Not sure if that's the right name, but I remember we had some in the stockroom of the music store I worked in 1976-77. IIRC, they looked like Remo had spray glued the sparkles to the underside of the head & they were very dead & seemed to me they'd flake off on the bearing edge.
I don't think I've ever seen a drummer using them, can any of you experts enlighten me? :)
My best friend in high school had one on the bass drum front head in Red sparkle !
Love it
My drum teacher had a silver or gold sparkle head on the front of his set (50's Slingerland). Actually I own those drums now after his passing away but I have yet to ever pull that set out of the cases. Pretty sure it's still on there.
Randy Rainwater was selling some new old stock sparkletone heads via facebook a week or two ago. I think he had green and blue in a couple of tom sizes. I think they sold quickly.
Your assessment re the glued on sparkles, etc. is correct, but I never had much of a problem with them flaking off. There were two types that I remember, Remo Sparkltone and Rogers offered Colorflake. I am betting all Remo and just labeled differently. I remember seeing the Rogers Colorflake in their ‘68 catalogue and had them on a kit I played around that time.
They were a thicker film and may have a couple different film thicknesses as they offered a marching head. I have a few that I still use on front heads for bass drums. They are a bit more “dead” sounding, depending on the weights.
I attached some photos for you including on Rogers bass drums from 18”-22”.
BTW, I have several in assorted colors for snares and toms that I do not use, unplayed, and would sell the lot for a reasonable offer if anyone is interested.
I am also looking for an 18” or 22” bass head in blue sparkle if anyone knows of one.
... and let me add this to the mix:
Buddy Rich had his 1967 Trixon/VOX set outfitted with a REMO "Sparkletone" front bass drum head in Silver! I'll attach a color pic out of my collection for you to view. ENJOY!
Tommyp
Hey Tommy, don’t forget the video of Buddy playing on the Mike Douglas Show. He was with Slingerland, but was playing a black strata Rogers kit with the blue sparkltone front bass head. The silver sparkle heads were the bomb. That’s what I have on the silver sparkle bop kit above.
Remo resurrected this idea, to an extent, this year with "Colortone" heads. These are a matte finish, no sparkle.
In their literature they picture them with with Vistalites or similar drums. The bummer is that they only come in 2-ply, except for Powerstroke 3 Bass Drum Heads.
In that pic of Buddy's drums it almost looks as if the reso head on the ride tom has a sparkle to it. Illusion possibly.
Mike
Hey Tommy, don’t forget the video of Buddy playing on the Mike Douglas Show. He was with Slingerland, but was playing a black strata Rogers kit with the blue sparkltone front bass head. The silver sparkle heads were the bomb. That’s what I have on the silver sparkle bop kit above.
Jeff!
Correct! ... but the set of Rogers on the MD Show were not his drums of course, whereas the Trixon/VOX were his actual/regular touring set! I try to stay within the parameters of drums/hardware Buddy used on a regular/steady basis. My BR snare drum collection follows that standard as well! All that said, agreed! LOVE the Silver Sparkle front BD Head!
Tommyp
In that pic of Buddy's drums it almost looks as if the reso head on the ride tom has a sparkle to it. Illusion possibly.Mike
Mike!
It is indeed a lighting type illusion issue. I have 5 more pics from this particular performance, all of them are in B&W, and whereas you CAN tell the front BD head is a Silver "Sparkletone", the rack tom reso looks just as dark, but of course it's just a coated Ambassador. I KNOW I have at least another pic from his Trixon/VOX endorsement .. as short lived as it was! .. and I'll find it. As I recall, that one shows the front head really well with the rest of the visible reso heads clearly coated white!
Tommyp
