Hi Tova. Yes it´s a Tacton. They got nice colours thouse days. I own a red sparkle one.

You normally can use an Amati key as well, if you have one.

The parallel system has been use as well on Trowa / Tromsa Snares.

Not that rare but fine stuff, I like and one some of them.

Hey Marc!

I do have an Amati key myself, but not this type. My Amati key is rectangular rather than square. It doesen't fit either, unfortunetly.

You wouldn't happen to have a spare key would you? lol

That's a Tacton alright - I have two of those, though they're both metal. The rods were a bit of a problem for me too, but luckily I found an older no-name key that does the job (doesn't fit exactly either, just enough to turn the rod).

Nice sounding drums - and the parallel mechanism isn't difficult to fix. The biggest problem with those are the wires: the originals have a small rod fixed in the plastic end, which fits through the hole on either side and is tightened by a screw. Quite often the plastic end is broken and the wires are useless (I have that problem with one of mine). There's some pics in another thread in the forum, you can see them here:

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=33213

Alex

Hello Alex

I'm happy that you've found a key for yourself, I'm still searching hah

Yes I see the wire is a bit weird. Mine although original, is broken on one end. I think I can glue a new screw into it and it will work just fine so that's good!

I want to get a drumkey before I do anything else so I will wait. If I can't get one online I will ask my gramps to make one for me (he's a machinist)

Thanks for the help!

Tova

Tacton seemed to invest a lot of effort into the metal drums, in the 70's and 80's. However , metal drums were very popular in those days. There was a big sound in rock and many big drummers used them. Wood drums , were viewed as not up to the task when kits had 300 pieces and needed 5 roadies to move them.

However , they continued to make nice Beech wood drums and those parallel wood snares are really good.

Your wrap----it is hard to tell from the pictures----is it the Typhon( Typhoon) pattern? They made a Red Typhon, a Green Typhon, a Blue Typhon and I think a purple too. I have an entire Red Typhon 5 piece kit with that fantastic hardware.

RE; the throwoff. All of the Trowa or Tacton trowoffs I have seen were backwards. In the case of yours, you have to do a bit of adjustment on those little rotary cams to get it right.

This is probably another blatant display of my ignorance :) but I always thought that parallel mechanisms were a feature of the 1950s and the 1960s. Interestingly, I got 3 different Tactons (all metal): one with the same mechanism (and an 'outward' bead), one with the throw-off type (and an 'inward' bead) and another with different lugs - probably form the late 1980s. I'll post pics of them as soon as I get some, I'd like to pick your brains on those :)

Alex