I’m certain the snare drum I bought was owned by Peter Erskine. How do I go about verifying that?

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by gavynnnnn, Dec 16, 2022.

  1. gavynnnnn

    gavynnnnn Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    Not only was it sold in a shop one state above his home state and they said it used to belong to him,, but a local drum shop managed to find a picture of him in an article from a long time ago with a drum that looks as identical as possible to my snare drum, within its production date as well. It’s a common drum line, but in a very uncommon configuration so it’s pretty certain it used to belong to him. How would I go about proving it?
     
  2. Have you thought of the direct approach and asking him?
    Peter Erskine
     
    jusbe, poe_man, OldSoul and 2 others like this.
  3. gavynnnnn

    gavynnnnn Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    Twice. I tried the first time over Twitter and the second time just earlier tonight via his direct contact on the website
     
  4. JakeMcD

    JakeMcD Forum Resident

    Location:
    So Central FL
    This reminds me of the time I reached directly out to Steve Smith @ 2002. I had asked if he could point me in the direction of reacquiring a CD of Players, a fusion collaboration he participated in. He was kind enough to reply. It was something like:

    "No."
     
  5. tIANcI

    tIANcI Wondering when the hifi madness will end

    Location:
    Malaysia
    Is it signed?
     
  6. Old Zorki II

    Old Zorki II Storm Watcher

    Location:
    near Tampa, FL
    I wonder why you need to have a proof..
     
  7. nosticker

    nosticker Forum Guy

    Location:
    Ringwood, NJ
    What you mention doesn't seem like smoking gun evidence, but I guess you could email Yamaha(I'm guessing) or DW; he's a Tama guy these days, as you probably know.



    Dan
     
    kt66brooklyn likes this.
  8. I know of someone who has a car once owned by Jon Voight…

    I kid. But outside of confirmation from Peter E. or unless the photo of him playing it clearly shows some unique identifying mark that’s identical to a mark on your snare you’re out of luck.
     
  9. Walter H

    Walter H Santa's Helper

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    If the shop where you bought it knows who sold it to them, you could ask them to forward your contact info.
     
  10. Cherrycherry

    Cherrycherry Forum Resident

    Location:
    Le Froidtown
    DNA samples would be the most authoritave proof, IMO.
     
    coolhandjjl likes this.
  11. gavynnnnn

    gavynnnnn Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    Well of course it would lol. But I’ll go ahead and tell you: it’s a Yamaha 9000 (very high end Yamaha, a brand he was known to use at the time) Hot Red birch snare. It’s not metal, it’s birch. And Hot Red is an unusual color to find the birch snares in, on top of the metal snares from the 9000s generally being more common in the 80s. One might be able to infer a birch snare was intentionally sought out for the purpose of jazz. It was manufactured March of 1982.
     
  12. The Yamaha 9000 series are very nice drums, they transitioned the name to Recording Series in the mid 1980’s I recall. What size is your snare?
     
  13. nosticker

    nosticker Forum Guy

    Location:
    Ringwood, NJ
    I have a Peter Erskine Signature snare that's a piccolo size(it's birch), but I don't think of birch necessarily as a "jazz" wood. If there was a "jazz" kit, it would arguably be classic Gretsch(maple/gum), but everyone was using different stuff. Maple(Pearl MLX, later Tama Artstar II, Ludwig), Birch(Yamaha Recording, Tama Superstars, most Premier) and Beechwood(Sonor Phonic) were what was around in the 80s. And that hot red was an 80s Yamaha color on both the Tour and Recording series. It's probably a very early issue. If I recall, there was a Yamaha red that had more orange in it as well as a more fire-engine red. I'm guessing it has those rectangular lugs? I'm curious to see it.


    Dan
     
  14. gavynnnnn

    gavynnnnn Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    The picture he was in it was a bright red like mine. On top of that, I was told it belonged to him before I saw the picture.
     
