lewis' baby grand piano, and john lennon's 12-spring rickenbacker. at the met's exhibition "play it loud." it's the first time an art museum has honored the instruments of rock 'n roll. >> this is chuck to record john my b good, the first great rock an then about a guitar player. ♪ >> it's still got the traveling tags on the case. >> yeah, chuck berry on the case. it's as pure as you can get. >> reporter: jason dubney is curator of the met's musical instrument department. >> i think we're celebrating these amazing artists. >> reporter: he spent five years organizing the exhibition with the rock & roll hall of fame. these are ringo's drums? >> this is his first lovely drum set. he bought this in 1963. >> reporter: featuring the same drum head used on the beatles' ed sullivan show appearance in 1964. >> he really wanted the drums to say ludwig, so everybody knew he was playing american drums. >> reporter: this looks almost like a time machine. >> in a way, it almost is. >> reporter: it's the towering rigged up on top of a hammond organ in 1967 for emerson, lake and palmer. ♪ be careful as you pass, move along, move along ♪ >> reporter: steve miller's much smaller synthesizer is here to