Partners Jerry Jenkins & Dave Martin

Jerry “Drumjinx” Jenkins has been a staple on vintage drum forums for years. Known for his flawless restorations and keen understanding of the “vintage sound”, it wasn’t uncommon for Jerry to unearth a long forgotten, rare vintage drum and bring it back to life.

Drums and drumming have always been a passion for Jerry, but that passion would turn to an obsession on the fateful day that he came across an old fiberglass kit being thrown away by a neighbor. The tag on the inside said “A.F. Blaemire-drums, Los Angeles”. Intrigued, Jerry took to his network of vintage drum experts to learn more. What Jerry uncovered was the story of a man far ahead of his time, who’s vision and innovations impacted an entire industry more than 50 years ago, and who’s contributions to drums and drumming reverberate even to this day.

Jerry soon became known in vintage drum circles as the “Blaemire Archeologist” for his work finding and restoring vintage Blaemire shells. Every drum Jerry restored revealed a little more about the Blaemire story. Along the way Jerry developed a friendship with Allen Blaemire and his wife Kirsten. Before Allen passed he was able to impart to Jerry many of the secrets to the unique Blaemire sound. Spurred on by the exceptional sound quality of these fiberglass drums, Jerry became determined to find the manufacturing technology which could faithfully recreate the distinctive sound.

While Jerry was discovering vintage composite shells in California, Dave Martin was in Ohio running a composites company and making carbon fiber drum shells as a hobby. Made in a similar molding process, Martin’s shells were a modern take on the Blaemire process.

With Jenkins’ passion and understanding of the Blaemire sound, and Martin’s experience with composite shells, the two agreed to combine efforts and develop a new company dedicated to producing a “Blaemire” line of drums with exact recreations of the original shells, as well as modern drum lines built around the latest composite technologies.

Two years later, after having built custom molding equipment and produced countless prototypes, the duo debut their wares at the 22nd Annual Chicago Drum Show, May 19th & 20th, 2012 in St. Charles, Il.

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