Although it was never shown on The Beatles' original UK albums, The Beatles' famous 'drop-T' logo was a familiar sight throughout the group's early years.
Ivor Arbiter was born in Balham, south London, in 1929. He repaired saxophones, worked as a part time drummer, and in the late 1950s opened the specialist music shop Drum City on Shaftesbury Avenue. It was the first drums-only store in London.
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The drop-T logo came about almost by accident. In April 1963 Ringo and Brian Epstein entered Drum City to find a replacement for Starr's Premier kit.
At first they asked for an all-black kit, but Ringo changed his mind after seeing a swatch of Ludwig's new oyster black pearl finish on Arbiter's desk. When told that it was only available on Ludwig drums, his mind was made up. "That's what I want," he told Arbiter, who fortunately had a £238 Ludwig Downbeat kit with the finish in stock.
Epstein didn't want to pay for the drums, but Arbiter refused to let him have them for nothing. They negotiated, and eventually Arbiter agreed to trade the drums in return for his battered old Premier kit.
Arbiter told Epstein he wanted Ludwig's name to appear on the bass drum head, as he'd recently begun a distribution deal with the company. Epstein agreed, but asked for The Beatles' name on it too.
On the spot Arbiter designed the famous drop-T logo, hastily sketched onto a scrap of paper. The capital B and dropped T were to emphasise the word 'beat'. Drum City was paid £5 for arranging the artwork, which was painted onto the drum head by Eddie Stokes, a local sign writer.
Starr used seven different drop-T bass drum heads between 1963 and 1967, each with a slightly different logo.
Following Ivor Arbiter's original, the second drop-T head is commonly known as the Sullivan Head, as it was the one used during The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964.
On the morning of 31 May 1964, prior to a live appearance at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, Ringo Starr took delivery of a new Ludwig kit, which included his first 22" bass drum. A new head was therefore required, and Eddie Stokes once again painted the group's logo onto a Remo Weather King.
This time around, Stokes' lettering was similar to that on the original head. The Ludwig logo was also painted on.The drums and head were used exclusively for all The Beatles.
