My 7(8) piece Obelisk kit in natural maple. My drum kit!

dzarren

Senior Member
This post will have many photos. Feel free to skip down to them, I just specify what my set-up is in super gory detail with the text!
But please, if you know anything about these drums, please let me know! My knowledge concerning the details these drums is very limited.

If you would rather hear me talk than read, here's a video of me talking about my kit, and saying everything I've stated here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a-FUrU983U
During the filming, I didn't realize my face was out of the frame for almost the whole video. My bad!

I recently fell in love with drumming again after a break of 3 years or so. During that time, I discovered my true passion in life, and drumming went on the back burner a bit. Now that my life has direction, I've found my hobbies creeping out of my psyche!

THE DRUMS.
This is my drum kit, I love it. It is an 8 piece kit, made by a company from Calgary named Obelisk. The shells were made by Keller sometime in the early 80's.
I'll do all my talking here, (mostly) and have the pictures below. Let me know what you think! I put quite the effort to get these bad boys out from under the dust, and racked up and ready! Re-headed everything, top and bottom, brand new start, and refurbished all the hardware that needed to be re-did!

Everything is 5 ply maple. The finish is natural maple. Like I said, shells made by Keller. Canadian maple, Canadian company, Canadian Me.
The shells are very thin, about 5 millimetres thick.
The set up you see here has the following drum sizes:
14x5.5 snare drum.
Asides from the snare, all the drums are Square in dimension.
8x8, 10x10, 13x13, 16x16, and 18x18 toms
and a 20x20 kick drum. The 8" is my favourite drum. Or maybe it's the kick. One of the two.

A 12x12 drum also exists as part of the kit, but I do not use it in this set up, I feel it is too similar in pitch to the 13" when I have all the drums tuned to their "natural" pitches. The gap is too small, and I felt the gap between the 13 and 16 was too large right after hearing the transition from 12 to 13. So in this set up I have a 2 inch gap then a 3 inch gap, then a 3 inch gap, then a 2 inch gap. So the spacing between the toms is symmetric, and I feel I get a nice and wide tonal range, without being all cramped up in one spot of the span. Don't worry, the 12" is being put to good use! She works away from home. :) Maybe one day I'll show you guys what I do with the 12".

The batter heads on the toms are all Remo Black suede Emperors and the resonant heads are all Remo clear Ambassadors. The snare has a Black suede Ambassador on the batter side and has a Hazy Ambassador on the snare side. The kick drum is outfitted with a Black suede Powerstroke 3 on the batter, and has an Ebony Powerstroke 3 with a 5" porthole on the resonant side. All Remo, but lets play "spot the Evans product."

As of writing this post, I have yet to play the kit with sticks. I have only played the kit with mallets, really only to tune it up. But Mannnnnn oh man, so far these drums sound sweet. I'm really digging the Black suede emperors, this is the first time I've ever had double ply heads on this kit, or any of my kits for that matter, I'm just an ambassador type of guy!

My snare has S-Hoops both top and bottom and I am using Puresound custom wires
something something. The ones designed by Gatzen. All of the drums are of slightly less than standard diameters. All of the bearing edges sit quite far in to the drum, they don't reside right by the hoops, which is why I got S-hoops for my snare, because the bearing edge can easily be struck by a misguided stick. Also, this causes me to have to pay special attention to seating the heads very well. An Evans 360 will fit loosely on these shells. Imagine a Remo, nevermind an Aquarian! The bearing edge pushes up on the flat part of the head, never the crimped area. Whoever designed this kit thought about this, I think. The tension rods even angle slightly outwards at the hoop, because the hardware is attached to the drum further center of the hoop. I was told the black rubber grommet sorta spacer things between the lug and the shell was unusual. Imagine if those weren't there, the tension rods would be at a bad angle.
It seems my kit was produced very early in Obelisk's history, as the serial number on the snare (the first drum) is "NO. A 0099" It goes on to the kick them the toms from there, up to "NO. A 0106" If these are numbered logically, I would think these are of the first few pumped out by Obelisk, And I love them.

CYMBALS YOU SAY?!
I use the following Sabian cymbals: 14" fusion hats, 22" Rock ride, and a 10" Alien disk. I used to use it as a splash because I always thought splashes were too expensive.
I also have Zildjian's 18" Medium Thin crash and 16" Thin crash.
I have an 18" china and a 10" splash, both by Wuhan.
The alien disk is "stacked" on top of the china. Its my effects stack! They cannot contact each other, the disk is there by a small 6" extension arm by Gibraltar.

