True Brits

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From Rhythm magazine.

True Brits

Although a drum kit named George might seem like a quaint idea and Shoeburyness is a million miles from Chicago, Illinois, the late '60s and '70s witnessed Ivor Arbiter's Hayman drums making quite a bit of noise - in more ways than one. Bob Henrit charts the rise and fall of a home-grown classic.

As far as we Brits are concerned, Hayman drums fit the bill of being Classics at least as much as any other instruments available here during the late sixties and early seventies.

They were the brainchild of Ivor Arbiter who besides being the first to actually bring guitars into Britain in quantity was also the first to import Ludwig and Gretsch drums during the `beat boom'. It was he who, in the sixties, cleverly identified a gap in the market for a LOUD drum set at a time when drummers were seldom miked-up outside of the studio. The original plan was to ht metal liners inside the shells of rather ordinary beech Carlton drums and, indeed, some of these were actually made. Ultimately they discarded the metal inserts, which were weighty and expensive and instead chose to thickly coat the drums' interior surfaces. Bingo! Loud and extremely cutting drums were here.

Originally the drums were named George Hayman after one of the guys ` in Dallas-Arbiter's Shoeburyness factory (whose surname, to confuse things further, was actually Haymon) and, possibly, George Way who made the legendary Camcos. In further homage to that famous American marque, the set's nut boxes were also made circular, which was well avant-garde at the time. Anyway, the name was eventually shortened to the more identifiable Hayman.

The drums had a mixture of features which, prior to 1969, would only be seen on expensive American products. Triple-flange hoops, which gave a more open sound, very new to British drums, as were non-telescopic spurs, adjustable, swivelling shell mounts and cymbal arms and an abundance of' tension screws and Reno heads.

Dallas-Arbiter designed their own cumbersome tom holder too, which might well have looked good on the drawing board, but in reality was something of a nightmare. A flat, curved and slotted rail was jacked up a little above the bass drum shell and to this was attached the body of the cast tom holder itself. This was fitted with not one, but two ratchets and by judicious use of both you could actually have exceedingly limited horizontal height adjustment. A radial-toothed block was fixed to the tom which mated with a ratchet on the holder to maintain its playing angle, and very large capstan nuts locked tom to holder and holder to bass drum rail. These capstans had an annoying tendency to crush your fingers against the drum and were neither particularly stable nor hard wearing. Rut at the time, it was the best around. Hayman spurs were modelled on Ludwig type outrigger designs, but with large, cast circular holder blocks which matched the nut boxes and also located the tom legs. Hayman's `lightning-bolt' bass drum tensioners were the first I'd seen that were ergonomically designed to ease operation - they were shaped to accommodate the thumbs better.

The Dallas-Arbiter company also produced pretty good double-braced, tripod-based stands and pedals called Speedamatic, which were actually a lot more substantial and sophisticated than the majority of their competition. They're no doubt still seeing service in drum sets almost a quarter of a century after their conception. The snare stand was the first in Britain to use a basket-holding mechanism while the wide, industrial-fibre-belted bass pedal and double-sprung hi-hat (both featuring easily adjustable springs) were particularly were worthy. They were more rugged than just about anything else on the market, although the extremely chunky, scalloped cast screws which arrested all the adjustable bits did leave something to be desired.

Initially the Hayman snare drums all had 5 1/2" deep wooden shells in common with the rest of the drums, but a year or so later aluminium-shelled versions were introduced. They were loosely modelled along the lines of Ludwig's 400, although in appearance, their shells were much more like Gretsch's. I'm told they didn't make too many metal drums so they’re evidently quite collectable.

Hayman were the first non-American snare drums to have ten tensioners per head and boasted a simple, but effective American-style on/off strainer attached to a 22 strand snare. They also had an American-style swivelling damper like Ludwig's.

Size-wise Hayman sets originally came with 22", 20" or 18" bass drums and 12", 13", 14" and 16" toms, but eventually 24", 26" and even 28" basses appeared. The jazzers of the time went for the 18"x 12", 12"x8" and 14"x14" Recording outfit, while the rockers went for the larger-sized Showmans.

As I said, the secret of the Hayman sound was in the interior coating. It was rather grandly called Vibrasonic but was simply a thickish, sprayed-on coat of ordinary white polyurethane paint (originally with an unfortunate tendency to craze). Its function was to harden the surface of the drum, allowing the sound to bounce around inside and give more `crack'. Hayman drums didn't sound exactly warm but, for the mostly un-amplified drummers of the time, fitted the bill exactly. They cut through any sort of music at high levels.

The original Haymans were only available in three brushed metallic finishes: Solid Silver, Gold Ingot and Midnight Blue, (Regal Red, Matt Black, Natural Pine and see-through Iceberg were introduced later) the first five of which 1 was once told were also used to cover refrigerators!

When they were first introduced in August 1969, a five drum Showman set without stands would have cost £265. Nowadays, though, you'd be rather lucky to pick one up in good condition for that price.

NB. There was actually a second generation of Haymans commissioned by Ivor Arbiter and his son John, which were launched in 1985 and came, unashamedly, from Taiwan. Ostensibly they were the same as their predecessors, although with 9 ply mahogany shells. They had the same circular nut boxes, identical paintwork inside to give more or less the same brash sound, but boasted a vastly superior tom holder and the more regular solid coloured plastic coverings.

Unfortunately it was just about a decade after their real heyday and drums, their amplifying systems, music and even the guys who played them had moved on. So even at £550 complete with stands they weren't successful.

Main Hayman Page