Mickey Hart | Stage-used Sonor drum set

Property of Strider Shurtliff

Mickey Hart

Sonor Signature Series drum set with cymbals and hardware, played on stage, ca. late ‘70s, early ‘80s

7-piece drum set, including bass drum, snare, 2 rack toms, and 2 floor toms, synthetic drum heads, beech shells with bubinga finish, steel drum casings, brass Sonor plaques affixed to each drum case, with Zildjian hi-hat, ride, and crash cymbals; wear consistent with road-use, including scratches and chips to the wood, some dents and rust to the hardware.

An essential part of the Dead’s sound throughout the ‘80s

Kreutzmann and Hart both switched to using Sonor sets around 1979, and continued to play them together in their dual-drum performances until 1986 or ‘87, when they began to use Yamaha drums. The Rhythm Devils’ Sonor sets not only helped to define the Dead’s sound during these years, through their regular improvised drum sequences at shows, but they were also featured at some of the band’s greatest performances and landmark shows.

When Kreutzmann’s version of this set was sold at Bonhams in 2012, Rock Scully said, “There is some truly great music and history surrounding this group of instruments as these saw the best years of the band's big stadium shows, a concert in Egypt, the Hollywood Bowl, the Greek Theater shows in Berkeley and even some shows with the Who in Europe. Also it should be noted that the construction of these drums is unique to the Sonor brand. … Because of the craftsmanship and hours put into their construction these were very expensive instruments even in 1975. This model today is a very rare and sought after collectible" (Bonhams).

REFERENCE

Photograph © Ed Perlstein. To purchase a print, or view more of Ed Perlstein’s work, visit https://www.musicimages.com/