Lee Farmer of Anchorage , Alaska

I recently became a Sonor owner/player in a "round about" way.

I have been playing drums for 30 plus years, both semi and professionally.
Over about the last 5 years, I had become more and more disenchanted with
my Ludwig kit. They were getting worn and tired, and I was getting tired of
them. They were huge (it started as an OctaPlus kit, but turned into an
OctaPlus+Plus kit. It just kept GROWING!) Anyway, I sold the kit and
started the search for a replacement.

I live in Alaska, but my work allows (or curses, according to my wife), me
to travel extensively up and down the west coast of Canada and the U.S. I
started hitting the drum shops, looking for that "perfect" kit. The one
that I always heard in my head...

I'm hear to testify that I played them ALL!!! DW, Ayotte, Slingerland,
Fibes, Pork Pie, Pearl, Tama, Orange County, GMS, Premier, Yamaha...you
name it, and I played it. Everyone was of course touting the "warmth of
maple". Guess what. They all sounded the same. Wasn't the sound in my head.
I actually ended up in a music store in little old Anchorage called Mammoth
Music. I walked in and there was a set of Sonor Force 3000 set up on the
floor. I had never even considered Sonor, because of the prices involved.
The salesman, a great guy named Jay, saw me looking at them, knew the type
of sticks I use, grabbed a pair, tapped me on the shoulder, handed me the
sticks and told me "have at 'em". I thought, "what the heck..." I sat down
and went to it.

My God, there was the sound I was looking for! The toms and snare literally
sang and the kick drum absolutely shook the rafters! I fell in love
immediately! After about a half hour, I climbed down off of the riser and
chased Jay down. With me hoping for the best but expecting the worst, I
asked "how much". Jay told me the price, but as I started to go into
sticker shock, he advised that Sonor had discontinued the Force 3000 line
and that the store owner wanted the kit moved, so I got it for 2999.00.
This for a 7 piece kit plus assorted Sonor and DW hardware. The drums were
described to me as a "green metallic" finish, but I now think they are
actually the mint green finish. Regardless, I love them both in live and
studio playing and will not play anything else as a primary set. (I do have
a late 60s Slingerland kit that I refinished after buying it a couple of
years ago off of e-Bay, but that is a TOY compared to the main tools of my
trade. And I would like to have an Ayotte/DrumSmith jazz size kit)

Love the Scandinavian Birch Force 3000 kit you have. I really like that
finish.

Anyway, I have attached a photo of my kit and road cases.

Thanks for reading my tirade and please consider me a forever faithful
Sonor owner.

Lee Farmer ("Thunderfoot3")

jvfarmer@chugach.net