Tommy amazing find! Top notch as always. Did you find these in CT?

What a gorgeous drum kit. Also a great write up/explaination.

Very cool Tommy. Can't wait to see a video of those in action, so I'll stay tuned until May. Can you comment a bit more about the spring steel wrap and the challenges restoring it?

FFR428/Glenn!

Actually, these were located in NY ... Long Island specifically. Thumbnail sketch: Guy ordered these from Bob Grauso back in late 1967 ... picked 'em up, and put them in his house as he had a basement recording studio ... they never left his house in 48 years! But ... he had some "issues" over the decades with a little moisture .. so .. that made the work a little labor intensive on some of the chrome steel wrap. Everything there though!, and I was the 1st to even open these up as they still had the original OEM batter/reso heads with the Fibes logo! I kept all the Fibes logo reso heads which look NEW after cleaning, so that was neat! He passed away and his wife put them up for sale. I got them from a third party! THANKS as always for your comments Glenn!

geckobeats!

THANK YOU very kindly!, and glad you enjoyed the drums and the write up!

Dan Boucher!

I'll most probably do a playing/demo video prior to doing a gig on these, and I'll post it up here. These do sound amazing! I was NOT prepared for just HOW they would sound. I'm very surprised at the sound/tone with these being full fiberglass shells. I thought they would be "thinner" in tone ... not so! Anyway... regarding the spring steel wrap: Because there was a little moisture present over the decades, the chrome wrap had on it's vertical surfaces what I like to call: "micro-pitting". NO RUST, which was a plus of course, but the pitting was intense! Of note is that it was really only present on the TOP surfaces, not so much the vertical .. so .. the top of the bass drum was the WORST! I'll attach a before and after pic for you. I grabbed a pic as soon as I took the BD out of the case ... and then after I worked it. I put four hours into the BD alone! What I did was completely dis-assemble and clean ... which took three go overs, and then ... THREE levels of compound as well as #0000 steel wool. Now, I know what everybody says about steel wool .. except .. it CAN be used! It just has to be done with the right grade, and done correctly. #0000 is the right grade. It's very SOFT, yet has just enough on it to GENTLY "move" the pitting. Pitting will NEVER disappear, but ... it can be "softened", and then polished back to where it is very difficult to see unless you are right on top of it. So ... after all that was done, I waxed with a heavy paste wax and buffed off with a buffing wheel. The speed, friction, and ultimately heat of the buffer helped knock that pitting down to where you can hardly even feel it... but it is still there of course, as it can't be completely eliminated. Cleaned and polished all the lugs/hardware, and dressed ALL the bearing edges, re-assembled, and there you have it. This is REAL spring steel wrap that has been chromed, so it can be worked a bit with no worries. The results are what you saw! I'll attach a before and after, and while there is pitting still present on top of the bass drum, with the ride cymbal in place as well as the rack tom, it's extremely difficult to even see ... but the wool, compound, and wax with the buffing wheel had a lot to do with that!

Tommyp

Thanks for the explanation on that Tommy. Very interesting. As interesting as the work on the wrap is the picture showing the construction at the bearing edge. A great deal different than I would have supposed with a flange like that. Pretty cool stuff.

Wow really nice job on the chrome wrap! Indeed 0000 steel wool has it's place. This is one of them. I dig the bearing edge too. Never would have expected so see a edge like that in FG. Cool learning about Fibes. I always thought they just did acrylic shells.

Hey Tommy,

Great story and kit! Those are interesting floor tom sizes, can you hear a big difference because of the depth difference? What heads are you using on all the drums? I didn't know that you have played any Blaemires in the past. I know that some of the early Fibes shells were also spun fiberglass, which I could then see some similarities in sound. I would love to find an early Fibes snare to compare them. Congrats on this kit!

Greg

Hey Greg!

THANKS for the kind words! So cool that you checked in on these, as YOU ... know fiberglass!

The two floor toms are absolutely STUPID in sound/timbre!, actually... the whole set is! That said though: The 1st floor tom being a 16X14 is a KILLER size! What a sound. So... you get the depth of the 16", but the head size of a 14", which gives the drum a little more at the top of the tuning range, but with FULL DEPTH owing to the 16" ! If this drum were a 14X14, the depth wouldn't be there without tuning the batter DOWN a taste, you know? So you then lose that pitch. The tone row with the three toms is absolutely remarkable, and that 16X14 is a big part of it as it's dead center between the other two. Rogers made that size here and there, and guys always rave about them. Now I know why! I gotta tell you, although I know you already know this! ...

