Enjoyed this discussion very much. Thanks for pulling it together. Having grown up in the Pocono Mountains of NE PA, where Bobby Grauso moved to from Long Island, I studied with Bobby for 5-6 years starting in 1980. He was a tremendously talented drummer, with a great command of the instrument…and was a great teacher. He was a perfectionist and always tinkering. I got to play every week on a Fibes set with Fibes hardware….didn’t understand how lucky I was!! One update to the podcast commentary…we had the Fibes marching drums (fiberglass shell) in the early 80’s for our local HS, Pocono Mountain High School. Made sense since Bobby lived nearby and I’m sure he looked for opportunities to promote. Also, you mentioned Alan Dawson. Bobby was good friends with Alan, and adopted much of his teaching from Dawson’s methodology. He was friends with Buddy and Louis Bellson too. In fact, Louie did a clinic at Bobby’s new drum shop in Wind Gap, PA, called the Brass Drum, when he opened it circa 1978’ish. Great memories.

I still have my 1978 Fibes SFT-90 5X14 snare drum I bought for $100 new. I still play. Great sensitivity at low volume, & does not rattle or choke at high volume.

I just caught this video. I have a Fibes Clear Acrylic Kit. 12 rack / 14 floor tom / 16 floor tom / 20 bass. I was surprised to hear him say he’s never seen a 20!

Faust!!! He finally let me in as well, then locked the door behind me. Bought a pair if hats from him and some mini timbales. He was a crazy guy!!!

Thanks to both Steve & Steve!! Proud to own a Fibes drum set in antique copper finish. A very early set from Farmingdale in the rare bop size: 18-12-14 and 5x14 snare drum

Fibes had Chrome & Copper Fiberglass Drums and for the Acrylic it was Clear, Hazy (frost) and Smoke.

I always loved FIBES!! Was fortunate to have gotten to play on a few kits when I was a kid! Great drums and about 30 mins from where I grew up!!

I saw Buddy playing the full Fibes set at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City in 1967. First matinee show after late arrival right off the bus but Buddy was in a good mood. I always remember the drums sounding like cannons in that big hall. At one point Buddy is exhausted and asks the crowd "what do you want to hear" so yell out Chicago and he says "you got it". That was the extent of my personal relationship with Mr. Rich that day! On another note Gene Krupa had a Fibes snare built with Slingerland hardware which I think Steve had at one time.

I owned a chrome over fiberglass snare for a long time. To me, the beauty of the Fibes snare was in fact the SFT strainer. Why? Because the wires stretched the entire drum. That was a beautiful sound and gave a huge sensitivity & crispness to most of the snare drums they made. The acrylic drums were and still are around. The Fivel finishes are the most sought after, followed by butcher block and agate.

OMG! I just love my Austin Fibes drums... but unfortunately one day I'll be selling off my entire collection which consist of Camco, RB Gretsch and other cool American vintage companies.

Thanks for sharing guys, really enjoyed the enthusiastic conversation.

Thanks a million to both of you Steve & Steve, completely engrossing, even at 2:30a.m. in Dublin. Couldn't wait until morning. The Podcasts are fantastic, I'm enthralled by Steve's knowledge (not to mention your playing by the way, beautifully phrased and melodic) every time. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy them all, but these ones are drum-nerd-night-owl heaven. I just have to figure out how to somehow explain to my wife why I need to go to Chicago on a drum pilgrimage. Midlife crisis might wash, cheaper than a Porsche or taking a mistress I suppose ;o) In terms of suggestion/idea for content, my pipe dream is that you take a brief tangent to look at Premier drums from the U.K. and the few companies (Sonor, etc.) from the other side of the Atlantic that got any kind of a look-in with U.S. drummers/distributors during the 50s-70s. This would also mean you don't run out of U.S. companies to cover for an extra month. Go on, please? :o) I've seen a few Premier examples crop up in your product videos and walk-throughs and it made me wonder how they were regarded in the U.S. Since they were made in England, they were accessible and cheaper for the quality than imported U.S. drums in Ireland and there are still quite a few vintage examples around in the country. I recently bought a 1973, 14x5.5, COA Premier 2000 with the flo-beam parallel strainer in really good condition. I learned & played snare drum on one exactly like it 37 years ago with a concert band in Belfast - your vintage videos helped me decide that I really should be reacquainted with one. It's every bit as sensitive, dynamically able (not to mention aesthetically elegant) as I remembered. I've been grabbed by the vintage drum vortex ;o) Thanks again guys, very best of luck from Ireland.

