PSAuto..you are in Michigan also,right?I grabbed a complete Speedfire kit out of a pawn shop in East Lansing around 24-25 years ago..It was a Purple Sparkle,and had the reverse size concert toms,and the HUGE Lionel Hampton FT..All for $400 I recall...It was missing the tom arms though,and I actually tracked some down!Sold it to a friend in town..not sure he still has it or not
Yep, I'm near Ann Arbor and these were in Pinconning.
There probably aren't any markings inside the shells on these. Trixon had stopped this practice by about '66. If there are, there will be a number indicating the year of mfg. built into the serial #-----i.e. 66. To date Trixon drums, outside of this feature, there are a number of clues,-----snare hangers,tone control knobs,snare lever knobs,hoops,tom arms ,floor tom feet etc. etc, that came along on a fairly predictable schedule. Your drums appear to have been made after 1967. This is a very complete kit. The cymbal tilter and arm alone ,probably could fetch 100.00 because they are so rare. I may have tone control knobs. Clutches are about as rare as the tilter. They have a unique Trixonness to them but with a plastic knob on the lock screw , a lot of them got whacked and broken. Hard to find a non-Trixon replacement lock screw because it is metric. I 'd love to have all the broken clutches----because I have dozens of n.o.s. lock screws.
Inside of the BD is clearly marked 66. I'll let you know if I can use the tone control knobs. Cool thing is that the holes have a grommet, just like a vent hole, so with no knob it doesn't even look that bad.
Thanks
Jim
Ha ha I just watched this on DFO . . . and watched AGAIN HERE. . . Nice job on the vid. . . . and of course the kit. . . . what are asking for it again???? :DBOOM
It is not for sale. I'm really looking forward to playing it live. I was amazed that before I put it on Youtube, there was not a single other Trixon Speedfire video out there. I'll have to get a live video and post that too. My biggest concern is getting a decent sound from the BD. I really don't need a big boom, just a 'not-too-horrible' thud.
Thanks
Jim
Inside of the BD is clearly marked 66. I'll let you know if I can use the tone control knobs. Cool thing is that the holes have a grommet, just like a vent hole, so with no knob it doesn't even look that bad. ThanksJim
Trixon probably made those shells up in batches and then used them up as orders came in.The stamp probably indicates ,the date the shell was made. The snare hangers on the snare drum were only used after 1967, so even though the BD shell was made in '66, the kit was probably not assembled and sold until at least '67.
The existing tone control knobs, with the little aluminum cone in the centre were used in 1967 and '68 only.
Trixon probably made those shells up in batches and then used them up as orders came in.The stamp probably indicates ,the date the shell was made. The snare hangers on the snare drum were only used after 1967, so even though the BD shell was made in '66, the kit was probably not assembled and sold until at least '67. The existing tone control knobs, with the little aluminum cone in the centre were used in 1967 and '68 only.
Excellent information. One of my tone control knobs has a circle of red glitter wrap on it. Is that also from the later period? I sort of like the egg shaped tone control knobs from the earlier era and may use them if I use any at all. Quite possibly, I'll just remove the tone controls for the time being. I don't know if it shows up in the pictures, but the floor tom hoops are tapered inward, but the rack tom hoops look normal. Wondering if either set is not original. To me, the rack tom hoops look like Ludwig.
Thanks
Jim
Now that you mention it..I have a hand full of Trixon parts..Will have to dig them out...
Please let me know what you have.
Thanks
Jim
Hi Jim,
will try and do that tomorrow...
PS..I heard that people overseas will pay a lot if the BD has both calfheads intact..
Of the 2 Speedfire BD's I have owned (long ago!),I recall only 1 having a calf head,and that was on the beater side...
PS..I heard that people overseas will pay a lot if the BD has both calfheads intact..Of the 2 Speedfire BD's I have owned (long ago!),I recall only 1 having a calf head,and that was on the beater side...
My reso head is calfskin, thick. Beater side is plastic and thin. I might have time this weekend to test the sound.
Excellent information. One of my tone control knobs has a circle of red glitter wrap on it. Is that also from the later period? I sort of like the egg shaped tone control knobs from the earlier era and may use them if I use any at all. Quite possibly, I'll just remove the tone controls for the time being. I don't know if it shows up in the pictures, but the floor tom hoops are tapered inward, but the rack tom hoops look normal. Wondering if either set is not original. To me, the rack tom hoops look like Ludwig. ThanksJim
The tone control knobs with the matching wrap insert are from earlier but were used up until 1967. Usually ,on those, the earlier system was used with the thread inside a through hole in the knob, which pulled on a J rod fitted into the spring muffler. The later ones had the knob , fixed to the shaft which threaded into a short rod shaped nut, which pulled on the spring mufler.
The older knobs you are referring to , were only on the bass drum. They looked exactly like a bass drum T-rod handle. They were never used on the other drums. Those had a little threaded chrome knob , very similar to the ones used on Premier and some Slingerlands.
In 1967 ,Trixon switched from a hoop , with a slight incurve( the ones on your floor tom) to a triple flange type , similar to a Ludwig hoop.
Drums were shipped to the distributor, from the factory in individual boxes. It was the job of the distributor( mostly St.Louis Music, in the U.S.),to order enough drums to assemble kits , according to orders from the catalogue, or in some cases as custom orders.Individual drums could also be sold, which might leave a missing drum for a specific kit. This kit was put together, with drums from different production dates. The floor tom is likely 1966,even earlier, possibly, bass drum likely 1966 but the other two drums are 1967 .
With these few crossover features, it probably dates your kit to a 1967 sale.
