Got some feedback,..

Back in the 50`s,..only the very famous drummers experimented with the double bass concept,...the BD hoops were ordered in natural and black finnish, tough to tell if they both came together or one was added later. The script badges were short time and then went to red painted !! The snare is most likely 13".

Either way they are very hard to come by. My guess is the original owner bought the second BD later and was famous. But that`s only a guess !!

The other early seventies kit is bottom of the barrell starter kit made in Taiwan, prolly with plastic lugs and one of five different sets they offered. It`s something you give away and not sell. I don`t think the BD mount pole is Sonor and the FT is 60`s tear drop !!

Whilst I no little about Sonor I'd be on the 50's kit. It looks really cool and I get the feeling you won't see too many more like it. The other kit looks pretty plain and common to me.

[QUOTE=Magnus_N;149260]Just to set things straight. International sizes are what we use today, with heads and shells measured in inches, not centimeters. The older, European (?) standard is called metric. Metric heads are hard to find.

>>>>Sorry, but this is not so.

"International" size heads refer to the European non standard size heads of the late 1950s. The snare and tom toms were 12.5 inches and the bass drums were 21.1 inches. This is not "Metric", these odd sizes were (and still are) called "International".

You CAN get international size heads today from Remo, but they only make them a couple of times a year and they are VERY expensive. What most guys did (including me) is to trick the shells into accepting standard 13 inch heads for the snare and tom, and standard 22 inch heads for the bass drum. You do this by changing hoops (of course) and by inserting some rubber washers underneath the lugs to give them more "splay" so that they will accept the larger head. Its a cheap way to use International size drums, if you happen to own a nice set of them.

In regards to value, they are worth $$$ to Sonor collectors mainly because 1950s Sonor Drums are hard to find today. The shells themselves are crazy....thick and hard wood. When you sand the bearing edges correctly,and put thick heads on them, they sound like CANNONS.

Whatever you say. You are however the only person I have heard claiming this. Common wisdom (as evidenced by a simple Google search; http://www.google.se/search?q=%22international+size%22&hl=sv&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images#q=%22international+size%22+drums&hl=sv&lr=&prmd=imvns&ei=1XmqTveAFIj_4QTS2b2GDw&start=0&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=ca885353f5413f3c&biw=953&bih=1454) has it the other way around.

The old, out-of date (mainly European?) sizes are really referred to as "pre-international size".

/Magnus

Yes, I DID mean to type "Pre-International". Thats right. Age, you know....

I got some additional photos of this 50s Sonor set

http://pokazywarka.pl/wtl94i/

I’m still wondering is it worth to buy. At least it required a lot of work and money to renovate but from other hand this is nice set with some history.

Will you buy it? Now price is around 400 US dollars.

Do you think that the sound after all can be nice?

From what I can see, the shells are in good shape. You will probably have to work on the bearing edges with some sandpaper. The hardware looks to be in very good shape (it is ALOT better than mine is). Altho I cannot be SURE, it looks like some parts have been replaced on this set. The snare strainer looks much different than it should. Also, I think this set originally had clips and single flange hoops. I could be wrong about that, but mine does.

Keep in mind, this looks like it uses "Pre-international" size heads, which are not easy to get. Thats a sticking point, so you need to consider that carefully. As for sound, with those thick Sonor shells, these should sound great. If you put calf heads on these, I imagine the sound would be out of this world.

The snare strainer is original and complete. (Got that from a tear drop god !!)

Just put`n this here !!

Again, Sorry !!