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You can read this and dozens of other stories at www.NotSoModernDrummer.com. The story below was written by John Floyd for Not So Modern Drummer on May 29, 2023:
I have been collecting drums for over 25 years and during that time I seem to have developed a taste for kits that are rare, unique, and unusual. This kit fits into all three of these categories
This is a Zickos Supersonic kit from the 1970’s. Bill Zickos is regarded by most as the founding father of acrylic drums. The company bearing his name was a fairly prolific manufacturer of clear acrylic drums during the late 60’s and 70s.The company would reemerge a couple of times later, producing limited numbers of acrylic kits. Perhaps the most famous Zickos artist was Ron Bushy who played a clear kit on Iron Butterfly’s famous epic “In-A-Gadda_Da-Vida.
Zickos drums are definately unique and are very well made. They sound great and kits in all original condition are sought after by collectors today. This particular kit was a bit of a departure from Bill’s standard drums. This Supersonic kit is made of fiberglass and according to my research was only produced in prototype form with about ten of them being made.
The most obvious and unique feature of these drums is the difference in size between the batter and resonant heads. The bass drum has a 22” batter head and a 16” resonant head and is 18” deep. The floor tom is 18” by 16” deep and has a 14” resonant head. The mounted toms are 13” by 9” with a 10” resonant head and 15” by 10” with a 12” resonant head. These huge toms were quite common on most Zickos kits as big drums were all the rage in the 70’s.
The drums feature a smooth white exterior while the insides have a rough fiberglass texture similar to Fibes drums from the same era. The raw fiberglass on the interior has a distinct greenish hue. The floor tom has crude bearing edges, but surprisingly the bass drum and mounted toms have no edges cut; just the flat fiberglass surface. Perhaps this was due to the drums being prototypes. This particular kit in in very good condition and is all original.
All the hardware is identical to that found on standard Zickos drums. Their lug design was quite unique at the time and featured tension rods with heavy clips that seated into slots in the hoops. The lugs were designed so the rods and clips could swivel outward when loosened and would stay attached to the lugs to facilitate quick head changes. The bass drum spurs are of the Ludwig disappearing type. The tom mounts are rather long but are actually quite sturdy and stable. Zickos drums did not have badges but instead had stickers bearing their logo affixed to each drum. This particular kit has a sticker on top of the bass drum but none on the other drums.
The bass drum sounds huge and I am looking forward to recording with it. The toms sound nice and full, but are not terribly resonant perhaps due to the bearing edges, or lack thereof.
I enjoy playing the kit, but don’t think I would use it for a gig; however, it would look great in a video. It spends most of its time neatly stacked in my drum room where visitors always ask “what the heck are those?”
The original story can be seen: HERE
About Not So Modern Drummer:
The magazine is currently owned by George Lawrence who is a valued and passionate member of our drumming community. He was the drummer for the band Poco for 12 years, teacher at Memphis Drum Shop, recording session player, producer of the Nashville Drum Show and owner/administrator of DrumSellers.com which is Not So Modern Drummer’s buy and sell site. To get an understanding of his contributions you can learn more about him in an excellent Innovative Percussion Artist Feature HERE
The Not So Modern Drummer magazine was first published in 1988 by John Aldridge who created and ran the magazine until he sold it to Bill Ludwig III in 2005. In 2008 George purchased the magazine from Bill and is the editor, publisher, and photographer of the magazine. Consider supporting Not So Modern Drummer: HERE
