“A Little Better All the Time”

This month’s featured kit comes to us from Edward McCarthy of West Springfield, Massachusetts, who recently purchased this vintage 1970s Ludwig set. McCarthy explains that the drums, which were originally covered in a wine-red wrap, had seen better days. But with the fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017, the drummer was feeling inspired when he began refurbishing them.

“I refinished the drums using a black oyster pearl wrap like the one that Ringo used,” McCarthy says. “I also added double bass—something Ringo never used—but I felt [the marching-style] drums were appropriate because of the Sgt. Pepper’s anniversary.” Along with the bass drums, which are limited edition pieces made by Steiner Sports in conjunction with the anniversary, the set features 8×12 and 9×13 toms, a 16×16 floor tom, and a 14″ snare. McCarthy completed the outfit with 17″ and 18″ Zildjian crashes and a 20″ Zildjian ride. “I recently played a Fourth of July party,” he says, “and the set sounded great.”

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