Picked this up today.
20'' kick is the oddball with 13'' rack and 16'' floor, matching 14'' snare is cool too.
I think the price was right plus I got the nice gentleman to meet me way
more than half way as we were about 125 miles apart.
Still trying to figure out exactly what it is that I have besides the fact
they sound pretty damn good without any messing around so far.
Came with tons of extras which I didn't take photo's of, like a nice
Ludwig Acrolite snare and 70's medium hats.
Nice find EricP... This kit looks to be in great shape to from the pics.. I love these vintage English kits... I personally don't own one, but I do have an Olympic hi hat stand and bass drum pedal that came with my Stewart kit!!
Always nice when you get a Lud Acrolite thrown in...
Cheers
lovely and quite a rare finish. nice find!
if you need more info, contact Dave Mcreedy ( DrumDMC ) on the Dolbear forum, or go directly to his site www.vintageolympic.co.uk . there you'll find timelines and any info you need
Cool Ian, yeah, have that web site up and checked it out. I didn't even know
this was a budget line only made for the USA I guess. Once I saw the single
screw holding the tension rods they remind me of a Ludwig Clubdate budget
set. At least they used 2 screws per lug on the floor tom. Man these birch
or maple 3 ply shells are sweet, punchier shells than a Clubdate I think.
Funny the things you learn after picking up a vintage kit, heh. I think I would
have really passed on this if I knew Olympic was the budget hardware
line...
Cool Ian, yeah, have that web site up and checked it out. I didn't even knowthis was a budget line only made for the USA I guess. Once I saw the singlescrew holding the tension rods they remind me of a Ludwig Clubdate budgetset. At least they used 2 screws per lug on the floor tom. Man these birchor maple 3 ply shells are sweet, punchier shells than a Clubdate I think.Funny the things you learn after picking up a vintage kit, heh. I think I wouldhave really passed on this if I knew Olympic was the budget hardwareline...
I've owned a couple of these in the past and the vintage Olympics are far from "budget" drums. They use the same birch shells as the top of the line Premiers did and the hardware quality was always excellent. Best chrome in the industry! The main differences between Premier and Olympic were that the Olympics used fewer lugs and steel hoops instead of die-cast to save the consumer a bit of cash. They still sound great!
If I had the chance to grab another one of these sets, I would in a second! Enjoy your kit! :D
Yeah, the shells are killer for sure. But from what I'm reading online is
they were marketd as a budget line to the USA only? And when I looked
inside and saw the single screw holding the length wise lugs, I gathered that was the budget part aside from the rims. My rack actually just has the Premier
badge that doesn't say olympic and has die cast rims with slotted
lugs, but the kick, snare and floor are all the same. Kinda bummed the
snare looks to be mahogany 3 ply and not birch like the others...
Yeah, the shells are killer for sure. But from what I'm reading online isthey were marketd as a budget line to the USA only? And when I lookedinside and saw the single screw holding the length wise lugs, I gathered that was the budget part aside from the rims. My rack actually just has the Premierbadge that doesn't say olympic and has die cast rims with slottedlugs, but the kick, snare and floor are all the same. Kinda bummed thesnare looks to be mahogany 3 ply and not birch like the others...
Premier rack tom and snare lugs were always held on by one screw. Nothing to do with the "budget" aspect of it, just the way they saw fit to do it. Sounds like you have an actual Premier mixed in with those Olympics....not such a bad thing. As far as the snare being mahogany, thats a good thing as well, as that's real African Mahogany, not lauan, or phillipine mahogany, like the MIJ sets. Hi-quality stuff you've got there.
Yes, looking at the rack tom's lugs, those are Premier lugs and parts. The rest of the kit is Olympic. It's a great kit!
Nice kit!
Olympic wasn´t US-only. And the mix of birch and mahogany is quite usual on Premiers.
Regards
Jon
Lovely sets the old Olympics. They're a lot more easier to come by over here in the UK obviously, but the shell quality is great. I've got a 1960's birch set which I keep at rehearsals and everyone loves the bass drum - I took the reso off it and it had so much attack! With the snare, you got a bargain there! Rarer finish too!
