My first maple light Designers arrived in January 1999 and are what later came to be known as ‘real' bubinga.
• 20x16 kick
• 12x10 rack tom
• 13x11 rack tom
• 16x16 floor tom
• 14x 6 ½ snare
Less than a year later, I order a new 14x14 floor tom to add to the kit, and it is what we now know to be faux bubinga.
A little while later, sight unseen, I convinced a shop in NY to sell the me 8x8 from a new kit he had in stock. Faux bubinga.
Further down the road, I order a couple of new 14x8 snares. Faux bubinga.
Used 18x16 kick drum comes on the used market; faux bubinga as well.
By this point, the only original pieces in my usual configuration are the 12x10 rack tom and 16x16 floor tom.
A couple of days ago a 12x10 and a 16x16 come on the used market, and I pick them up, thinking that I will then have a four piece 12/16/20/snare configuration suited for rock n’ roll and blues These two pieces are faux bubinga as well.
Yesterday, midway through disassembly, oiling the shells, polishing the chrome, and reassembly, it occurs to me that these two pieces match better with my usual configuration, and that I should head them accordingly, and swap them out.
Suddenly the light comes on! Piece by piece, I have replaced my entire original Designer kit, and the ‘extra pieces’ that I have available to put together a rock n’ roll kit are my original kit, and all real bubinga:
• 14x 6 ½ snare
• 12x10 rack tom
• 13x11 rack tom (which I have still never used)
• 16x16 floor tom
• 20x16 kick
Apparently an aircraft can be rebuilt while in flight.
