So I got another look at the Vox/Trixon set yesterday. Unfortunately I was unable to get pics.

I could not see any dates stamped in the shells. There are no badges on the drums around the air holes either. The metal part on the tom (tom holder socket) where the mount slides in says Trixon. The drums have square lugs with grey plastic gaskets. The front bass drum head says Vox.

Am I correct in understanding that Vox/Trixon for the US was 1964-65 only?

Thanks

I can give you a rough estimate of the value of these but only after having more details. Firstly, are the lugs squarish with ribs or long and pointed?

Are all the heads in good shape? The finish you describe is likely one known as Blue Croco. There haven't been any Gold Croco Trixons for sale on this forum( at least for a while--maybe never) but there has been Gold Sparkle.You compared the wrap to a Gold one recently on this forum. The Croco and Sparkle wraps are very different and of very different value. If in fact, the drums are Blue Croco, then they are worth more than 1000.00, plain and simple----probably considerably more, depending on condition. Pictures would really help.

The lugs are rectangular and ribbed with a grayish plastic base where they meet the shell. If you go to this web page:

http://www.trixondrums.de/trixon/trix190.htm

you will see a red snare on the right hand side. That is the same finish, but the set I am looking at is in blue. The set is in fair condition, there are some tears in the finish. I will hopefully get some pics in two weeks when I see them again. Oh yeah, the only original head is the front bass head which is decent condition.

Thanks so far calfskin!

Skinnison,Your finish is called Blue Croco this wrap is a paper type of wrap their is no way i know of on how to repair the wrap in these what i know of..As you know the Vox drums are thesame as Trixon.The Vox drums were sold in the U.S. from jan 1967 to end of 1968 about 2 years..The heads on the Vox sets are NOT metric any Remo head will fit on them..As far as the badges the Vox badge is a sticker badge Not a metal badge like Trixon badges are.Some guy on ebay sells these Vox badges for less than 20.00 for 6 of them..Mikey

Great info, thanks! I know the heads are standard because there are modern ones on it already. The fact there are no badges did seem strange. I wonder if someone peeled the stickers off?

I looked up the finish, it is indeed a blue Croc, or Croco finish which apparently adds values to the kit. The tears are unfortunate, but they are not huge.

Pics to come in two weeks!

Normally the Vox drums would have had foil stickers and the T-Rods would have had squarish handles , that said Vox on them. Those are pretty much the only difference between Vox and Trixon.

The reason the two existed, parallel in the market was that St. Louis Music had the distribution rights for Trixon and then Trixon became financially involved with an Irish piano company that was under the umbrella of The Thomas Organ Co. , which distributed VOX in N.A.-----so, Thomas twisted Trixon's arm into letting them distribute Trixon drums under the VOX brand . That might seem counterproductive but it wasn't really because the two brands probably were sold in different music stores, mostly.

The same thing occured with Premier and Beverley-----Beverley dealers, not being Premier dealers, so it actually added to Premier's sales, especially when they handed it over to B&H.

The Blue Croco wrap is only repairable by straightening out the tears ,if you can and regluing them. It is a lot easier on that wrap than others, because the foil part is quite thin and pliable. The actual wrap pattern is on a very dense , almost untearable, sort of composite backing, kind of like oilcloth , into which the pattern is pressed.There is a thin plastic layer over that , then the coloured foil. Theoretically, one could rewrap a Trixon Croco set , with anything that would take an impression of the Croco pattern-----obviously, foil is perfect.

Blue Croco is one of the more collectible Trixon wraps. It also appeared as Silver, Gold and Red. I think blue was the biggest seller. Sometime after Trixon ceased production, Tromsa produced Croco wrapped drums, also exporting them to North America under the Roxy badge. Apparently there was also green, on those drums------never seen it but I've seen Roxy blue and and Tromsa red.

I would be thrilled if ripped finish was still intact and could be pressed and glued back out again.

I cannot remember if the T-rods said Vox.

Not sure if I mentioned this before, but the set is in a closet at a school that I am contracted to teach at. I teach drum lessons every other week. I have known the band director for years and this set belongs to her. She bought it in the 80's. She is retiring next year and would love to hand it down to me, probably for a very reasonable price. I think she is also going to give me some old ludwig marching drums too. At any rate, I am dying to check this kit out again the Monday after next and take some pics.