Rob Fife
Early 1980's Sonor Phonic/Phonic Plus series drum kit
What an AMAZING drum kit! This is a 1970's & 1980's Sonor Phonic/Phonic Plus series drum set, with 9-ply beechwood shells. The sizes are: 24" x 14"deep bass drum, 18" x 19"deep (18-lug floor tom), 13" x 9"deep and 12" x 8"deep rack toms and a 14" x 6"deep "custom" snare (with Sonor die-cast rims and snap-lock tuning).
These drums were put together from various Sonor Phonics that the guy I bought them from (Bennett Williams) found in a Chicago used drum shop in the early 1990's. The 12" tom and the 24" bass drum had beechwood finish, (approx. 1975) the 13" tom, 14" tom (which is now the snare), and the 18" floor tom, all had white covering. The 13" and 14" toms were originally from the Phonic Plus series and were 13" and 14" deep, respectively (approx. 1985). Bennett had Ryan Payne of Payne Percussion in Indianapolis recover the drums in the Champagne Sparkle covering you see here, as well as cut the 14" tom down to a 14" x 6" snare drum and the 13" x 13" tom down to a 13" x 9" tom. The snare was finished at a later time than the rest of the set and the Champagne Sparkle is slightly different on it. Hard to tell the difference under stage lights.
The only Sonor item missing from all of the drums, except for the Bass drum, are the Sonor badges, but make no mistake these are 9-ply beechwood Sonors.
THIS SET SOUNDS AWESOME!!!! The bass drum is full of punch and earth-shaking low end. The toms have tone and sustain that sing like the thick-shelled drums that they are, and the snare has an extraordinarily musical tone that fits into any genre like a glove.
This kit, even though not original, is enough to become a total Sonor Geek! I love them!!!
Here is my newest Sonor restoration project!!! Finally completed!
Before and after pics:
When I bought this Sonor Sonic Plus kit a few months ago (from the
early 90's with all Birch shells) it was in a bad state of disrepair.
Kit Specs:
16" x 22" kick
12" x 13"dia. tom
16" x 16" tom
I started by removing all the hardware, recovering the shells in a
Silver Sparkle wrap that I got from Precision Drum Co. and putting on
all black aftermarket hardware from American Drum Parts. I put on a
Pearl OptiMount system on the 16"x16" tom and a Pearl ISS on the
12"dia.x13"deep tom, with new Pearl arms. I love the looks and the
sound is amazing!!! I use all pearl stands, except a Sonor hat stand,
Tama snare stand, DW double pedal and a Roc-N-Soc throne. Got the
original off eBay for $200 after shipping. All the parts and wraps
(including Pearl mounts and arms) ran me about $500. So $700 total,
but I sold all the old Sonor lugs, rods, spurs and legs for about
$100. So all in all I didn't go broke doing this project, but it was
costly.
