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1961 Trixon ‘Luxus’ 0/200 Drum Set

DRUMS
19.75 x 16” Bass drum – 1/110 - #179661
16 x 16" Floor Tom - 2/500 - #142661
13 x 8.25” Tom - 2/200 - #142661

14 x 5” Snare Drum - 1/440

FINISH
TX 9 – Red Stripe

HARDWARE
Trixon 12/316 Tom Arm Ratchet

If you have any questions or information about the drum set, please contact me.

BACKGROUND – Purchased October 24th, 2017
While researching Trixon drums, naturally I spoke with the top two Trixon / Vox historians and collectors, one in Germany (Ingo Winterberg) and the other here in the UK, our very own Dave Prince.

Although remarkably we have never yet met at any of the vintage drum events, Dave and I have chatted for a while on line about Ajax, Slingerland and other vintage drums that we have owned.

While speaking with Dave and admiring his extensive Trixon and Vox collection on his Facebook page, I had noticed a couple of toms in the same ‘Red Stripe’ TX9 finish as my newly aquired Trixon 'Speedfire’ set.

It turned out that these toms were in fact from a ‘Luxus’ set which Dave had acquired from a drum store in 2011.


That set the wheels whirring in both of our minds and I am delighted to say that, with Dave’s kind help, I have now acquired the ‘Luxus’ set from him to add to my own collection.

The set contains full date stamps / serial numbers from 1961 (the last two digits denoting the year of manafacture.)
Bass Drum #179661
Floor Tom #142661
Top Tom #116661

The set also features the earlier ‘Tear Drop’ lugs and ‘Ship-Form’ 12/315 brackets.

Being made before 1963, the set has ‘Pre-International’ drum heads, some of which are period calf, so potentially, originals or at least from that era.

Everything bar one or two bolts appears to be original parts on the set, right down to four of the five black plastic tension screws on the bass drum spurs and floor tom legs still being in place.

Dave purchased the set from a music store in London on February 4th, 2011 and a few replacement original parts were required to bring the set up to the condition that you see it in now.

Sadly the back history ends there at this time, but Dave has since displayed the set at a number of vintage drum shows and events in since 2012, including the recent 'Simon John's Vintage Drum Show' in Coventry.

Dave Prince is seen here on the Trixon Luxus set in 2012.

The 'Luxus' was also featured in the regular 'Vintage Gear' section of ‘Rhythm’ Magazine by Geoff Nicholls in the October 2016 edition.

With the matching 1/440 14 x 5” dual damper parallel action snare drum and the ‘Speedfire’ 0/700-3 set, (full details can be found on the ‘Speedfire’ 0/700-3 page,) it quite possibly makes this a totally unique collection of Trixon drums.

My thanks once again to Dave for his help in making this possible.

HISTORY
Trixon drums were formed September 18th, 1947 by Karl-Heinz Weimer in Hamburg, Germany and the company were to go on to be responsible for many innovative ideas that pushed the boundaries of modern drum building, some of which remain used to this day.

By the late 1950's, Ivor Arbiter had opened the now legendary Drum City store on Shaftesbury Avenue right in the heart of London's music scene. Ivor set up a dealership to import Trixon drums from Germany (and later Ludwig drums from the America, cue lengthy Ringo Starr & The Beatles story!….) as well as being behind the Rogers tie in with the British Ajax drums.

Ivor pushed the Trixon brand hard and pulled in a lot of big name drummers during the 1960’s and the ‘Red Stripe’ TX 9 finish seemed a popular choice in the early 1960’s with Bernie Dwyer of Freddie And The Dreamers and Dave Memmott from Joe Cocker’s band among others, both playing the Trixon ‘Luxus’ sets in this finish. Perhaps this could even be one of those two sets?

Here is Bernie Dwyer with Freddie And The Dreamers on his ‘Luxus set on Sunday Night At The London Palladium which went out live on the 25th October, 1964. Quite an amusing performance and you can see close ups of the set at the 4:58 mark of the video.

Much like another of my favourite drum companies Ajax, by the 1970s, Trixon were sadly in decline due to the strength in the UK’s own of Premier Drums, Ludwig, Slingerland and also the first wave of Japanese drums such as Pearl.

Naturally, had Ringo bought a Trixon drum set from Ivor Arbiter in 1963 and taken instead a delivery of a ‘Speedfire’ or another Trixon set instead on May 12, 1963, what might we all be playing today?

Ironically, this shot was apparently taken six months AFTER Ringo had made Ludwig famous…. Makes you think!

If you have any questions or information about these drum sets, please contact me.

My sincere thanks to Ingo Winterberg and Dave Prince for their Trixon knowledge, advice and assistance.

There is a great Facebook Group run by Dave Prince that features many historical images and videos of Trixon and Vox drums sets, as well as memorabilia and personal owner's drum sets on display. This can be found at www.facebook.com/groups/TrixonVoxDrums/

You can also view many of Dave's Trixon and Vox drums sets at his website Prince Drums where he also has some of his collection currently for sale.

This image of some of Dave's collection and which includes the 'Luxus' set featured on this page (back far left), was taken at the U.K. National Drum Fair in Birmingham, Sep 2012.

'Trix On Trixon - The Story Of The German Drum Company' is published by Ingo Winterberg and can be purchased from this link. http://www.trixondrums.de/trixon/trixon9book.htm#1.Buch

The 'Trix On Trixon' website run by Ingo can also be found at www.trixondrums.de