... but I am blown away with a full COF shell. They sound way WARMER than I was expecting, and with such a PURE NOTE. Completely unlike wood in way shape or form. Speaking of which, man they weigh a TON! When I had each drum completely apart I said, not bad! ... not too heavy. But then add the cast lugs and hardware back in and ... ya, pretty heavy, and that contributes to the overall sound too I'm sure. Regarding the fiberglass...

... these are indeed SPUN fiberglass .. however!, only the snare drum shells were SPUN. The bass drums and toms were laid up by hand in molds, and then resin was applied, bearing edges "formed" etc. That's why they look so "unfinished", for lack of a better word. The bearing edges almost look like pie crust that was formed by hand ... because they were! Allan Blaemire achieved a much more aesthetically pleasing shell. The Fibes are just RAW fiberglass and resin. When I first looked inside I was surprised ... at how nasty they looked. But... as I worked on them, it grew on me! And again, these were all hand built back then. No factory of any kind. Bob Grauso did these to order in his garage. In that regard, each set is truly CUSTOM ... much like the Blaemires!, which leads here:

I have a 1966 Blaemire/Rogers 5X14 10 lug covered in WMP. I am going to do a piece here on that drum too, as it came my way via one of our members here, and a good friend of mine! I completely went through that one too, and I have gigged it. It is AWESOME!!! Very "woody", yet with the cut of fiberglass. Of interest is, the early Fibes snare drum shells LOOK almost identical to the Blaemires! But that's where it stops, as the Fibes bass drum and toms are that raw/natural fiberglass and resin. You can clearly SEE the by hand workmanship in the Fibes shells and bearing edges. As mentioned... NOT pretty!, but they play and sound GREAT! Once the heads are on, you don't see the interiors anyway!

I'll attach a few pics so you can see the raw interiors. The snare drum is finished nicely though! I have no clue WHY Bob Grauso didn't carry that through to the bass drum and toms. I will say that once CFMartin got involved in 1970, that changed. First thing they did was start painting the interiors BLACK for a cleaner more finished look. It was successful! Hope you ENJOY!

Tommyp

Tommy,

Congratulations on a prize acquisition. It couldn't have fallen into more deserving hands, as you are now one step closer to displaying all the full drum sets of BR (so when are you getting the WMP Slingerlands?). Wonderful job cleaning them up, and thanks for sharing the chrome restoration tips. Of course, you could have saved yourself all that trouble by just dropping the $50K at Donn Bennett's shop for BR's original Fibes set...

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(wonder if that eBay listing was legit)

Thanks as always for sharing the interesting gems you pick up.

Mike

Hey Mike!

THANKS!, and glad you liked! The BR Fibes set on eBay is indeed legit! I know Donn Bennett, and we have discussed that set a few times! Outside of the fact that BG/Fibes used Meazzi hardware on Buddy's .. ( which was actually offered by Fibes during this period .. or .. the customer could request/supply whatever hardware they wanted ) .. the two builds are identical. Buddy used his Rogers hardware with his as well, but then changed out to different make crash cymbal stands, although I don't know why. Otherwise, Rogers Swivo HH, and Swivo-Matic BD pedal, as well as the Rogers Sta-Tite or Giant snare drum stand. The rest is Meazzi though. Slingerland actually copied Meazzi's tom mount/holder! The Slingerland Set-O-Matic tom mount looks almost exactly like the Meazzi! Regarding the Slingerland #80N Buddy Rich:

I have had a few opps to pick one of those sets up!, but have always favored his Rogers .. ( as you well know! ) .. and I had the early 1950 WFL's Buddy Rich Super Classics ... but the Fibes ... wow. Just RARE in this era, build, and BR's sizes. There was no way I couldn't grab these! I will say that I sold my 1997 Ludwig BR set to buy the Fibes though ... and the Fibes were worth more to me as they are so RARE .. plus .. a completely different animal sound and feel wise. I have to make mention of this Mike, as you will get it! ...

Fred "M" is no longer the only one setting up and taking down with gloves on! I did that with my 1973 Fibes clear acrylic Crystalite set, and for 10 years at that. I'm doing it with these too! I mean you gotta! ... freaking chrome is so unforgiving with regard to finger prints, skin oil, grease, etc. A single chrome snare drum, no biggie. A FULL set of all chrome? ... gloves are the way! Everybody that knows me won't even bat an eye either... that's what's so funny. They KNOW I'm neurotic! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tommyp