Thanks for all the responses, gentlemen. It is much appreciated. And a response from Glyn Thomas = Awesome! Nice to see the President is still around to keep things straight.
As luck would have it, my copy of The Complete Simmons Drum Book arrived yesterday after I posted this and I surprised to find so much on the subject. Here's what the author, Bob Henrit, had to say...
'The shapes which epitomise the possibilities of Simmons customising have to be the ones which resembled 'human heads.' (They were actually made as a publicity stunt to sell more of the regular sets.) They were modeled in fibreglass by an artist friend of Dave's named Coleman Saunders and were evidently inspired by the Presidents' heads at Mount Rushmore. Two clay 'masters' were made from which a pair of rubber moulds were fashioned which ultimately went on to produce something like ten sets. They were available in red, blue and yellow upon which Dave Simmons did a great deal of airbrush work and fitted with cut-glass eyes. Evidently they all turned out to be slightly different. The top of the cranium was sliced through to fit the wood and 'riot shield' playing surfaces.
These of course, needed to be fitted as usual with aluminum edging strip which was no mean feat. (The shape of the human head is not particularly regular as I'm sure you're aware!) As I said, ten sets were manufactured and they were all eventually sold. I understand that one of them is in a night club in Paris, other than that Richard Burgess has several drums, as does Carl Palmer. (Presumably there must be a few collectors' items floating around elsewhere.)
Landscape were due to appear on 'Top of the Pops' with a set of these bizarre 'Rushmore' drums and the Simmons company were sure that interest in their hexagonal drums would be increased afterwards. Unfortunately the Musicians' Union decided to 'black' the show for one reason or another. So, it looked rather like the drums would never be see on on 'prime time' TV. Dave was justifiably unhappy about this and tactfully made his feelings known to the union organiser saying it was their biggest break and it would be a catastrophe if they missed out. At the eleventh hour the dispute was resolved and the show went ahead. History doesn't record whether this lone TV appearance made any real difference in the long term, but suffice it to say, all the 'cranium' sets were eventually sold.'
And, again, if anyone out there has one, post pictures!
Thanks.
Ed
--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "Ed" <edrose1@...> wrote:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax1ErjLIloo
> @ :24 and again at 1:08 check out the Coleman Saunders head kit. WOW!
> Any idea how many of these were made? Anybody on the list holding one?
>