Another beautiful set, Sean!!

How many sets do you own now? You have been posting some amazing set as of late...

Cheers

Ive got a lot of sets. But as you know im not a collector. Im the guy that gets them into the best original state i can and then sell on. Some of the kits and snares i own have come cheap, some ive paid out a few hundred quid. The arbiters just have that space age some where in the future look. But most of us me included still like lugs etc etc. The only draw back on the arbiter is the weight. I will weigh each drum so you can compare to the usual drum we all love. Ludwig Premier Slingerland Gretsch Tama Yamaha and the list goes on. This particular set comes from Max Beesley snr a very good friend of mine. A last note on these they are absolutely LOUD.

I've wanted to hear one of these kits, they're so odd and cool that if I owned one I'd probably gig with it. What year is this kit? It's outfitted with 60s Rogers Swivo hardware all around, and a Rogers strainer.

When ivor arbitor launched the arbiter autotune it was 1975 basically when he pulled out from hayman drums. The early ones like this one was fitted all round with the rogers hardware apparently only 1000 were produced. It also has the metal rollers under the hoops as opposed to the plastic guides under the hoops on the later ones. So i have 2 autotunes this was the first one the next one i have came after this. They do sound great. Even abbas drummers live in australia 1977 used the exact same drums. Just didnt take off in the drumming world. The other autotune i have was fitted with premier lokfast tom mount system. I will show pics of these stripped down to shells showing the rollers plus in the bass drum top to bottom is a steady chromed up tube. A real great talking piece set up in your home. Lastly has original ratchet to do all the one stop tuning.

Here are some pics of the snare drum cleaned. All rollers have been greased and overhauled. This is the first run of Arbiter Autotune drums 1975. They then started to replace the rollers with black plastic blocks. The drums with the rollers are worth more and are more collectable. Most people have the drums with the plastic blocks. The other Arbiter Autotune drum kit i have has the later black plastic blocks.

Here are a few more pics. As i get through the various drums ill post pics. Have a look at the great piece of engineered snare stand which will auto tilt with a spin.

Gosh ! How cool these are... such a curiosity. Sean - is the exterior a paint? It looks durable and tough like an enamel finish. Wow. I love the badge, can we see a close up of that?

One other thing is who makes that snare stand. Never have seen one of those before.

-Doug

Here is close up of badges. The first one is from snare drum the other is what is put on all the other drums. The snare drum badge on the 5x14 is smaller to fit. The snare stand is the original stand Ivor Arbitor designed. It bolts to snare drum in 3 places. It was way ahead of its time and is solid steel. I must get a vid to show the tilt system. The 5x14 snare drum was a special order. If you bought a kit then the standard was the 6x14 snare drum. As for the colours they only produced them in white black and yellow. The method of colouring the shell im not sure. The air vent is big and deep help in with a big clip. The hole is 1/2"diameter. Every thing about Arbiter drums is big heavy solid with lots of money spent on production. One example of weight the 12x9 weighs just under 6kg.

Wow, so cool. Thanks!

-Doug