OFF TO THE LAND OF HARDWARE! (and auxiliary percussion)
I play a First generation Axis percussion Model A Double pedal with Marksman beaters that I modified (hardly) into felt beaters. I loved the feel of the beaters, I didn't really want the hard plastic beater sound on this kit. The Powerstroke 3 already has enough attack for me. This pedal is from the first 50 (or something) units ever produced by Axis, and it is PERFECT. Astounding feat of engineering. First edition too!
I use a Gibraltar direct drive legless Hi-hat stand, with a drop clutch, that is clamped to a cymbal stand that holds my splash. I also like to clip a drum key on this stand, for easy access.
All the rack toms are mounted via RIMS suspension mounts by Gary Gauger, produced in 1985 and help up by pearl hardware from when Taiwan was still part of China. (When did that stop being a thing?)
The Floor toms have on the Pearl R40 suspension feet. These are really good for the price. I would say they preserve about 50% of the absolute maximum resonance of the drum. I had the Gauger percussion Dynamounts for both floor toms, but due to the smaller than standard shells of the drums, the dynamount was exerting outward pressure on the shells and causing the drum to get choked out, so I took them off today. I talked to Gary Gauger on the phone yesterday, and he recommended me the Flex tips, which is like the pro-amaze-balls version of the suspension feet by pearl, and accommodate a larger range of frequencies. I have those on order, but just couldn't wait to take photos of my love!
The bass drum is also "suspended" via 3 risers. Two foam padded wood blocks under each leg and a "Art Dixson bass drum riser" under the batter end of the kick, which the pedals are attached to. Notice the beaters are centered on the head since the pedal is not attached to the hoop. Also, all of the toms have nylon washers rather than metal washers. The snare and the kick still have metal washers.

I use a "Tama RoadPro" snare stand and also sit on some sort of Tama Throne with a back rest. The stands and mounts are miscellaneous stands from the 70's and 80's made by Dixon, Pearl, and Premier. I also have two modern Pearl Boom stands.

I have two LP cowbells. The black one between my two toms is a "Rock cowbell," and I have a "Chrome Black Beauty" attached to the bass Drum hoop. Both are mounted with Gibraltar stuff.

If you read this, I thank thee, but PICTURE TIMEEEEE.

10336683_10152170103026732_8244735361961118939_n.jpg
10354596_10152170103041732_7799299870315863837_n.jpg
10296991_10152170103031732_7859784617051070368_n.jpg
10436208_10152170103181732_5490412290899761706_n.jpg
10356424_10152170103196732_8664493709507595444_n.jpg
10354093_10152170103286732_2505255244155008444_n.jpg
10385417_10152170103306732_1252665757532040008_n.jpg
10413380_10152170103396732_9175626320145957939_n.jpg
10177241_10152170103461732_2736586201743123950_n.jpg
10417532_10152170104211732_8484764687291792277_n.jpg
10354993_10152170103511732_2807104262869261143_n.jpg
10390056_10152170103741732_728057806352408761_n.jpg
10373947_10152170103751732_5871420656478083411_n.jpg
10325693_10152170103871732_2942248234633190754_n.jpg
10352928_10152170103886732_7887173966870815751_n.jpg
10402841_10152170103921732_2794760344940726480_n.jpg
10455296_10152170103951732_7155917677405964982_n.jpg
10402423_10152170104006732_1510569368653247138_n.jpg
10374101_10152170104096732_7181953165267136174_n.jpg
10346366_10152170103271732_7951121950785625131_n.jpg
10458018_10152170104256732_230679245454873007_n.jpg
10422554_10152170104706732_1830105478554160057_n.jpg
1606992_10152170104746732_5675118538619722414_n.jpg
10365828_10152170104801732_3385378377298075428_n.jpg



You may ignore the rest of the photos, they are just here for people interested in the badges of the drums, and the serial numbers they bear!

Snare
10436195_10152170104341732_6330017309297172318_n.jpg

The bass drum is next but the number isn't really visible, it's NO. A 0100.
10343501_10152170104676732_6887878146557309240_n.jpg

Toms
10433239_10152170104481732_9181656330244007675_n.jpg
10456173_10152170104506732_5573167453790313341_n.jpg
10307374_10152170104561732_5935855290440088133_n.jpg
10376281_10152170104601732_6710987430061466624_n.jpg
10341837_10152170104641732_1401768011242278062_n.jpg


(NO. A 0103 is the missing 12" tom I mentioned above.)

That's my kit! Please let me know what you think, I'm really interested in hearing what anyone has to say about anything on my kit, but especially about Obelisk drums themselves! I know very little about the drums, but I do know they are sought after and held in high regard by some. Thanks for having a look at my most recent pride and joy! So were you able to spot the Evans product(s)? Hint: an analogous product is not available from Remo.
 
Last edited:
That looks like a nice solid Pearl kit from the 80s. Will you be posting any videos of you playing it? I bet they sound great! Nice looking shells. Is the Obelisk drum company still around?
 
That looks like a nice solid Pearl kit from the 80s. Will you be posting any videos of you playing it? I bet they sound great! Nice looking shells. Is the Obelisk drum company still around?

Yes, much of the hardware is pearl, actually
Yeah, I'll have videos of me playing it eventually. Haven't gotten my camera stand set up yet. Still waiting for a mic stand to come in I'll be mounting my camera to.

Obelisk stopped production of drums before the 90s ended, but that's all I know about the company and the drums themselves.
 
Nice finish on the shells. The lugs, though. They are a standard, low-cost issue of lugs from China. That's okay but, I noticed some pitting and corrosion which surprised me. You said the 'shells' are from the 80's? Must be the lugs and fl. tom leg brackets as well? That explains the corrosion.
 
Lovely! I <3 natural finishes which show off the wood. I also want to hear how it sounds!

I do have one possible beef - unless I'm very much mistaken, tension rods which don't line up is a flaw, not a feature. If they're not straight there's something out of whack. Perhaps more experienced drum mechanics/makers will chime in on this.

The good news is such a flaw can be fixed.
 
Back
Top