Hayman drums were first built in 1968 in Southend. They were meant to compete with American drums and for several years successfully did just that. Several factors contributed to Hayman's domination of the market in Britain: Firstly they were quite a bit cheaper than the American sets, secondly the Japanese sets were not a threat at that time (even though 'star' sets were available they weren't taken seriously) and thirdly they were loud! This volume consideration was important because not many drummers were allowed the luxury of amplification in the late sixties. It could be argued that Hayman drums weren't really louder than anybody elses; simply more audible. They could always be heard through the loudest of bands. I have invariably attributed this to a certain brashness of tone brought about by the then revolutionary expedient of spraying the interiors of the shelves with polyurethane paint. This gives an exceedingly hard, although not crackproof, sound enhancing surface. Having said all this it is now my solemn duty to inform you that Hayman drums, unfortunately without George Hayman, are back. Sadly they aren't built in Southend anymore but on a smaller island quite some way off the Essex coast called Taiwan. However they are assembled here.

Many of the features have remained the same and at first sight you'd be hard put to spot the difference. The same round nut boxes and triple-flange loops have been employed, even the badge is exactly the same as the old one. It's not until you look inside the shell that you spot any deviations.

There are very, very few modern companies fitting their shells with glue-rings these days since it's a time consuming operation to install them. In the past they were necessary for rigidity but nowadays modern machines can bend thicker plies of wood successfully so those old strengthening rings have been made redundant. The latest Haymans have nine ply shells constructed from Mahogany which are heat-moulded under pressure to ensure their roundness. They are sprayed inside with polyurethane to give them their 'vibrasonic' lining, and I understand that this latest finish will not be prone to cracking like its predecessor was.

I feel it's time to let you know that Hayman drums are being brought to England by Ivor Arbiter who was responsible for the original sets roughly 17 years ago. It was Ivor who felt that there was a possibility of selling the drums again so he went out of his way to get the components built to achieve his aim. (Well founded rumours have it that Hayman shells may well be built in Britain later on which would, of course, be a sensible step with the dollar being so strong and the pound so weak).

Bo, what we have here is a modern five piece drum set with all the usual up-market stands and accessories. All the drums, with the exception of the floor toms, are 'Power' depth so their dimensions are 22"x16", 12"x10", 13"x11", 16"x16"and 14"x6½". HS 5 also has hi hat and bass drum pedals, snare and two cymbal stands (one with a boom).

BASS DRUM: Like all the drums the bass drum has Hayman's round nut-boxes which are screwed to the shell with a piece of felt acting as a washer. This felt is designed to stop vibrations from the shell being picked up and resonating inside the box itself. Anyway, they fit 16 of those casings along with 'T' handled tensioners rather like Yamahas and rather unique shell-like cast claws which don't have a retaining hole at the back. (I haven't seen anything like these before and it makes me wonder whether it's necessary to fix claws to the tension screws at two points). Hayman fit wood loops which are not particularly deep and inlaid with the same coloured plastic as covers the rest of the drums. The spurs would appear to owe a great deal to other manufacturers' patterns, and this goes for the majority of the hardware too. They have a cast swivel block which is joined to the shell itself and has ratchets set into it. These marry up with another set of cast ratchets set into the spur itself. A large 'T' screw joins spur to shell block and at the very end of the telescope is a spike which can be exposed through a position-lockable rubber foot giving two options. A pair of felt strip dampers are fitted too and, aside from the double tom holder which we'll get into later, that's it for the bass drum.

TOM TOMS: As I mentioned these are 'Power' toms, so a couple of inches deeper than the traditional ones we've been used to over the past 25 years or so. They have the same nine ply shells as the bass and the same smooth, slightly rounded bearing-edge. Both mounted toms have 12 nut-boxes and square headed tension screws in total. The nut-boxes on the toms also have the felt underneath them and they clamp the pressed-steel, triple-flange hoops around the drum heads via the tension screws. The floor tom measures 16"x16" and is what we've considered the norm for many years. (It's ironical that prior to the sixties many manufacturers were making slightly deeper floor toms with a 17" shell). Anyway, the floor standing drum has eight tensioners and nut boxes per head and three cast blocks to locate its legs. These blocks were circular to match the nut boxes on those original Haymans and there are plans to re-introduce them but, for the moment, we have the Pearl/Yamaha type which are rectangular and hollow with an eye-bolt inside. The 'eye' locates the thinnish, double-bent leg and pressure locks it at the regulised position. None of the toms are fitted with dampers nor do there appear to be any. However, a few moments work with three inches or so 'gaffer' tape and one leaf of toilet paper will create perfectly acceptable ones. Limply fold the tissue in half then into three and put it in the centre of the sticky side of the tape so that there's an adhesive border all around it. Then turn it over and fix it to the top of the head as far away from you as possible. Of course these are not adjustable but if you need more dampening simply add another pad. Each of the smaller toms has a cast mounting block joined to them to locate to the holder mounted on the bass drum. In the centre of the cast block is a hexagonal hole with a plastic wear-resisting ferrule inside it.

