[deanc54]

Hey Taino,

A freind of mine just ponied up the cash to buy the latest Ludwig set. I can't wait to see them, so I went to the Ludwig site to check them out. They had some photo's of the early kits, most likley like your 1959 set. Can you enlighten us with your perceptions of the kit in 1959 or when you first got them? What was the hardware like? What brand of heads di they have? I am fascinated with bits of drum trivia like this.

[Tainojim]

Originally Posted by deanc54

Hey Thundafoot,

Do you have any photo's of you as a youngster playing this classic kit? They would be great to see!

I would have to dig up the old picture albums and look for it. Scan it and post it if I find it. I was a teen by then. It was in Stony Brook College in Long Island. We were the opening act for David Peel and the Lower East Side.

[Tainojim]

Originally Posted by deanc54

Hey Taino,

A freind of mine just ponied up the cash to buy the latest Ludwig set. I can't wait to see them, so I went to the Ludwig site to check them out. They had some photo's of the early kits, most likley like your 1959 set. Can you enlighten us with your perceptions of the kit in 1959 or when you first got them? What was the hardware like? What brand of heads di they have? I am fascinated with bits of drum trivia like this.

Sam Ash Music store near Times Square used to rent out equipment to Madison Square Garden for the bands. I forgot which band they were rented to. Anyway I got them when I was 11 in 1962. With my own hard earned cash, polishing shoes. My parents bought the Paiste cymbals since I didn't have enough for them.

They were the Black Onyx Rock Kit. Look up "Drums and Drumsets" here at DSC at the top you'll find the "Sticky Threads". Lots of drum history going on there.

	Ludwig Drums Shop for Ludwig Drums at Musician's Friend

	Paiste Cymbals Shop for Paiste Cymbals at Musician's Friend

[deanc54]

Hey Taino,

Thanks for navigation tips, I will check it out. But hey, post your pictures..we would love to see you as a wee lad pounding the skins (in your impeccably polished footware!) That's a great story! I had to pay off my first drum set picking potatoes, by hand with a partner. With taped up fingertips and jersey gloves to help shut out the frost, we would travel down the rows on our knees, loading up a wire basket then pouring them into a butlap sack until it was full (100 pounds of spuds). One full sack was worth 7 cents. My first new drumset retailed for$399.00. Do the math. That's a lotta spuds! Made me really appreciate the value of a dollar, and my drumset.

[Tainojim]

Funny you should mention (in your impeccably polished footware!).

I was more like the guy that fixed Mercedes Benz for a living and drove around in a Jalopy.

Besides I wore $2.00 Skippy Sneakers and couldn't afford the Converse Sneakers back in those days.

The biggest tip I got was a $50 bill for a customer that walked into the Barber Shop for a trim. He was wearing a pair of double skinned Moccasins and he was a land surveyor. His Moc's were filled with dried up mud. So I asked if he would like for me to clean them up. At first he said "Nah, I'll get another pair. My Uncle "The Barber" said why don't you give the kid a chance. I was 11 and knew about Saddle Soap and Neat's Foot oil. Main ingredients for cleaning Saddles. So he gave in. When I was done with them, he was really impressed. They fit like a glove after that treatment. He gave me a $50 bill and told him that I had no change and that it was for free because of his pratonage. He insisted that I just had saved him $250. These Moc's were hand made and they fit better and were more comfortable than before.

I also picked potatoes, yams and roots at my Great Grandmother's 111 Acre Farm as a kid. Without any Gloves. The pay was a great meal in the end of the day.

Too bad the Government took it over due to the greed of my Great Uncles. This could have been avoided.

[dtxtremeiiispecial]

I did the math, deanc54, and that's 5,700 sacks of potatoes, or 570,000 pounds worth. You picked more than half a million pounds of potatoes for that drumset.

[deanc54]

Taino,

That is just a great story! I would suppose that most of us had to 'pay our dues' back in the day to get his/her first musical instrument. It would be interesting to hear how some of the other fine members and participants who frequent this site paid for their first set of drums or percussion instrument (IF they had to purchase them themselves...no gifts from mom & dad or grandma & grandpa etc.). I may start a new thread here on this topic unless you know another has already been started.

[deanc54]

Well dtxt, I must admit that not all of the funds used to aquire the set came from picking spuds. The season only ran for three weeks or so. After 'Spud Harvest' was over, I was lucky to have cleared a $100. But then winter soon followed, and I would shovel walks for neighbors and the like. When Spring rolled around, I would move sprinkler pipe. I had several spud fields to set pipe on each morning and evening. It took me several seasons to aquire the money for the first set, and as I have previously posted, my mom helped me out some with the funding (but I had to pay her back!). I paid for about three quarters of the cost of the first set. I will say without reservation that after spud season was over I felt like I had picked more than a million pounds of spuds.

[dtxtremeiiispecial]

Yeah, let's leave it that way. You picked more than a million pounds of spuds for your first drumset.

[deanc54]

Well, OK dtxt..my mind is reeling now thinking of all those potatoes. Potatoes to drums...hmmm. Maybe I should pioneer a new line of drums and call them 'SPUDS'. They will be the first set of truly 'green' eco-freindly percussion instruments.. with no carbon footprint whatsoever. The shells could be constucted of starchy resin distilled from potatoe peels. Same thing for the heads. The heads could be fitted with a 'spud stripe' to control over-ring. I could get an animated 'Mr. Potatohead' to endorse the product. I bet none of you could guess I'm from Idaho...