Do you really think that new Zildjians are bad?
I haven't heard many, but I think that, for example, 21" A Sweet Ride sounds quite nice...?
I just bought this little funny thing for almost nothing.
http://gilnar.rajce.net/Klicek_amati
It's for older type of screws, my guess is 60's or early 70's.
Kraslice is a name of a town, where Amati factory is placed.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]Very cute....I like it. (Kraslice = 'Graslitz' in English (who knows why ?) )[/COLOR]
I think it's from german. Kraslice lies in western Czechia, so it very likely had some german population. Names of such towns or villages were often germanized.
In english, it means "Easter Eggs". Nice, eh? :-)
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... Kraslice = 'Graslitz' in English (who knows why ?) ...
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It is 'Graslitz' in German, too. According to information in the 'www' it was a German town in former times. The word 'Gras' was transformed from 'Graz' which appeared to have the meaning 'coniferous forest' in the middle age - but not any more in today's German. Today 'Graslitz' is just the name we call that Czech town from the sight of Germany.
Ralf (... from Germany ...)
This is just one of the reasons I just love this site,I see things I never ever thought I would.By the looks of some of the sizes it seems to me they made drums up until the early mid 80's?Did they make their own shells?How did they sound?
By the looks of some of the sizes it seems to me they made drums up until the early mid 80's?
Amati was originally commonwealth of craftsmen who made wind instruments (many of them were Germans, as Kraslice really had strong german minority). I do not know whether they made drums and cymbals before WWII (I've seen something, but I can't be sure), but sure thing is that they were making them in 60s (I've seen some old drums that could be from 50s but can't say for sure whether they were Amati). From that time, three (four) main series were released.
(0.: Seen just few snares, old barrel-like lugs)
1st: http://gilnar.rajce.idnes.cz/Amati/#39_1.jpg (60s)
2nd: http://medak7.rajce.idnes.cz/Documents_2/#Amati_281.jpg (new lugs)
3rd: http://medak7.rajce.idnes.cz/Documents_2/#Amati_259.jpg (deep drums, virgin bass drums (!), giant heavy racks copied from Pearl)
These informations may not be correct, but when I asked Amati company for some info about drums they said the documentation no longer exists. They only make wind instruments nowdays. Production of drums was halted in early 90s (I think whole "Amati drums" thing was just part of communist doctrine of completely independent east bloc. I can easily imagine some comrade saying: "Trumpets are from brass, clarinets are from wood. Drums are from wood, cymbals are from brass. Let them make drumsets!!!"). After that they were making "Magic" cymbals for a few years, but they were pretty bad.
Yes. As for material... at least 2nd and 3rd series is made from beech.
Not very good. Wood isn't of big quality, edges are often uneven or rough, tom mounts are lead into drums and toms were often manufactured in odd sizes (too deep or too shallow) and without resonation heads. Even so, if you manage to find drums that are in good condition, with lugs on both sides, maybe do some work on the edges and put some good heads on them, they might sound quite good. But they'll never be something really stunning.
Their main advantage is that they are cheap, easy to get, and while Stagg, Peace, Ashton or similar brands fall apart after half a year, Amati hold their own for decades (Now I'm not talking about their cymbals. They crack. Hardware is quite OK, but has some unpleasant weaknesses.)
Sorry for such a long answer, I hope you get some useful information from it :-)
Thanks for the reply,and for the interesting thread
Just thought I'd share this video with you. It's czech comedian Jiri Slitr, singing funny russian version of song "Clementine." This video was banned by communists, who were very nervous from any joking with Russians involved.
You can see 1st series Amati Drums there, however, I am unsure about the brand of cymbals.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5suzozkMvN4&feature=related[/ame]