SNARE DRUM: The original Hayman snare drums were made of wood but the one which comes with this set is made of metal. It measures 14"x6½"deep and has a medium weight shell with two trenches formed into it, ostensibly to keep it round but also to make it look chunky. The bearing-edges are rolled over to form a seating for the head and the bottom has a snare bed set into it to allow the wires to touch at the very centre of the head too. (Normally gravity will tend to make the snares move away from the head in the centre). The drum I saw had eight double-ended circular nut boxes but I understand that by the time you read this these twill probably have a snare drum with ten square headed tensioners. This drum actually has an internal, under-batter-head-operating, spring steel damper. It has an operating button set outside the shell and a reasonably large felt pad which, of course, presses up against the underside of the batter head. The snare strainer is a side cam action which looks very like Hoshino's; it has the usual screw button to adjust the tension of the wires against the bottom head. There are 20 strands to these snares which are joined to the on/off mechanism by two plastic strips. The interior of the snare drum is very clean with domed washers everywhere.

All the Showman drums are fitted with British made heads. The toms have centre-spot type heads both top and bottom, the bass has one of these as a batter with a black front head and the snare has a white-coated, brush finish one. It's too soon for me to say how permeable these heads are but you can always change them as they wear out with different ones if you're not satisfied.

ACCESSORIES: All of the accessories look familiar to me although in some cases the way they're joined together is confusing. For instance the tripod bases of all the stands are made from tubular steel rather like Ludwig's used to be years ago, yet they also have overtones of Pearl, Tama, Yamaha and Hoshino. All the Showman stands have large, wedged, rubber feet with cast blocks at the top of each section. These blocks are fitted with plastic, wear resisting inserts and large locking 'T' screws to arrest the tubes at the desired position. None of these tubes are particularly wide-bored, but they get the job done. There are two different cymbal stands supplied with the set. The straight one has three stages with a cast, splined-ratchet filter at the top and the usual collection of washers and ring bolts. The boom stand has two vertical sections with an eyebolt at the top to hold the boom. Hayman's snare drum stand has the same Ludwig type legs, the same height arrest blocks and a ratchet mechanism like the cymbal tilters to put the drum angle just where you want it. An adjustable basket, with a capstan-nut locking system running up a cast thread tightly locks the rubber sheathed right angle arms against the drum.

The bass drum pedal is a lot like the one supplied with those Oriental Rogers sets. It has a two piece cast foot-plate, a 'U' shaped cast frame, a stretcher to join the back of the heel section to the frame work and a cast clamp to join the pedal jaws to the bass drum loop; a large screw locks it there once it's in position. There are spurs lapped into the bottom of the 'U' frame with springs to keep tension on them. Hayman's axle is hexagonal with a cast block to retain the beater and its 'throw' can be adjusted via a cam which is attached to a cast ratchet and, of course, to the expansion spring. A motorbike-type chain connects the plate to the beater axle.

The hi hat has an identical base to everything but it's slightly shallower. Its footplate matches the bass pedals exactly with a single spur tapped into the base, a centre-pull action and the usual cast, height adjustment block complete with plastic insert. The pedal uses a centre rod. There's a pipe type clamp fitted to make sure you set up at the same height each time and a reasonably substantial adjustable bottom cymbal cup. The top cymbal clutch seems to be exactly the same as the Pearl one which I know works exceedingly well.

The set's double tom holder is very much Yamaha style. It has a cast triangular top section with three holes bored into it. One hole is filled by the down tube and the others are designed to accommodate the holder arms. These arms have tubes at one end which locate into the top section and have a cage mounted on top of them. This cage, which has spikes inside, has a large screw tapped into it which arrests a plastic ball (inside itself) which has, in turn, a hexagonal piece of rod firmly fixed to it. This rod protrudes from the cage and ultimately is meant to locate into the holder block which is fixed to the tom itself.

SOUNDS/CONCLUSIONS. It's my considered opinion that these Hayman drums do not sound like the [old] ones — I think they sound better! They are not as bangy as the originals, and I don't think they should be. That 'brash' sound they used to have never sounded that good when it was miked up. Haymans were much better un-amplified. So, the round sound of these oriental Haymans is much better for 1985. The snare drum has quite a breathy sound but could be improved no end by fitting (say) a Fiberskin 2 Super. This would really thicken the drum up. Obviously at £550 this is not a top of the range set and Hayman have plans to introduce better (or should I say 'Deluxe' drums) with natural wood finishes. There is already a cheaper set available called 'Universal' which will sell for £400.

So far Showman sets are available in black, red or silver and for another £150 you can add eight and 10" power toms to your set complete with stand.

HAYMAN SHOWMAN HS5 — RRP: £550