Musikmesse 2014: Coolest drum kits, finishes and gadgets at this year's show

What a croc

Musikmesse 2014: Every year at the bumper Frankfurt music show we do our best to hunt down the coolest, quirkiest and most unique drum kits and products, and 2014 has been a bumper year.

First of all, what about this crazy (but thankfully not real) crocodile skin finish from Peace Drums worthy of Mick Dundee himself...

We can see clearly now

This new acrylic addition to DW's Design Series is awesome, and looks amazing in the flesh, complete with chrome hardware and packing a 22" bass drum. It should be keenly priced too.

The new old

Premier's One Series continues to turn heads, and this snare drum was no exception, with a nod to Gretsch's pre-aged relic series announced at NAMM. Of course, being the One Series, this will be the only one that looks exactly like this. Still, stunning drum.

Out of the darkness

We've all struggled to tune easily on a dark stage. Those between song tweaks would be made far more effective if we could shed a little light on the situation. Dixon drums are here to save the day with the Brite Key drum key, complete with LED light built in. It runs on three small coin cell batteries and really does the trick. It even has a bottle opener for those post-show beers when you can celebrate staying in tune for the whole gig.

Pie in the sky

These Masterwork cymbals really caught our eye. We've seen etched cymbals before and we've seen coloured cymbals before, but nothing as elaborate as this. There were multiple ornate designs on display. We're not sure we'd want to play them though.

Art on metal

Masterwork weren't the only ones experimenting with cymbal design either. Check out this oriental-style example from T Cymbals.

Anybody know what brand this is?

Each year Pearl shows off what it can do with custom finishes and here's a VBA kit with some serious branding! What do you think?

Introducing Shell Shield from Natal

A funky new finish with a cool texture from Natal. It's not just a cosmetic thing though. This is Natal's Shell Shield, a hardwearing polyurea protective coating sprayed onto the shells. The coating is water resistant and protects your drums from all manner of scrapes and knocks. Great for the touring drummer, and Natal tell us that is doesn't affect the sound of the shell at all.

Shoot some hoops

These Swiss-made drums caught our eye at last year's Musikmesse. The show piece for them in 2014 is this stunning kit with insanely deep bass drum hoops. As well as looking striking they could also double up as a shelf to keep all your Grammys on.

LB had plenty of other beautiful custom snares on display too. A new brand well worth checking out.

Stick the light on

What drummer wouldn't want a light fitting made entirely from drum sticks? Well you can't, because it was made exclusively for the Murat Duril stand, by the guys at Murat Diril themselves. Pretty awesome though and we're getting the glue gun out as we type...