Thanks Tommy,

I didn't notice that the ebay WFL's have nickle vs chrome, musta been snoozing when I looked at them.

The ebay set was ......shall we say liberally described in the sense that it DID leave an opening in whether these were actually Buddy's set or a kit that had been played by him. It's all in the "merchandizing" I guess.

BGT

BGT!...

Nah... you weren't snoozing! You picked up immediately on the 14X22 bass drum... good eye! The nickel vs. chrome is a common "miss" on WFL sets from this era. The nickel hardware was less expensive at the time, chrome was extra... thus there are a lot of sets with nickel out there. Buddy's drums though... all chrome hardware!

Tommyp

I had the same question about my set with the 14x26 folks said Buddy never played a 26 well i am not a Buddy guru Like Mr Tommy but i have seen pics that sure look like a 26.... and i bet Buddy played whatever he liked at the moment... :) great thread...

Buddy did play a 26" bass both back in the early 40's I believe. And later the last set of Radio Kings that were restored by Joe McSweeney and given to Buddy by Joe. I believe that bass was a 26" bass.

Now, I also think that the promo photos and promo set and maybe that first Slingerland set that Slingerland gave Buddy ( his gigging set ) may have had a 28", I seem to remember that.

The promo set that was used in advertising photos Buddy said was unplayable do to its configuration of the mounted toms. As far as I know he never played that set out.

In those days 26" and 28" bass' were common.

The last set sounded great having seen and heard him play it probably 20+ times.

Tommyp?????????? Help2 Hopefully I'm accurate in my facts.

BGT

BGT! / Mike T!...

Excellent commentary BGT! Buddy did indeed play 26" bass drums EARLY on.. then .. yeah, the Joe McSweeney restored RK's had a 14X26, which Buddy loved. Said it reminded him of "the old days" when 26" and 28" were quite common. Right on the money Billy! You may already know this too, but... Joe McSweeney had a 14X28 all ready to give to Buddy as Buddy had expressed interest in returning to a 28" bass drum... wow. Unfortunately... Buddy passed before Joe could present him with the drum. Last I knew, Joe still has it. Regarding Buddy's usage of a 24" bass drum:

That size was the NORM all through his 2nd Ludwig/WFL endorsement, Rogers.. Trixon/Vox.. Fibes.. Slingerland.. and then BACK to Ludwig for the 3rd time! In chatting with BIII ( Bill Ludwig III ) I had asked him if he remembered Buddy ever playing a 26" while with Ludwig the 3rd time. He said no... not that he remembered. Ludwig always had a couple sets READY and cased as BR could call at any time and put in a request for ANOTHER set. They were ALL 24" bass drums. You never know though... he could have slipped a 26" in there somewhere... but it wasn't the norm. I do know that "photo angle" can be very deceiving too. I have seen pics of Buddy where I know the bass drum is a 14X24... but it "looks" like a 26". I have some pics of my '65 Rogers BR Celebrity's where that has happened. The angle was just right, and the bass drum looks larger than the 14X24 that it is!! Here are a couple pics from two different gigs with the "Sinatra Show". The bass drum looks HUGE in one... yet kinda like a 14X22 in the other, but it's the same drum in both... a 14X24!

Tommyp