The beatgoes on

A Drummer’s Tradition inSan Rafael sells, showcasesunique and vintage drumsPage 22

Sunday, March 23, 2014 | Section WGN1 N In Marin FREE

Napa’s dining renaissance, Page 4 Where to go this week, Page 12 Salmon making a comeback, Page 16

W22 In Marin | San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | Sunday, March 23, 2014 GN1

By Carey Sweet

When Sam Faw went shopping for his most recentdrum kit, he took one look at the latest and greatestmodels on the market and walked away.

The 19-year-old musician instead chose a nearly 50-year-old set he found at A Drummer’s Tradition in SanRafael.

He claimed that the 1966 Blue Sparkle Ludwig kitwasn’t about price. It may have something to do withthe trend toward celebrating reclaimed and vintageproducts in everything from furniture to fashion. Butmostly, it was about sound and feel.

“I’ve been playing vintage sets for my whole life, andI don’t think I realized how different new and vintagedrums were until I was 13, when I played a moderndrum kit at school and found it to be big, loud and ug-ly,” Faw said. “A lot of new drums are being engineeredto have the perfect sound, but to me, the small imper-fections in the sound of vintage drums are what madeso many classic recordings what they are. They’re whatmake the drums so amazing.”

SAN RAFAEL

The drummingtradition keepson kicking

Photo by Dan Evans / Special to the Chronicle

Above: Colorful drums are displayed on the walls of A Drummer’s Tradition in San Rafael.Below: Drummer, collector and store owner Robert Bowler opened A Drummer’s Tradition in1996. The store features many unique and historic drum sets.

Faw’s is a story A Drum-mer’s Tradition owner RobertBowler is very familiar with.As proprietor of what Bowlersays is the only vintage drumshop within 100 miles, hecaters to a specific clientelecommitted to preserving histo-ry. And more and more, it’sthe younger musicians em-bracing the past.

“I’m getting 14- and 15 year-olds in here who see a 1960sLudwig set and think they’vedied and gone to heaven,” hesaid. “They understand thedifference in aged wood. Thetone mellows, and it gets asweeter sound. It’s like thetree has decided to relax afterbeing cut down. It thinks, ‘I’mnot vertical anymore, andthat’s okay. I’m happy to be

round.’ ”As a member of the Bay

Area psychedelic rock bandthe Electric Magpie, Fawknows a thing or two aboutwhat magic a percussion setshould achieve.

“My dad is a professionaldrummer and concert percus-sionist, and a former drumtech, drum repairman anddrum teacher,” the San Rafaelnative said. “So I was intro-duced to drumming very earlyon and have been playingsince before I could walk.”

New drums can be so care-fully balanced that they almostsound stripped, said part-timestaffer and longtime customerPaul Johnson. As an electron-ica and drum musician, hesaid his turning point came

GN1 Sunday, March 23, 2014 | San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | In Marin W23

Bowler disassembles a snare drum to make repairs at his store in San Rafael.

This Ludwig drum kit was the first set ofdrums played in the White House in 1962.

when he attended the Mon-terey Jazz Festival in 1998 andheard vintage instruments.“The tone — oh wow. I got it,”he said.

“Some of these drums areolder than I’ll ever get,” Bowl-er laughed, gently patting apair of 1920s snare drums. Theinstruments are true works ofart — one Slingerland model isenrobed in sea green motherof pearl, the other, a Ludwig-Chicago brand, is trimmed inmeticulously engraved metal.Both feature solid brassframes, since back in the day,a drummer planned on usingone instrument for life.

When Bowler first openedhis store in 1996, securing theone-of-a-kind drums was atime-consuming labor of love.

“It was before eBay,” hesaid. “I have birds and dogsaround the country lookingfor me, and I go to schools andgarage sales. We’ve sold andshipped drums to every conti-nent with the exception ofAntarctica. And I’m workingon that.”

