sonordrug wrote:
Lovely kits of Cliff's. Hadn't seen Cliff in a few years. I won't forget anytime soon. Not certain but his first foray into Sonor drums may have been with me but I could be wrong about that. He and Teri drove up to Shreveport to pick up a set of Bubinga Designers, I think! I had two bass drums, 18 & 22 in the Medium Maple, plus a 10 12 and 14FT, standard depths. Toms were all Birch. This with the 18BD is what I think he bought. Of course, he late bought many more Sonor pieces. He had an original way of setting them and the tuning of them. Played in an interesting and good way, too. Cliff and Teri were very good to me and put me up at their house when my band would play Austin. Their dog, Charlie Watts was ultra cool, too.
Nice memories, Lane. Cliff's first Sonor kit, from what I am able to put together, he ordered in 1998 from a shop in Austin. It was maple light 20x16" bass with 12/13 racks and a 16 floor, with a 6.5 snare, all in genuine bubinga. It was later, as he began to get into jazz, that he started acquiring smaller pieces that resulted in the kit you see here.
The story goes that he first bought a 14 floor in bubinga, that came in ALPI. Then an 8 that showed up in ALPI. Then an 18 kick that showed up in ALPI. So to heck with it, he bought a 12 and 16 that showed up in ALPI, and then he had two complete kits. His nephew in Connecticut has the original buginga kit.
Not sure what kit you experienced with him, but at the time he died, he had no birch shells and nothing in standard sizes (except his old Rogers). Some of Cliff's methods and thinking were driven by the fact that he had had polio when he was young, that weakened his right leg. Everything had to work with a bass and hat pedal operated by his left foot... I tried that when I was at his house and just couldn't!
He had an original way of looking at things, and if the standard wisdom didn't work, he had no problem moving on to something - no matter how unusual - that did. If you ever sat at his kit, you know what I mean. Everything was TIGHT in, like a fighter pilot cockpit, and nothing could be out of place. He considered you, Lane, to be at the opposite end of the spectrum, moving things here and there. He liked you and he liked the way you played, and I think it amused him that you represented such the opposite to his own methods.