What im gonna do Doug is help all members on VDF to see more of the Autotune. Ive got two editions of the drums and i can show how they changed out fitments from the rogers to the beefed up fittings. Also rollers changed to plastic blocks. Some say the shells were made different so im gonna get looking. I basically think the 2nd gen i have just had the blocks added after the rollers plus the fitments changed. The shells do look exact. I know the last ones were wood shells and just got cheaper in design. Ill also weigh each drum. They are down as the loudest double headed fibre glass drum kit in the world. They reckon Stacatto were loudest single headed kit going. Trouble with Stacatto when they went to Canada they also became cheaper quality and not as good as the original design. One last point i even have both versions of the fine tension screws. In such a short space of time Ivor Arbiter not only made big contributions to the Beatles but he produced Hayman and Arbiter Autotune drums. The guy was a genius.

Sean

What a beautiful and interesting kit. Glad to hear about your passion and expertise. I love the technology. Are they available in the US? I'd love to get a snare to disassemble and figure out ( just the engineer in me) they look too cool and bet they sound great.

Thanks for sharing, now I will be on a quest......

Michael

Hi Michael...Tuning one up is easy just like screwing a lid on a jam jar. Then you go for the fine tuning tensioners. I have two autotune snare drums, first one was missing strainer butt and damper, so ive fitted a trick all chrome strainer/butt, plus put two custom air vents on the drum. The second one is complete with all the factory hardware. Both also come with the unique snare stand that mounts them with perfection. The drums are nearly finished, the renovation has been a success and are looking great already. What i need to do with this kit is do a vid of all the workings plus changing a head in seconds.

Those babies are CRAY CRAY! sean! :) VERY cool!

These drums were sold to another collector in germany for £1200GBP. They were in top class condition after i had spent some weeks making sure every single nut screw washer etc etc was in place. Good money can be made to the right people if you put the work in on the drums.