Here we have something extremely special. This is an original 1990 / 1991 Noble & Cooley Horizon from designer Bob Gatzen's private collection. In the late 80's through to early 90's Bob worked alongside Jay Jones at N&C developing many of their professional series drums. 

The Horizon was originally introduced in the late 80's. The kits have always maintained a legendary status because of their Maple/Mahogany hybrid shell, remember in the 80's this was new territory. The shells are constructed horizontally which helps them to resonate more uniformly like the N&C steam bent shells. The inner mahogany offered throughout all the sizes adds a darker tone to the drums, these drums sound great live and in the studio. At the time innovations like the single nodal point brass lugs, hybrid shells, RIMS mounts as standard and Diecast hoops were not common place. This kit was incredibly ahead of it's time and still more than holds it own against the best of the best in today's market!

This kit comes from Bob's personal collection, the toms were all made in 1991 on one consignment serial number, the bass drum was made in 1990. It is worth noting that the Bass drum is a slightly unusual size (22 x 15) and is Single Nodal point like the toms. Horizon bass drums from this time offered on the market had double nodal point lugs, the same style lug was introduced on the deeper toms too, for this reason  we assume this particular bass drum was possibly something Bob was trying out or testing for R'N'D purposes. Regardless of the story it's a phenomenal sounding bass drum and it would seem that Bob liked it enough to later get the toms made to go with it. The toms too are slightly unusual sizes compared to the bulk of stock standard kits made at the time which normally ran 10,12,14 & 16 toms. This one runs 10,12,13 and 16 toms and all the toms have the original N&C Diecast hoops with the N&C hex style detailing (the same found on Solid Shell snares)

The colour on this drum set is incredible. Whilst N&C simply called it Yellow Gloss, this is a transparent yellow that shows the maple wood grain underneath the finish. It's a finish that has been imitated by other companies but certainly not executed as impressively as you will see on this drum set. Another Horizon made around the same time in this same colour belongs to Chris Whitten (Paul McCartney / Dire Straits) Chris has famously talked about ordering his yellow kit for the Dire Straits World Tour and subsequently finding out during rehearsals with it that all the instruments for the tour needed to be black. N&C quickly got a Black set to him, the yellow kit never made the tour, but that Yellow kit has remained with him over the last 30 years and been used on hundreds of recording sessions and sampling sessions.

This kit comes from a very special era of N&C. A period where Bob and Jay were re-inventing the wheel and breaking down many drum design barriers developing ideas that we now see offered around the drum industry today as standard common place design. This kit is special for two reasons - it's one of the original design Horizon series kits with some unique touches and because it comes from Bob's personal drum collection. Whilst this kit is incredibly collectable for all the aforementioned reasons, Bob has given his life to designing great sounding and durable design drums, this kit absolutely deserves to be used and will deliver great sounds and durability for generations to come.

• Noble & Cooley Horizon Kit Made in 1990 / 1991
• From Bob Gatzen's Private Drum Collection
• 10 x 9, 12 x 9 & 13 x 10 Toms with Purecussion Rims Systems and Collar Lock Brackets
• 16 x 14 Floor Tom with DSS Floor Tom Mount 
• 22 x 15 Virgin Single Nodal Point Bass Drum
• Hand Finished in Yellow Gloss Lacquer
• Hybrid Maple and Mahogany Shell (Horizontally Constructed)
• Fully Fitted with brand new Remo & Evans Drum Heads
• Original N&C Diecast Hoops throughout
• Original N&C Bass Drum Claw Hooks
• Chrome over Bass Nodal Point Lugs
• Silver Horizon Badges
• Pearl SP30 Bass Drum Spurs
• Toms all have serial code: H/0096-91
• Bass Drum serial number: H/0064-90
• Hand Made and Custom Built by N&C in America
• PreLoved - Phenomenal Condition - Kept in Bob's studio throughout its life.

About Bob Gatzen

Although he’s a talented drummer who has studied with famed player/teachers Joe Porcaro, Al Lepak, and Gary Burton and whose groups Moto and Spiral have featured top New York and Boston musicians, Bob Gatzen is perhaps best known as a producer, inventor, and drumming Renaissance man whose motto is “explore—discover—create.”

For thirty years, starting in 1972, Gatzen and his wife, Jo-Ann, owned and operated Creative Music, Inc., an educational/retail operation where workshops, clinics, and live performances were regularly featured. It was during these years at Creative Music that Gatzen established himself at the forefront of drumming product innovation and video production. Bob holds numerous U.S. and international design patents for companies such as Evans, Noble & Cooley, Puresound, Regal Tip, Drum Workshop, Zildjian, and DrumFrame, Ltd. In addition to winning several international Music Industry Press Awards for his designs, in 2005, Gatzen was awarded Modern Drummer’s Editors Achievement Award.

Among Gatzen’s drum instructional projects are the DVD Drum Tuning, Sound, and Design and the Inspiring Drummers series for Warner Bros which he worked on with drummers such as Dennis Chambers, Tony Royster Jr. and Will Kennedy. Further undertakings include the children’s program START With The Arts, a non-profit organization aimed at promoting creativity and original thinking. Gatzen has also posted numerous popular instructional videos on YouTube.