Check out this percussion gear and other stuff! And no joke, a Hendrix connection....

[Drumbledore]

Today, took one of my good mates, Steve, and we went to check out some music gear and other collectible gear that a veteran percussionist here in Sydney, a guy called Jeff Walshe, was selling to raise funds for his heart operation. Wow, this guy had hundreds of stories to tell! He also runs a theatre stage props company, and he himself does some pretty daredevil stuff like sword-swallowing, lying on beds of nails and all kind of tricks. I ended up getting two authentic Wuhan china cymbals, three Chinese cup-chime like cymbals and a pair of Indian tabla drums. What you see here is a fraction of what he's selling at the moment, it truly is a percussion and props museum this guy has!

An old 1920's washboard. Jeff said he this was given to him by Mick Conway (Mick Conway's National Junk Band) when he and Conway were in one group together.


Top view of a 1950-60's Jenco vibraphone. Steve and I are so tempted, but we already both own vibraphones. It's just rare to see a Jenco one in such good shape and sounding beautiful still.


Front view of the Jenco. Jeff got it in the States and had the motor converted to Australian voltage (the motor is what powers a set of metal discs at the top of each resonating tube, which gives the vibraphone it's characteristic sound).


Jeff said this old Chinese gong came to Sydney around the 1920's with a Chinese opera group who for some reason couldn't return to China with it. It then came into the hands of Billy Hyde, who eventually gave it to Jeff as a present. Oh yes, this has a big, big resonant sound!

[Drumbledore]

PART TWO:

A collection of Tibetan and Nepalese singing bowls Jeff collected over a number of tours. You strike these with a thick wooden mallet and rub it on the top edge of each bowl to produce a humming harmonic.


A bit of a rarity, (well, over here at least)...a Deegan marimba. Beautiful sounding rosewood bars. Wish I had the room to store it, but I already have my Adams one. Deegan eventually got taken over by Ludwig-Musser I believe.


Now this car has a really music pedigree.....it's a 60's model Jensen, but just not any ordinary one. This one was scheduled to be given to no less than Jimi Hendrix when he was in the UK, but just two weeks before it was due to be handed over, Hendrix passed away. It has all the documents to support the story, and before it came into Jeff's possession, Cream's drummer Ginger Baker was also interested in this car (gave up when he realised his drums wouldn't fit in), then the car appeared in South Africa in someone else's possession before Jeff acquired it. He was at one stage a few years back contemplating selling it to the Jimi Hendrix Museum in the States.....for a tidy sum of course. Blew our minds with that story!


A collection of various Asian masks Jeff's collected on his many tours with all sorts of Australian and overseas music artists, people such as the Japanese taiko drum group Kodo, Australian jazz drummer Tony Buck, late 60's singer Peter Sarstedt....hell, Jeff's even hung out with none other than Frank Zappa himself! As a result, he's been in the company of esteemed mallet players such as Ruth Underwood, Gary Burton, Dave Samuels.....wow, so many great musicians, I don't know where to start!

[pastor_bob]

Wow, cool day!

[MR. G]

great post ! I have no money but it was sure fun to look. I don't have the room for half of it either but may have to sell my car and make room for the Gong. I really liked the looks of that one. It's kinda' cool ruunin' into someone like that and standing in awe with their collection of goodies. One time I needed some replacement hardware and was given the name and address of someone that might be able to help. When I arrived. we drove to another location jampacked to the ceiling with anything you needed for an acoustical set-up. We had to walk sideways through most of it. The whole house ! Room after room. And the amazing thing was he knew what he had and where to find it. Going there, I was convinced I would never pay retail again and also realized just how expensive of a hobby this could really be. Thanks again for your post

[Ricardo]

Hey Drumble............

This is some unique stuff.
I want that marimba..............can you send it to me ?

On a side note, I got to see the Great Zappa live during March, 1973 with this fantastic group of musicians :

FZ, Jean Luc Ponty, Tom Fowler, Ralph Humphrey, Ruth Underwood, Ian Underwood, George Duke, Bruce Fowler.

[slinky]

hi Drumbledore, I've always thought it'd be fun to visit your house, and his now, more cool stuff. Called a friend yesterday and she was at a Jamaican event and could hear the steel drums over the phone. Love the sounds of those. Do you have any of those?

[Drumbledore]

^ No, I wish I did have a proper Caribbean steel drum, definitely love the sound of those, and there are some talented players of that instrument. My Roland Handsonic HDP-10 does have the sound, but my only gripe (and a reason why I'm thinking of getting it's bigger brother, the HDP-15) is that the Handsonic HDP-10 has only 10 pads on it surface....not enough to assign all twelve notes of a chromatic scale, which would make it more realistic to play within a group. The HDP-15 on the other hand has 15 small and large pads on it's surface, so I will definitely look at one of those at a later date.

[late8]

Man...the Nepalese singing bowls look and sound awesome!! I've heard similar bowls played in Buddhist temples in Japan