grantro / Atlantaskins / mchair303 :
THANKS for the kind words and glad you all enjoyed the pics/drums! Mike ... to answer your queries:
I grabbed these back in March, ripped 'em all down and did "my thing" to them as it were! When I saw these, I thought the sizes would be PERFECT for all the other dates I play, leaving the Fibes Buddy Rich's for the bigger theater's and shows. These are a bit easier to move around, yet still sound HUGE, and with that great pinpoint focus that a fiberglass shell affords. The bass drum in particular is a CANNON! Regarding the Rogers hardware:
I have Rogers Swivo hardware with ALL my sets actually! Each set has it's own hardware, and that would be both the Fibes and both the Rogers! Buddy originally used Meazzi hardware with his Fibes in 1967 .. Fibes was supplying Meazzi hardware during this period .. except for the ride "L" arm and the splash "L" arm, which were from his Rogers set .. and of course his Rogers WMP canister throne. During the later part of the mere 6 months in 1967 that Buddy played all Fibes, he did use his Rogers Swivo/Swanleg cymbal stands too. Regarding the canister throne:
I thought at first that I would have a fiberglass canister made in the height I needed, but then I said it might be better/easier to find a DONOR canister that someone was cutting loose cheap, and modify that. I looked for a few months actually, and then it showed! Guy out in CA had a custom canister built by Jim Petty of JP3 out in Texas, and was getting out of playing, so he was selling off some of his stuff. He had this throne built at 24" high .. YIKES! .. and wrapped to match his Green Sparkle rogers Buddy Rich Celebrity's. Anyway, we settled on a price, and he shipped it off. I completely disassembled it and stripped off the pearl wrap, then cut 3" off the bottom as I sit at 21" high ... then made a NEW bottom piece out of 5/16" ply and installed that. Then, off to Jammin' Sam's for some chrome wrap, and re-wrapped the throne. I painted the new plywood base black and added the aluminum trim ring ... re-drilled for all the latches/seat, and added the Fibes badge. Voila! A matching, fully functional and comfortable!, "chrome" canister throne in the original Fibes canister throne image. Added bonus is that he had a custom case made for it by Humes and Berg and threw that in with it! I had to also cut the case down to fit the new dimensions, but no issue, and it came out perfect! I'll attach a couple other pics for you.
Regarding the venue/venues: Well, we have been on the road this summer, in the tri-state area, but ... the color shot was taken at the Hartford Infinity at a show we played this past January ... and the outdoor shot of the smaller Fibes was taken at the Veterans Memorial Amphitheater in Rocky Hill. That is just a beautiful venue! Top shelf sound and light production! This week, Farmington, Rocky Neck/Black Point on Friday, and then Southbury on Saturday. Been quite a busy season, which is great of course! THANKS for the comments and questions Mike! Hope all is well!
Tommyp