A Lang Percussion Inc. publication serving owners and admirers of
fine historical percussion instruments.

Volume 7 No.1                                                                                                            Summer-Fall 2005

WELCOME TO THE FIRST DIGITAL GLADSTONE NEWLETTER
We started publishing the “Gladstone Society Newsletter” some years ago to keep our friends informed about Lang Percussion and about events in the world of vintage instruments. The new digital format will allow us to include more photos, change information quickly and keep our readers informed about our activities. We hope that you will find the information interesting and informative. Keep the letters and comments coming.

For those “newcomers” who might not know of our work, we have been making an exact replica of the 1951 Billy Gladstone snare drum for about 12 years. All of the hardware is made in the USA and we continue to make drums in Brooklyn, NY. During the years we have expanded the concept to include a wide variety of new shell material from Craviotto, Vaughncraft, True North, and Global Drum Works. We have made drum sets with three-way tuning and interesting materials. Check out our website (langpercussion.com) to get a fuller picture of what we have been doing.
Please send for a    

Chit & Chat


Bobby Sanabria, that great Latin percussionist, band leader, historian and educator picked up his new snare recently. It is a Global segmented shell made of “recovered” Birch. He heard the complete set at PASIC and loved the snare. By the way, the complete set was purchased by Robert Sachs who has ordered an additional 20” kick drum… The set for Greenwich High School (custom cherry stain) has been delivered. Barbara Freedman, a former student and a good friend, is teaching there and got some of those rich and concerned parents to get “the best” for their kids…Dave Smith and Andy Csisack from the West Point Band recently visited the shop. Both of them know about Gladstone Snares as Billy made four snares for the West Point Band back in the 1950s. The snares are still in good order and are used all the time…Brian Willson has been using his set with the Katy Roberts band and his Cocobolo snare on lots of gigs and concerts- it’s that versatile. It is on a new recording with Pauline Olivera and a video of “Improvisations” made for CUNY TV…Have you seen that Carl Palmer has placed his four piece original 1950s Gladstone set for sale for a starting price of $30,000. Save your pennies kiddies…Kendrich Scott (photo above) recently picked up his 7” Craviotto “Recovered” Birdseye with mat-gold hardware. Kendrich has an amazing bio, check out his web site... A Day of Percussion at Brooklyn College was partially sponsored by Lang Perc. The lineup included Memo Acevado, Terry Silverlight, the Katy Roberts Band with Brian Willson and Bernard Purdie. Terry brought his new Gretsch set and also tried a new “Animal” copper snare. Terry’s new book “The Featured Drummer” (Amsco Publications) has just came out. It includes 2 CDs featuring Terry, Barry Miles and John Patitucci

GRETSCH BUILDING #4
Three years ago Lang Percussion moved to a new loft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It turned out to be a ten minute walk from a derelict building with a faded sign saying “Gretsch Building #4”. The Gretsch Musical Instrument Company started with a small shop in Brooklyn in 1883. By 1916 the company had grown to the point where they moved their operations to a ten story building at 60 Broadway. Somewhere along the way the company vacated the building and it (and much of the surrounding neighborhood) fell into disrepair. In a typical urban pattern, artists and immigrant groups moved into the neighborhood in a search for reasonable housing. Hassidic groups along with Hispanic families moved into the older buildings, bringing food shops and stores specializing in products dedicated to the needs of the community.  

For some unknown reason Williamsburg has now become “hot” property. Maybe it’s because it is so close to Manhattan and has been inexpensive. Developers discovered the old Gretsch Building and decided it was time to convert it to expensive loft-condos. Not everyone is happy about it. Both the artists who were originally forced out and the Hassidic community who is threatened by the rising rents in the neighborhood have protested.
Recent prices were listed at $655,000. for a one bedroom, $1,325,000. for a three bedroom space, to $3,000,000. for the penthouse. It is rumored that the rap artist Busta Rhymes has purchased three units.
Gotta play a lot of paradiddles for $3,000,000.  

WHAT’S NEW
We finally finished a set of five pedal timps for Prof Charles Dowd at Oregon State University. It took an unbearably long time to finish because two of the machine shops that had made the drums went out of business (victims of outsourcing and high real estate prices) and our top machinist went back to Egypt. But, they are finally done and we have taken new orders for two sets of pedals. Everett Beale, who has been a rep for both LeFima and Lang Percussion, has ordered a pair because the high price of the Euro has made imported instruments prohibitive. The other pair is for Yasuko Kariya from Tokyo who will fill out her pair of two chain drums …We are almost finished with a large drum set with hand-painted shells for Don Paluh. Anna Mara, a very talented artist, has done the marbleized finish. The hardware is all gold plated with three-way tuning…Received a call out of the blue about exchanging hardware from a maker of wooden shells, Joe Migliaccio. I asked whether he could make three-ply shells and he is sending the first prototypes. Wouldn’t that be exciting!... The first set of the “Triumphal” snares is finished. They will be sold as a set of three drums; 4”, 5”, and 6.5”- limited to ten sets. It is a joint venture between John Aldrich and Lang Percussion. John’s many talents include pioneering work in popularizing “Vintage” drums, serving as editor of Not So Modern Drummer Magazine, and reviving the skill of hand engraving on drums. He has worked out a new Deco engraving pattern and we are gold plating the metal shells and all of the Gladstone hardware. John has showed the prototypes at the Chicago show in the middle of May. Steve Maxwell will be marketing the sets… We have made samples of another joint venture (doesn’t that sound important?) with the Sabian cymbal company. They are supplying shells and we are finishing the drums. We have already made snares of hand hammered and lathed cymbal-metal, solid copper and just finishing a cast aluminum drum. They sound unbelievable…We are still slowly introducing the “Animal” series and have a new tamed swirl finish. A wonderful NY drummer, Jack Gutwillig, bought a complete copper drum set in the new finish. Another NY cat, Robert Romeo is using the solid aluminum set on a number of recording sessions and says that it records very well.
Letters
“This is Scott Crawford, I had purchased the gold drum (gold lacquer, gold hardware, 8 ply shell) a couple months back.  It is sounding great, and I’m so happy I bought it, It’s the best drum I have ever played on.”  
James Schultheis, II- “I got this drum in 1994, I believe. Bought it from Jonas Aronson of Amanda’s Texas Underground. Piano black lacquer, maple ply with 3-way tuning, 6X14. Drum is warm, crunchy sounding with a nice “alto voice”. That elusive “sweet spot” that everyone looks for is 14” in diameter. No kiddin. Most snare drums have a dead spot and a “BOIIYYYNNNGG” spot somewhere, but not this one. And it stays in tune. I play in churches large and small, doing praise and worship music, all styles…this drum sounds fine in any room- glass, brick, wood fabric. Large or small. Miked or not. I don’t muffle it either. Drummers that can’t tune, muffle. I can tune.