Info on this vintage Sonor kit?

M

Matt Bo Eder

Guest
Hey all -

So a fellow co-worker of mine said he was interested in selling his old vintage Sonor kit. I looked it up on the Sonor Museum site, and it looks to be a 1965 K100 Star Outfit (apparently, Kenny Clarke played one, as he was on the cover of the '65 US catalog with it). But the catalog doesn't state that it was available in a natural finish, they just listed wraps. This one looks like natural beechwood.

The sizes listed are 14x20, 8x13, and 14.5x16. He's also including a matching thick-shelled snare drum that I think was custom built by someone else.

Anyway, here some pictures. Perhaps some of our Sonor experts here can shed more light on it? I'm thinking about getting it because I've always been a fan of the vintage Sonors, and who wouldn't want to play the Sonors that Bernard Purdie used to track all those Beatles hits anyway?
 

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Hahaha. Someone should advertise a set of drums on Ebay that way: "Used by Bernard Purdie on early Beatles tracks." You know someone would pay top dollar for those.

Those sizes are funky. Maybe a metric thing that doesn't line up neatly with us Yanks and our imperial system of measurements?
 
The badge and cymbal mount look like late 60s teardrops.
Wraps might have been removed because there are no mallets but it looks nice.
The inside of those bass drums have a lot of wood reinforcement pieces.
If there are three numbers stamped inside the shells the first two digits are month and then single digit of year.
 
Hahaha. Someone should advertise a set of drums on Ebay that way: "Used by Bernard Purdie on early Beatles tracks." You know someone would pay top dollar for those.

Those sizes are funky. Maybe a metric thing that doesn't line up neatly with us Yanks and our imperial system of measurements?

Not metric. It's your basic 13/16/20 kit. The FT is 14.5 inches deep.
 
The 14.5 threw me. Is that a normal size for that era?

I suppose Sonor was ahead of the times with a 16" floor tom that was close to 14" deep since 16x14 is prevalent these days. The big four in the U.S. Stayed with square floor toms up until the 90s.
 
Looks like a lot of holes covered by bolts or something suggesting a wrap removal job or are those bolts holding on the other pieces.?
 
Looks like a lot of holes covered by bolts or something suggesting a wrap removal job or are those bolts holding on the other pieces.?

Not sure, I haven't gotten to inspect the kit personally yet. But photos in the catalogs and of other kits like this one show the same bolts, so I have a feeling they're original.
 
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Ahem....looking forward to the video in your practice space.

Do we know if Purdie used his own Sonor kit on all those records, or a studio kit? Should be in his new book.
 
Played a friends late 60's kit,6 ply straight sided shell,very gretschy sounding,loved those things.

The earlier kits had 3 ply with re rings,later 6 ply,don't know when they changed.

FROM THE LOOKS OF THE WOOD,I would guess the kit was wrapped.

If you have not ever played a kit,go and play them,if you like make an offer.

They look earlier from the ft legs.

Remember parts on those are expensive if he does not have the tom holder and you want one.
 
Played a friends late 60's kit,6 ply straight sided shell,very gretschy sounding,loved those things.

The earlier kits had 3 ply with re rings,later 6 ply,don't know when they changed.

FROM THE LOOKS OF THE WOOD,I would guess the kit was wrapped.

If you have not ever played a kit,go and play them,if you like make an offer.

They look earlier from the ft legs.

Remember parts on those are expensive if he does not have the tom holder and you want one.

Yeah, he's got the tom holder. He said it was put together by a huge Sonor fan, who was meticulous in keeping it stock and in good shape. However, I'm not sure I really need another kit, especially since I don't play out as much nowadays, but we'll see.
 
The badge and cymbal mount look like late 60s teardrops.
Wraps might have been removed because there are no mallets but it looks nice.
The inside of those bass drums have a lot of wood reinforcement pieces.
If there are three numbers stamped inside the shells the first two digits are month and then single digit of year.

The first digit of the code is actually the year and the second two are the month of manufacture.

For example 508 = August of 1965.
 
This makes me all warm and tingly inside...you've come back to Sonor. I knew it was just a matter of time.
 
This makes me all warm and tingly inside...you've come back to Sonor. I knew it was just a matter of time.

Well, no. I haven't. I got with my buddy and explained to him that, realistically, I don't need another kit. And I'm concerned with owning anything smaller than a 22" bass drum, I really like the range of voices I get with my 22 and 24 bass drums, and have just learned how to play those sizes in all dynamic ranges. So at this time I wished him luck on his sale. I'm sure in that condition, he'll probably get a good buyer really quick. I haven't seen a Sonor kit of that age look that good.

As my playing days are slowing down, I'm actually considering just going back to one set and two sets of hardware (one set of hardware is always cased up and ready to go). So when I gig, I'm just literally moving the drums from practice room to truck!
 
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