While plenty gleamingdrum kits welcome customersas they walk into his store, themodels on the floor are mostlynew. The top shelf runninghalfway around the storeholds the real treasures, in-cluding some of the world’srarest sets from the 20th cen-tury, like a 1936 SlingerlandRadio Kings Black DiamondPearl kit that was played byRay McKinley’s big band.

“All of them have stories,”Bowler said. “The Great De-pression really made music.”

A stunning 1941 LudwigTop Hat and Cane “SwingSensation” celebrates theswing era, the shell appropri-ately decorated in art decoillustrations of top hats, canes,white gloves and musicalnotes superimposed over awhite marine pearl base.There are only 13 or 14 of thesets in the world, said Bowler,and he has had three of them.Johnny Depp owns one, asdoes Charlie Watts of the Roll-ing Stones. U2 producer Dan-iel Lanois, reportedly pur-chased one for around$40,000.

Bowler is now down to one

set, which he has treasured for20 years.

“I might sell it, but it wouldtake a good prying away,” hesaid. “Still, I’m paying for mykids in college, so…”

Another showpiece is aLudwig Silver Sparkle set thatis owned by Harold Jones, alegendary drummer whoplayed the kit with the PaulWinter Sextet at the WhiteHouse in 1962, marking thefirst time contemporarydrums were performed there.Jones played the kit withCount Basie’s big band from1967 to 1972, then with bignames like Frank Sinatra and

Natalie Cole, and now, theWoodacre resident plays withTony Bennett.

The Silver Sparkle set is ondisplay at the store but willeventually go the PercussiveArts Society Museum/Rhythm! Discovery Center inIndianapolis.

As Bowler spoke, customerTymber Cavasian picked upthe sea green Slingerlandsnare, cradling it like a baby.Another vintage convert, shedrums with her group theDeadlies, playing surf rockaround the Bay Area. The SanRafael resident used to playcontemporary drums made by

Yamaha and DW, but nowsays she has “a love affair witha 1925 snare.”

She also adores her ZildjianRide cymbal, which is twodecades old. “The vintage setssing for days,” she said. “Andcall me crazy, but they haveghosts. They’re channelingjoy.”

The gorgeous retro styledoesn’t hurt, either.

“Vintage drums have amuch better aesthetic thanmost of the newer drums be-ing produced today,” said Faw.“The colors, the simplistichardware, and the sizes justlook so much more natural to

me. The dimensions of newdrums are ruining the waythey look, and the hardware istypically very bulky and un-attractive.”

Besides selling new, vintageand custom instruments andhosting on-site music classes,Bowler’s shop also became adestination for equipmentrepair and restoration help.

“I needed a lug for an old’53 Slingerland kit,” said ScottMathews, a Mill Valley recordproducer, songwriter anddrummer. “He disappeared inthe back, and came out withan impossible piece. I couldn’tbelieve he had it. I’ve built upa vast collection of drums ofevery kind, but it brings thekid out in me to be able towalk in his store and find therarest instruments anywhere.It’s a passion for him.”

In fact, Bowler always knewhe wanted to be arounddrums. He began drummingin high school, then in his 20s,became interested in the in-struments’ history. “I got afever,” he said.

One interesting fact: orches-tra members used to play eachdrum and cymbal type sep-arately, as specialists. But inthe 20th century, the half doz-en-plus instruments were allcombined together in a kit,and musicians had to learn toplay them all at the same time.

And for those wonderingwhy drummers, with theirremarkable skill and agility,are often hidden in the back ofthe stage, there’s this. A cock-tail kit exists that lets thedrummer play out front, yetmusicians prefer the powerfulsound to come from behind.

“I don’t mind being backthere,” said Cavasian. “We getso much attention anyway,since our instruments are somagnetic.”

Carey Sweet is a North Bayfreelance writer. E-mailInMarin@sfchronicle.com.

A Drummer’sTradition740 A Street, San Rafael, (415) 458-1688, www.adrummerstradition.com.

Oddly shaped drums build to project soundoutward are displayed in the front window.