1991 DW Collectors Custom Kit

These were my first luxury drums and I cherished them from the day they arrived til the day I sold them in 2004

In 1990, after having played a gig with Ernie Watts, I felt the need for great drums. My house was just about done and I figured it was time to shop around. During a trip to Denver I stopped into Rupp's Drums to see what was available. Bob talked up a brand that sounded like the only one worth buying, even though it was a company I'd never heard of called Drum Workshop. He gave me the catalog to look at but didn't have one DW drum in stock. His explanation was that they were so good and so custom that they couldn't be built fast enough for dealers to stock. If you wanted one, order it and wait about 6 months. Take it or leave it. It almost sounded reasonable, but I left with just the catalog. Over the next couple of months I memorized every word and picture in 1989 Drum Workshop Acoustic Drums catalog. I was sold.

I placed my order for a kit with 4 toms, a kick, a brass piccolo snare, pedals, stands, and mounting hardware. It was hard to part with the 50% deposit money, but it felt like the right thing to do. Estimated delivery time was 5 months from the order date. After many calls to the factory to check progress and hone details, my first drums arrived about 7 months after I ordered them. Absent were the snare and the pedals. The first drum I unpacked was the 12x14 tom and it was quite a shock to see exactly what Regal Blue was. Holding it with one hand I struck it with a handy drum stick and heard the greatest drum tone of my life. I quickly grew to love the color. The factory thought the dealer had sent the pedals. We got it straightened out. I spoke with John Good a few times to find out where my totally paid for brass snare was. He had been having trouble with the snare bed in the shells they were getting and kept melting them down. Yikes. I ordered a maple 5x14 and told him I'd take the brass piccolo when they were ready. He promised fast two month delivery on the maple. Meanwhile I set what I had up with my 1965 Supraphonic snare and a variety of other hardware. It worked.

Brand new kit in April 1991

shell sizes are 8x8, 9x10, 10x12, 12x14, 16x20

same drums in August 2003; they are still looking good and sounding awesome

Here is the kit mounted on a DrumFrame in the Summer of 2003

The 4x14 brass snare was worth the wait. I used it all the time until I sold it in 2006. Now I'm DW-less.

Its temporary substitute, the 5x14 6ply maple, turned out so good that it became my most used snare ever. Sold that in 2005.

close up of bass drum

Nice tom. These 1991 DW's are considered by knowledgeable drum people as some of the best drums they ever made. The shells were the cream of the Keller crop. Handpicked by John Good then pitch tested and set aside in sets of timbre matched shells. The configuration on all shells is 6-ply maple with 6-ply maple reinforcing rings.

All of the photos, with the exception of the one at the top of the page, were taken the summer of 2003. The drums are so beautiful I refused to take them into smoky bars. Only played out a handful of times. I did get to do an outdoor festival with Ernie Watts as well as Ed Summerlin a year after I got the drums. Those concerts were broadcast worldwide by PBS as part of a multi segment jazz and blues series.