Heya Matt,
Yep it's the kit from Bondi. I'm in Brisbane but had a mate in Sydney
collect and ship it for me. I didn't buy the brain, that went to
Italy. I plugged the pads into my Linndrum to see if they worked,
they all trigger fine. I have a mate here with an SDS9 brain which
I've borrowed on occasion. Brian C has made noises about selling me
his other SDS8 brain, but it's got a dodgy tom channel apparently.
I've actually made a start on cleaning the kit up yesterday/tonight.
It looks like it's been very neglected. Armour-all has worked a treat
on the rubber playing surfaces. For the blue/gray discolouration I've
got this stuff called "Black Wax" by a company called Car Plan, it's
for the black plastic trim on cars. About 4 coats in over two days
and the black bits are shiny and black and looking great!
The shells are a bit dinged up and I'm still not really sure how to
approach the scratches in those. There are some serious gouges in a
couple of those. A guy at the hardware store recommended old style
toothpaste for the scratches, which I've used on scratched
windscreens to decent effect, but that's glass.....?
I'm concentrating on the pads at the moment, will worry about the
stands later. One thing I've worked out is that the kick legs/spurs
aren't a matching pair! One is much older and beaten up than the
other, and about 1.5 inches shorter. It'll need rechroming, about
$60. Hmmmm.
I want to get the pads looking good so our drummer (I'm a programmer,
not a drummer) can work them into his Roland kit for gigs. He's
pretty excited about it. We've done a few shows with Pseuds over the
years as support band here in Brisbane, I thought Darren was the main
drummer these days? We've also done a few shows with Real Life
including a couple in Melbourne.
I envy you playing in an '80s covers band - we only do the very
occasional cover which I really enjoy, but I've only got (barely
enough) time for one band which is mostly originals. My "real" job
pays for my gear and repairs, mostly vintage keyboards.
Anyhoo, I'll shut up now. If you want to check out the band we're
here:
http://www.tycho.com.auCheers,
Ken.
--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "Matt" <sds5@...> wrote:
>
> Hi there Ken
>
> You wouldn't by chance have bought this of the guy in Bondi? I saw
> a red SDS9 on ebay that I really wanted but he was only offering
> local pick-up, I told him I'd pay $400 straight away and would get
a
> Sydney friend to pick them up but he wanted to take his chances
with
> the auction......he ended up getting only $307!
>
> I just bought a white SDS 1000 (Which still has the SDS9 pads),
> without exaggerating it looks brand new and I'm now even too scared
> to play it! I also have a red SDS9 on the way from the US and I
was
> looking at pictures of it from ebay, I can see the faded blue-grey
> thing you're talking about, not sure what it is but my first
thought
> was to try some Armour-all type stuff that you use for dashboards
in
> cars, might just work.
>
> As far as the Simmons hardware, it's really just cheap Jap stuff
> with the Simmons logo on it, I too have some Simmons Hardware
> including one of thier rack/frames and the quality is just
terrible,
> I use Pearl stands for all my pads live with both 80s Enuff and
> Pseudo Echo, much better.
>
> I play in an 80s coverband here in Melb called 80s Enuff plus I
have
> also been playing on and off with Pseudo Echo for the past 7 years
> so between the two bands I need all the Simmons pads I can get!
>
> Cheers mate,
>
> Matt.
> www.80senuff.com
>
>
> --- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "ken_evans_99" <tycho33@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> > I'm a new member in Australia. I bought myself a fairly beaten
up
> > red SDS9 kit recently, just the pads, stands and leads, not the
> > brain. I'm hoping to marry the kit up with an SDS-8 brain
sometime.
> >
> > I was hoping for some info on how best to set about restoring
this
> > lovely kit.....
> >
> > The pad playing surfaces are in excellent condition, but the
edges
> of
> > the pads have faded a bit to a dark blue-ish colour.
> >
> > The shells have some scratches and scuffing.
> >
> > I'll have to re-chrome the kick legs (that's the easy bit).
> >
> > One of the locking nuts on the kick is missing, I think it's
> broken
> > off inside, and the screws on the edges of the pad are rusty.
> >
> > The stands are original Simmons stands, black. There is some
rust,
> > especially on the rivets and the cylinder shaped locking nuts and
> > levers. One stand has a broken clamp (ie the clamp that slides up
> and
> > down the lower part of the stand that holds the legs in position
> when
> > the legs are spread out).
> >
> > A couple of the little slip on collar clamps that snug into the
> sides
> > of the pads to help stop them rotating around the stand arm are
> > either broken or missing.
> >
> > Any suggestions and restoration tips etc would be hugely
> appreciated.
> > I want to restore this beautiful kit as best I can without
> damaging
> > it further!
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Ken.
> >
>