut, as it seemed like the thing to do at the time, well that and it amused the crap out of the rest of the band. Or was that the herb? It was probably a combination of both! Anyway... after my hairstyling on the dolls head, I placed it on the top of my HH rod. Playing in the Funk style of the day, one would comp steady eighth notes on the HH with the left foot while playing the typical Ride Funk patterns between the RH and the LH... ala Dave Garibaldi if you will. Well!... with the HH on constant eighth's, and the dolls head with the mowhawk perched atop the HH rod, it would just DANCE up and down all night!, and much to the amusement of the crowd in the club. I would see people pointing at the dolls head and laughing, etc. So... I kept it as part of my set-up at the time. I never threw it out as it was a real "road dog" for the better part of 6 years! Needless to say... it has not graced the top of my HH in a couple decades... but the memory is still vivid! It was a BLAST at the time. Or was that the herb???!!!

geckobeats! : I imagine they would record nicely. They do have an amazing amount of tone. Course 62 years might have sumthin' to do with that!

MikeT! : So true Mike! Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich had THE perfect set-ups with the one up two down.. ( and many other great players too of course ) .. but those guys were so high profile, especially BACK in the day, and for me that would have been 1967. That was the year I discovered Buddy Rich. My father brought home the "Swingin' New Big Band" album and that was the start of my BR insanity... and it still continues.

FFR428! : That snare drum rack has 4 levels, and it's full. The rest of the snare drums are in bags on the rack. I put together.. ( over many years ) .. a Buddy Rich snare drum collection that has every snare drum he actively played between the years of 1950 and 1982, and covering all his endorsements through that period. Every snare drum is correct as to year.. manufacturer.. model.. wrap.. and all of them are in near mint to mint condition. There are 14 snare drums in that collection, and they take up a good part of that rack. The rest are Rogers/Slingerland/Ludwig, and while not being drums that BR played, they are all nice models in their own right. The neat thing is... I play them! Not so much gig wise as we all have our "go to favorite" snare drum/drums, but I play them with my practice set which currently happens to be those 1950 WFL Buddy Rich Super Classics. In truth, I only have 32 snare drums total... a far cry from some of the guys here!

Tommyp

does someone like wmp wow

jaghog! : True enough on that statement! Thing is though, my entire collection of snare drums and complete sets are ALL Buddy Rich models, and as such, are all WMP as that was Buddy's color. There are exceptions here and there of course as he also played COW.. COF.. COB, and Hammered Bronze. But all his sets save one.. ( 1966/67 Fibes COF ) .. were always WMP! It is a very classy wrap and has been around a long time, most especially in the jazz/big band circles. Timeless actually. THANKS for the comment!

Tommyp