Link to: www.vintagedrumguide.com to start exploring all the finishes that the various manufacturers offered throughout their histories. It will give you a good indication of what was popular each decade and how our preferences as buyers changed (most notably, the trend to go back to wood grain finishes in the '70s).

and Welcome welcome to the forum!

Thank you, this is a great site.

I see manufacturers like Slingerland or Ludwig offered "choice of lacquered finishes" in some products. They quote "be sure to specify color choice" but they are not showing them in their catalogs along with pearls and sparkles. So it was indeed possible to order a "white lacquer" drum kit??

It seems these lacquers were not as popular, I have yet to see a vintage cocktail kit that is not pearl or sparkle.

There were many colors and combinations of lacquers available in the 50's. White, Silver, Blue, Green, Gold, and others. Dark stain was common too.

The shells used for lacquer finishes were often slightly larger diameters (than wrapped shells) because no wrap was being used.

People who wrap old drums (that were lacquer finished originally) often discover they can't get a drumhead to fit over the rewrapped drum.

wood drums were standard at one point......technology allowed companies to start offering "wraps" of glitter and pearloid.

That was considered "Fashionable" or "fancy" which im sure more people prefered over the wood.

im sure if you really wanted a White Lacquer it could be done..but if your banging on a white lacquer kit, Ringo across the street is banging on a Black Oyster Pearl kit.....Im going to Ringos House..

Excited

I recall in the late 70's having a discussion with my parents about the next kit I wanted to purchase. I was pretty mesmerized by the new stained finishes that Ludwig, Pearl and Tama had coming out. (Just like the one Jccabinets matched) I recall my parents saying something along the lines of their generation viewing those wood finishes as being inherently cheaper. The plastic finishes were what made them think of quality. I recall thinking that was an odd thing to say, but then this thread pops up 30+ years later and it brought that conversation to mind.

One thing you did see were the Duco finishes. I have no idea but were those finishes cheaper at the time than wrapped finishes?

> I have no idea but were those finishes cheaper at the time than wrapped finishes?

In the past, the big American drum companies purchased a lot of surplus paint from the auto industry to use on their drums. The DUCO finish was offered on what was considered to be the 'economy/low-end' or, 'student' lines they marketed. It's always cheaper to paint than to wrap a drum. Not only is wrap more expensive than paint, but the installation process is more labor intensive than simply running the shells through a spray booth for a paint job.

I think the economy/student line designation for the painted kits is what associated them with 'cheap' back in the day.

John

At the time lacquer was the cheaper option for finishing drums but they generally were not the high gloss type finishes we see today (most of which are not really lacquer, usually some sort of poly finish although Gretsch still uses nitro-lacquer on their USA Customs).

High gloss lacquer is very labor intensive (multiple coats with hand sanding in between). That is why lacquered drums can be so expensive today. The lacquer drums from the 50's and 60's did not have this done to them. The paint was simply sprayed on and that was it. Lacquer was used for drums (and many other industrial finishes) primarily because it dried very quickly. In fact that was one of the main reasons DuPont developed their Duco line of lacquers. It was a fast drying finish that could speed up auto production. Earlier enamel paints could take days to dry where the lacquer was dry in a relatively short time. Modern paints have solved this problem in other ways and true lacquer isn't used much anymore.

Drums destined for a lacquer finish had a maple outer ply to give a smooth surface for the paint (wrapped drums usually had the more porous mahogany exterior which worked better with the glue for the wrap). Drum manufacturers usually did show some color combinations in their catalogs and two tone paint jobs were popular although you could get a solid color as well. I'm not sure about the other brands but Ludwig stated that you could order any color you liked. You simply had to provide a sample for them to match to. They probably had these colors custom mixed at the paint store or perhaps had their own mixing capabilities.

Other than solid colors like white, Black, and Tony Williams Yellow, most modern lacquer finishes are a glossy clear coat over a stained base color. recently Gretsch has introduced satin colors at reduced pricing. the difference being that there is much less labor involved in the non glossy finishing.

Here there are a couple of pictures of a vintage Leedy cocktail kit I found in a different forum, in what appears to be painted original lacquer.

It might be my modern, younger point of view, but this kit looks very cool in its simplicity to me. The yellow/cream cast (could it be original or aged white) adds on to the vintage feel. Never mind this could be seen as a cheap drum back ten, it reminds me the look of some of the vintage cream/blonde telecaster guitars.

That is a cool looking cocktail kit. I think most here view vintage drums as beautiful regardless of finish. It is interesting to note perception from 40+ years ago.