Info on REMO Drumset

[Kwishy]

Hey guys, I recently bought a 10" tom and a 15" bass drum, both Remo. From the info I could gather, I think these two are Mastertouchs, but I'm really not sure. The bass drum is made out of Acousticon SE and the tom 516.









Regarding the bass drum, there's no badges of any kind. I think it has been rewrapped beacause you can see a lot of holes for the lugs on the inside of the shell.

I know the bass drum is just a floor tom, the size and the hoop gave it away, but it just sound so great that I can't play it in any other way. I wish I could buy some spare mastertouch lugs to put a reso head, but I find it hard to believe that I'll find some.

Greetings from Argentina!

[FlyByNight]

Welcome to the forum!

I don't have any info on the Remo tom, but I've seen them here and there.

[drummerMD]

A friend of mine has one/10x10 12x12 13x13 16x16 22x22/ He bought it new in the 80's. Fun set to play. I think it's some kind of poly-carbon shells or something like that. They sound good.

[JoePasko]

I know the bass drum is just a floor tom, the size and the hoop gave it away, but it just sound so great that I can't play it in any other way. I wish I could buy some spare mastertouch lugs to put a reso head, but I find it hard to believe that I'll find some.

Greetings from Argentina!

Greetings right back from New York State USA. That little bass drum looks perfect the way is, when you need a small setup for a cafe gig or street corner busking. I'd definitely hang on to it.

[N2Bluz]

The REMO shells are made from a mix of wood fibers and resin glue....high performance cardboard, basically. Very similar to MDF board or clipboard material. They actually sound pretty nice. Since they are synthetic, they are seamless and of uniform density. The early Acousticon SE had issues. It was very thin (3/16" I believe) and just too weak. The shells would deform around the lugs and the bearing edge would roll over under tension. They will not tolerate any water, and will self destruct if they get wet. The Acousticon 516 was a reformulated composition and was 5/16" thick. It was much stronger better. Eventually, REMO added plastic bearing edge rings that pressed over the ends of the shells.

[CycleDude]

I used to have a Remo Acousticon kit that I played for years. Cool looking, sounding drums that I sold for my Gretsch Catalina Maples

[drummerMD]

Thanks for the info N2Bluz!

[jedi]

Here ya go . Remo factory tour part 2 starting with the making of the drum shell .

[Jdrum1]

I think Remo sets may have been one of the best kept secrets in drums.

As noted, the early sets tended to self destruct. They improved, but just never really caught on. I think it was due to reputation, poor marketing, and limited sizing.

A while back (2000-ish?), they tried to make their sets more custom by printing a wrap based on any digital image you sent them.

In recent years, they slimmed the line down to the Gold Crown line (bop/jazz oriented). I think they focused them more on the European market.

In checking their website, I only see Gold Crown snares listed. Are the days of Remo drum sets over?

[N2Bluz]

I imagine marketing was rather tricky. If you're a manufacturer of drumheads (your bread & butter), you probably have to be REAL careful about competing in the drum set market with your customers. You could never sell enough drum kits to replace the revenue lost if you lost even one OEM customer.