Oh and I forgot---they look great, congrats, vexorgtr!

EDIT: Sorry, I kinda messed up who's drums they are, :D

Either way, I like them quite a bit. I can't confirm the Snare... if it's even genuine, but the rest on them sure are. As drums, they are great... so I'll just be thankful for that. I wasn't buying it as an investment, as much as a kit to use.

quote (Gilnar)

As for the finish... can't it be just design? Many Europeans are not as patriotic as Americans (just observation) and aren't exactly craving for drums in colors of their flag. As for the Czech Republic, it was Czechoslovakia in 80s (Peacefully split up to Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993) and it was ruled by communists, who kinda banned any larger import. Getting stuff from West was freakin' hard. So I don't think these were made for Czechoslovakia.

unquote

That's absolutely correct - you are right. I was rather astonished that such proposals came up here. ;)

My idea was that it looks similar to Premier's, who made such characteristic stripes more often (but then the upper and lower stripe in the same colour).

On tomorrow I'll contact Sonor here in Germany directly and we'll see what they will say. Today we have a vacation here.

Ralf

I showed the pictures to a drum shop owner who restores vintage stuff. He's been a long time friend. He said he's seen that stripe finish before, but usually on USA drums. He refers to it as the "Buck Owens" finish. This set certainly peaks the curiosity of its history. Sonor being a premium drum, it's much less likely to be a dumpster picking. The shop owners and I chatted about possible scenarios for this finish to be put on Sonors, but we didn't come up with any definitive explanation. I know Ludwig did a finish like this in a wrap in the 70's. (The following photo is an example of a Ludwig that I don't own)

[IMG]http://www.gearslutz.com/board/attachments/drums/52968d1205529186-show-us-your-kit-lud2.jpg[/IMG]

Why on a Sonor set still makes me wonder. From all the research I've done I would expect these to be in a PLAIN COLOR or a FURNITURE VENEER. Not in in a color stripe /w/ gold sparkle. We were also discussing if they were Red White and Blue and the white yellowed with age.., or the middle stripe was a light yellow or cream originally. It certainly looks to be light yellow now.

We may be onto something thinking this is a special show finish...... looking at this set of pics showing just Special Show Drums.

http://www.drumrock.com/GH_ShowArticle.asp?HID=12

I am still in contact with Sonor. They promised to give me definitely a reply in this regard 'soon' ...

Will keep you updated.

Ralf

Now, just before, I got the answer from Sonor:

This finish (in three stripes) was never produced at Sonor.

The brackets/lugs at bass drum and toms come from the Phonic series,

while the lugs at the snare drum are from the Force 3005 series.

So this is a motley assembled combination, maybe custom-made (but

not by Sonor).

Hope this clarifies everything!

Ralf

I had figured as much......I got to chat with the guys from SonorMuseum.com

So it goes. It's a great sounding, great playing kit of drums... that's worth the money to me.