This kit is from a similar era to the snares on the previous slides. It was made in Slingerland’s state-of-the-art factory at Niles, Illinois, reputedly the biggest purpose-built drum factory in the world at the time.

Indeed Slingerland was still riding high in the early-’70s, with Buddy Rich their prized (if cantankerous) endorsee finally edging out Gene Krupa for pride of place in the company’s catalogues.

The kit belongs to Simon Wagstaff and is in Lavender Satin Flame Pearl, one of many mind-bending finishes Slingerland offered during those psychedelic times.

It’s a standard 20x14-inch, 12x8-inch and 16x16-inch, with quarter-inch, three-ply shells. The make-up of these shells was a sandwich of poplar in the middle with either maple or mahogany on the inner and outer veneers.

Slingerland’s cutting-edge factory managed to mould the plies and the solid maple reinforcing hoops together at the same time in a single operation.