1971 Slingerland Drums

2bsticks

Platinum Member
Here are a couple of before and after pictures of my old drums. The toms sound great with coated ambassadors on top and clear ambassadors on bottom. I'm still working on as good bass drum sound. Any advice is welcome.

For the vintage purists out there as you can see I had the Yamaha YESS mount installed on the bass drum and 12" tom. My other kits are Yamaha and I love their hardware. Beside the old Slingerland mount was cracked.
 

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oh wow you did a wonderful job!
I really wish I had the time and money to do something like that
 
oh wow you did a wonderful job!
I really wish I had the time and money to do something like that


I had someone do it for me. PTECH Percussion Technologies located in Quincy Ma. I would not attempt a project like this. I can't even mow my lawn straight :)
 
Excellent clean-up job. The swap to Yamaha from stock hardware (I love Yamaha stuff too) is a great idea. That Slingerland set-o-matic hardware came out in 1968. Their copy of swiv-o-matic. Yamaha improved upon both ideas. Sweet kit.
 
I guess pink is your favorite color. Nice fix up.
 
Sweet kit Pete. What did you decide to do about the bass drum? Are you going to play it out on any gigs? Oh yeah, do you have a radio king snare drum with that kit too?
 
Beautiful job, clean and classy!

I am curious:
  • where the bearing edges of the floor tom re-cut? Am I wrong or they are not as round as the typical Slingerland edges of that era?
  • how does the Yamaha suspension mount work on such a thin shell? Is there the risk that the shell breaks under the pressure of the hits? (I am asking you because I am also thinking of installing this type of suspension mount on very thin stave shells)
 
Clint,

Right now I have the clear PS3, no muffling inside, and I have a Yamaha stock reso on front (no hole) and it sounds pretty good. But for micing purposes I think I will have a head made with our logo, they use Aquarian resonator heads with a 4" hole. I also will try either a coated PS3 or the coated single ply EMAD. I'm hearing good things about those heads.
I will be gigging with the kit this Saturday night. Normally I use a rack system with the Yamaha kits but I will go back in time and use some stands with this kit. Besides I will take this kit on my Bermuda cruise next month and I need to lighten up the load a bit. Moving gear on cruise ships can be a real workout, especially at sea.

Regarding the YESS mount on the 3 ply shell it seems very durable. In fact the guy who did the work was able to use two of the existing holes from the old Slingerland setup. If you look at the bass drum he did mount the bass drum bracket backwards but it still works fine the way it is.

Thanks for the compliments
 
Sacco,

Yes, all bearing edges needed to be re cut, I also needed to have the plies re glued. The kit was a mess but they are sounding brand new again.

Thanks
 
Hi Jake,

I believe he did cut to original specs. He also said he had to re-tool? Not sure if I'm saying that correctly?

I have a PS3 on there now with the Aquariun reso and an Evans pillow inside and it sounds OK, I want a bit more resonance so the pad may come out or I may try a different head (coated ambassador? ) not sure.
 
Looking for a Black Walnut Base Drum, I have a complete set but it has a 20" Base Drum. I would like a larger one as I just need a bigger sound. Also looking for the larger Floor tom.

Thanks.

Paul
 
Nice job, those are beautiful! '60/70s was a classic era for the Slingerland sound... enjoy!

Bermuda
 
I use a Slingerland 14 x 20 and run a PS3 batter and Amb reso (with a felt strip), no port hole, no packing. Reso choice is kind of old school but it works....a very warm and open sound. You hear the drum, not a thud. I didi try an SKII batter but too much a thud. But I guess it depends what sound you're looking for.
 
Classic looking kit. Slingerlands always had a sweet spot for me. I will be interested to find out what heads eventually bring out the best in these drums.

Nice job.

GJS
 
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