THE DAY I left Birmingham to seek infamy and misfortune in London, I wisely parked my ancient Ford van (containing my total worldly possessions) in the centre of town for a couple of minutes. Just long enough for some genius to break in and drive it off. The police found it in a lock-up two days later, minus everything I valued, including my prized Premier drum kit.

I was broke, and I needed a good kit immediately. In those days in the mid-1970s the Japs were dodgy and the Yanks were too expensive. Then I spotted a gleaming, silver Hayman. I bought it: it was good, bright, loud and reliable, only falling down on the knuckle-devouring tom tom holder and floor tom brackets.

Hayman had been originally launched in August 1969 and offered exciting new British-made drums with "Vibrasonic" (= bright-sounding) shells and a modernistic appearance. You could buy them up until the end of the 1970s — their demise had something to do with distributors CBS/Arbiter also handling the import agency for the US Rogers kits.

Today, the tables have turned in the marketplace, and with the Americans finding the going tough — only the excellent Gretsch drums seem to be holding ground — the new Arbiter company feel the time is right to begin redevelopment of an updated Hayman line. With the re-energising of Premier it would indeed be good to see another British company slicing into the market. Mind you, when I say "British ", I should point out that at the moment the only British parts on the new Hayman kits are the distinctive nut-boxes. Everything else is put together in Taiwan, like much else these days. Still, it's a start: eventually, Arbiters tell me, it is planned for them to produce a top-grade shell over here.

The kit I saw was a five-drum Showman, the top of the range. It had the inevitable teething problems, of which more later, but on close examination these turn out to be merely cosmetic. The important areas — the shells and hardware — have obviously been the subject of some thoughtful updating.

The shells are in fact nine-ply mahogany, about a third of an inch thick. They've good level-bearing edges, minus the unfashionable reinforcing hoops of the old range. Not too light, not heavy, they give a good, rich sound.

The Vibrasonic lining (white paint) is thinner than that which apparently made the old Haymans sound so bright. You may prefer the new drums' slightly less bright tone, but the "lining" doesn't look so good as the original opaque coating. I doubt the white paint is that important, but it seems to me that since Arbiters have resurrected the Vibrasonic lining as a sales pitch, they should be rather more clear about just exactly what it is and what it does.

The finish, which on the review kit was a "Vibrant Red" plastic with a neat enough lap-join, is acceptable. The old gold and silver finishes were more classy, but the cost today would be prohibitive.

The round nut-boxes, already noted for their distinctiveness, are especially solid and chunky, and, sensibly, threads have now been made universal. The boxes are seated on round pieces of felt for damping, a good idea spoiled by the finish: the felts are too big and would look better trimmed. The various mounting brackets on the toms and bass drum do not now devour knuckles, and are handsome, solid and well chromed, almost indistinguishable from up-market Yamahas. The twin tom bracket itself is not so pretty, and I'm told this will be the first piece of hardware for modification. It's (again) of the Yamaha type and works well enough, and it has memory-clamps for ease of set-up.

The bass drum spurs are yet again Yamaha-like, being retractable, adjustable and of good design. The pedals, by contrast, are more like Pearl's, except that both have strong chain drives. The bass pedal is adjustable for tension (side-spring) and for stroke, while the hi-hat has drum-key-operated tension and a decent, heavy cymbal-clutch. I liked both these items.

The cymbal stands and snare drum stand are of slightly unusual tubular construction. They're neat and fairly lightweight, but should suffice unless you're grossly HM. There are heavy duty filters on both the boom and the ordinary cymbal stands. The cradle basket-type snare stand has an infinitely adjustable filter — these aren't as firm as toothed filters, but I can never get the latter to the desired angle. The snare drum itself has a 6½-in deep, twin bead, butt-jointed, steel shell. It's neat in appearance, firm in sound, and has a pleasingly smooth and simple snare throw-off.

The set comes complete with clear white-dot heads and a suspect-looking white coated snare batter. You could do yourself a favour and change this for a decent Remo for the sake of a few extra quid — it'd almost certainly sound better.

The drums are all in up-to-date "power" sizes, ie 22 x 16, 12 x 10, 13 x 11, and 16 x 16. A seven-piece kit is available with 8 x 8 and 10 x 8 toms on a floor stand, and there's also a cheaper range called Universal. Showman finishes are High-gloss Laminate, Jet Black, Vibrant Red, and Silver. And a good final touch: a spares kit is thrown in with every set.

Those niggling cosmetics aside, I applaud the initiative to relaunch a British-owned range with a strong commitment to continued development. It can't be easy. The established mid-priced competition from Pearl and Premier, in particular, is very strong, and those makers have certainly got their cosmetic appearances sorted out. But I'd say these new Haymans are definitely worth checking out because the shells are good, as is most of the hardware, and the nut-boxes and shell fittings are first class.

HAYMAN showman five drum kit: £550

CONTACT: John & Ivor Arbiter Ltd, (Contact Details).