  15. gavynnnnn

    gavynnnnn Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    14”x5.5” lol good snare.
     
  16. Not sure why it’s funny as they made the 9000 snares in a few different sizes.
     
  17. gavynnnnn

    gavynnnnn Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    I know they did. I’m just trying to be lighthearted. Regardless, it looked like the right size too.
     
    Shawn likes this.
  18. gavynnnnn

    gavynnnnn Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    Okay, so here’s a picture of the snare drum in question [​IMG]

    This is a distinct bright, solid red. Unmistakable, and not a common color for the 9000 snares. I’d have to get the shop to give me the photo, but I did see it in person. He was playing a snare of this color, this bright red, and this depth. And the photographer used flash.
     
    tIANcI likes this.
  19. That's odd as the pics you posted are of two different snare drums. No serial # on one of them, one model # is clear while the other is a softer strike, different rust stains on the hardware, etc.

    I'm not saying the drum you have wasn't owned by Erskine but to authenticate you'll need matching serial numbers or at a minimum some unique identifying mark that can be seen on the pic the store has that matches yours. A paint chip, wood grain, something. A strore being a state away from where he lived makes zero difference.
     
  20. gavynnnnn

    gavynnnnn Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    It’s the same, I confirmed it with my own eyes. I just take bad pictures. The serial # is there and identical.

    I more mention all of that as circumstantial evidence, not hardcore evidence.
     
  21. nosticker

    nosticker Forum Guy

    Location:
    Ringwood, NJ
    At the very least, it's not a drum you see for sale everywhere.

    I took a look at some of the S/Ns from my '86 Yamaha RCs and there is much more information listed. There are 2 letters, a dash, and four numbers--not 2 numbers as listed here. I'm far from an authority on what the serial numbers mean during the Sakae years anyway, so take that with a grain of salt.


    Dan
     

  22. When were my Yamaha Drums made?

    On every Yamaha Drum logo badge there are 2 sets of number/letter sequences. The model number of the drum is on the LEFT (IE: TT-912Y). The serial number will always be to the RIGHT of the model number. Please use the information below to determine the production date.

    NOTE: This will date drums from 1980 on only. If the drum or drum kit is believed to be older, please send Yamaha Customer Support a note and we will be happy to assist you further.

    1980-1989: Drums are coded with two-letter prefix on the serial numbers. The first letter in the serial number indicates the year of manufacture; the second letter is the month.

    Example: OL = 1988/May, OM= 1988/June.

    H I J K L M N O P Q S X Y Z
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 * 10 11 12

    *Indicates prototype of first run in production.

    usafaq
     
  23. gavynnnnn

    gavynnnnn Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    Yeah, it’s March of 1982, so there’s quite a few years for extra serial numbers to be added later.
     
  24. Benzion

    Benzion "Cogito, ergo sum" Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    Players - Players
     
  25. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    I don't pretend to know anything about drums, but is there a photo of your man's drum set up that might reveal its serial number to see if they match?
    I also don't know if people actually filled out warranty cards -- I didn't-- but could the factory help? The other is to approach the man as you said you did but unless he possessed some unique info which would allow him to look, I doubt he could say, "yep, that looks like the one I had."
    Is the drum shop that sold it still in biz?
    I've owned some things with "provenance." Car titles show things like that.
    Certificates by independent experts -depends on the expert and what it is.
    I had a friend who bought a very rare race car that burned in a fire at a race.
    Another guy claimed his was the real one. Unfortunately for the adverse claimant, my friend had virtually unlimited resources, and assembled a chain of title down to the scrutineer's marks on various engine parts. The factory ultimately blessed my friend's as the "real" one- but this happens with racing cars- they get crashed, various parts go to different people. I thought I saw that the rear axle of James Dean's 550 was recovered and put up for sale recently.
    I don't know that this is worth the trouble to go all PhD. on the subject but if it is important to you, just don't stalk the dude. :)
     

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