My Lites Through the Years

[SonorBart]

I ordered my Scandinavian Birch Lites in Jan. of '84 after my Tama Superstars got wrecked in a truck accident in a SD blizzard on Christmas Day of '83. I had seen the black and white ad in Modern Drummer for the new Sonorlites and was a fan of birch. I had my local music store (a Tama dealer) contact Alden Music to see if they would be willing to send a kit my way and they agreed. They were built in late '83 and I took delivery in mid-February. 22, 20, 10, 12, 13, 14ft, 16ft for the $2,750 insurance settlement. Retail was $4,710. I used my previous Tama hardware until the late 90's when I started switching to Sonor hardware. I put the rack toms on RIMS in '86. I sold the 13" tom in the eary 2000's. I found an 8" tom exacty 30 years after buying the kit and added the snare one year later. The pics below are from '84, '18, '23, and current. I use 22, 10, 12, 14ft, 16ft for Rock and 20, 10, 12, 14ft for Jazz, although Jazz gigs are becoming rarer. I had 600 hardware for about 20 years, but have sold most of it. I really like 3000 stands because of their simplicity, stability, and slightly lighter weight, I also have single braced late 70's stands for Jazz gigs.

Sonorlites '23.JPG (28.85 KiB) Viewed 4336 times

[Frank Godiva]

That’s a lotta bread in 83. Gorgeous. Did you leave the tom mount inside the drum with the tom plate when you put on the RIMS?

[BrucedDrummer]

Yes, that was a good bit of coin back in 83, about $16K in today's dollars, so it evens out. I was more of a guitar guy back then, but that is a beautiful Sonor. Most of my friends were into Pearl and Tama back then during the Japanese Invasion period...so Sonor was not on my radar (or my friends paycheck! LOL) But that was high school...life soon changed Drum came much later in life for me...but my first (and last) bit of drums will be Sonor!!! I love my Force 3007, SQ1 and Prolite Snare. Now to build that SQ2!!!

[SonorBart]

Frank, I got lucky that with the Sonor mounts removed, I was able to put the Tama mounts on the shells using the top small hole and the bottom 1" hole with homemade metal backing plates. When I added the RIMs in '86, I was still using Tama hardware, so those brackets went on the RIMS plates and the Sonor exterior plates without the wing screw, threaded receiver, spring, and wedge went on the shells. I used black gasket material to make new gaskets that covered the 1" holes and fabricated metal backing plates to replace the interior plates. It's a very clean look. Those were positioned under the big RIMS plates until I switched to the small Ludwig plates last year. They are now located at 8:00 on the 10" tom and 5:00 on the 12" tom.

[coltranemi2012]

What heads do you like? Especially rock vs jazz versions? Awesome kit.

[SonorBart]

I typically use clear Ambassadors top and bottom on the toms. I don't have any Jazz gigs on the horizon for summer, so I put clear Vintage Emperors on top since we're doing mostly outdoor shows with the 70's and 80's band this summer.

[coltranemi2012]

I typically use clear Ambassadors top and bottom on the toms. I don't have any Jazz gigs on the horizon for summer, so I put clear Vintage Emperors on top since we're doing mostly outdoor shows with the 70's and 80's band this summer.

That’s awesome.
I have clear ambassadors top and bottom and thinking maybe clear emperor? I kind of want to keep some sort of not coated version because of the inside. Feels like I need something a little thicker? Was curious. I know sonor recommended what I had back in the day.