I'm sorry I never had the opportunity to own a Fibes snare drum. I've heard so many great things about their sound, projection and playing feel.

really enjoying these discussions.good stuff

Great stuff! Thanks. I've got a Jim Corder set. 20-12-15. Yes 15. Burgundy stain. Sounds great!

Steve Maxwell always keeps you interested he has so much experience with drums nice player also...nice guy keep it up.

I have an Austin era Jasper shell kit in 10, 12, 14, 18 awesome drums. The Buddy story reminded me that Joe Morello used to play Eames shells for a little while with all Ludwig hardware on them. Bill Jr caught though. There is one pictured on Master Studies I believe. You can see the Eames vent hole grommet in the picture.

Spencer Dryden of Jefferson Airplane played a Chrome 4-piece set of Fibes for awhile. He & these drums are clearly seen and heard in the Woodstock Part 2" documentary.

Fantastic job gentlemen

I had 2 files rack Tom's from when Tommy's drums in Austin, Texas owned them . They were so sweet..rarely had to tune them.and the owner was very nic3

I have a Pearl woodfiberglass kit from 1980.....one of the best kits I have ever heard. I think the model is the Pearl F420....very heavy drums with a fiberglass lining....Pearl did a remake of these kits a few years back. Very popular with drummers back in the late 70’s early 80’s.

Apart from Buddy using a Fibes snare for a few years ( often secretly ), he only used the full kit for several months in 1967. He also played Trixon /Vox that year.

I knew Mr. Faust. Because I played Ludwig drums most of my life, he was the only one that really had parts. I basically grew up going to his store. I was one of the few people that he would actually let up the bar that he had going across for the drums and let me walk around and look. The last time I went to his store, he sold me a thermal gloss 70's vintage Ludwig Tom for $25. And he converted to of my concert toms to double-headed toms. He was absolutely a character though. 😂😂😂

I inherited my dad's Fibes set (Brown agate - CF Martin co.). It has a 22" bass 16" floor and 12 and 13" mounted toms. He was a real drummer, but I'm just a beater. I'd like to put some fresh heads and was wondering what the modern drummer would suggest. At 62, I haven't played out in 8 years or so, and may not again, but I would like them to sound good. Each drum has a different serial number on the badge.

I play a black fibes with clear snare 4 piece. It is beautiful and sounds so musical and tympanic. It has the Kung Fu.

Nick Mason played a FIBES set extensively before Pink Floyd's "Darkside of the Moon" world tour.

A few thoughts: - Billy Cobham’s Fibes acrylics kits had Slingerland double Tom holders, not Fibes. Those were much more stable than the Fibes mounts. - I checked the stevemaxwell.com page and I didn’t see any mention of the Fibes stay away bumpers. If there is a link for these, please advise. I’d buy a few. - according to An MD interview with Bob Grasso, the idea originated out of Bob polyurethaning the insides of his older wood shell snares. He liked what the treatment did and soon had requests from his buds to do their drums. Soon after he met John Morena, Fibes was born.

My slingerland tom mount has the fiberglass ball style.

thanks for buying the badges from me steve,,,you should have bought my agate kit when i had it,,,mint condition still in the original bags,,never played...i have some original photos you may be interested in that were hanging in bob grauso's office in farmingdale .. i also have an acrylic bass drum shell that was never made in to a drum..they did a hot pink snare drum,,i also had a white marching snare drum as well...i worked at martin for 12 years...

The "velvet Elvis" finishes were called Fivel. I have a black fivel kit and a red fivel kit.

Hey Steve I've tried to get in touch through the store was wondering if you are still making the 4 point Gretsch strainer thanks for all the valuable info

How did Buddy tune his Fibes snares ?

Just bought a set of Corder, don’t see anything about them.