My New Acquisition: 1970's Era Pearl Wood/Fibreglass Drum Kit

[Drumbledore]

On Saturday I finally paid off the money and picked up a 1970's Pearl wood/fibreglass drum set, which a few weeks back I'd seen when I went to pick up some 70's era Black Label Paiste 2002 crashes and a couple of Sabian Pro cymbals (the Sabians were for a couple of my students). My new drum buddy, George, struck a deal for me at the time when I negotiated for the cymbals.....the cost of the four cymbals was AU$230, and he knocked the price of the drum kit down to $270, making it a rounded out price of $500 all up. I had paid the cymbals in full those three weeks ago, putting a deposit of $70, and kept in touch over the time whilst I could put the remaining dollars aside. Soooo....here are now some pictures for your perusal:







For those who are not familiar with these kind of drums, here's what it's all about. They were a relatively short lived line of drums that Pearl had put out when they were gaining more of a foothold on the drum market (the first wood/fibreglass kits came out in 1972, production ceased in the late 70's), and basically, they took a mahogany or Phillipines luan wood shell kit and sprayed a layer of fibreglass on the inside, producing a drum shell that is supposed to be loud and projecting, yet somewhat still with a bit of warmth. I can certainly tell you, having tried them briefly....they are loud when you hit them, lol. I have the generic metal shelled snare they supplied with these sets, but from the bit of research that I've done, along with chats with drummers I know who know a bit more on vintage gear, apparently some sets came with a Pearl Jupiter snare, a sort of a Pearl equivalent to the Ludwig Super Sensitive, a drum with a parallel-action snare mechanism. But even this snare that I got is pretty nice....nice, loud and cutting. Being a steel shelled, 10 lug snare (measuring 14x5.5"), I wouldn't expect it to be a weak sounding snare, that's for sure.

[Drumbledore]

PART TWO:

No it's not vermicelli that I spilled from a cooking pot on the shells, it's the fibreglass lining!




So, from what I understand, these drums are not rare and so collectible as say other unusual sets, but you can say they're uncommon. I've seen ad's for a small handful of these Pearl kits.....one I checked over, the hardware and fittings were in terrible shape, full of rust, missing lugs, yet the guy wanted over AU$300-400 for it, knowing that collectors would get them just for the sake of the shells. Well, quite frankly, that kit can stay in Canberra, thank you very much! With this set I got my hands on, I might need to do a little cleaning, but apart from the rust on the spring and a few bits on the bass drum pedal and one or two tension bolts, all I have to do is clean some grime off the chrome fittings and hardware, a couple of bits of sticky tape on the tom holders, and that's it really.





Speaking of pedals, the only non-genuine stand with the set is the hi-hat stand. George had said that that was what came with the kit when he had bought it off this guy who had owned it for a number of years. I'm figuring, looking at the wing nut and the nylon insert sleeve that the top tube section sides into, that it could be a Maxwin, as my octoban stands have a very similar design.....but I'll have to research that further. And the footboard is constructed out of some sort of hard plastic, that's why it's black.






Oh yeah, shot a quickish vid with my camera phone, giving it a bit of a rave:

[Drumbledore]

PART THREE

What struck me was that, considering this is a kit that's well over thirty-plus years old. that the rest of the hardware is in great nick. When I first saw the snare stand, I remarked to George that I had pretty much the same sort of snare stand. Sure enough, it pretty much is, part-for-part. The only noticeable difference is that my stand has the word 'JAPAN' stamped on it, and the rubber sleeves on mine are worn. But that's it. For many years, I had wondered exactly when this snare stand of mine was manufactured, as it came with the various stands with my first ever Rogers kit (nowadays I use this stand for timbales, piccolo snares, a Roland Handsonic electronic pad or whatever other item I want to put to the left of my hi-hats)...so, now I know. It's 70's vintage.


My stand on the right, with the one that came with the Pearl kit to the left of it:





The 'JAPAN' stamp on my Pearl stand:




None on the newly acquired stand:

[Drumbledore]

PART FOUR:

The two cymbal stands. Single braced legs, yet surprisingly sturdy for their size and mass.




What's pretty cool to see is that though old-school, the way the tilters on these stands work allows pretty much any angle that you want:




George also gave me another set of legs for the floor tom, as the rubber feet on the originals are old, worn and split. I'm going to see if through I guy I know who restores vintage and classic drums, that he might be able to get me some replacement feet.




And hey, look what else I scored with the kit.... a free army duffle bag! Apparently, the kit's owner used this to cart his gear in, this one's pretty intact. I'm definitely using this for other things though.

[Drumbledore]

PART FIVE:

Have I got more? Oh you bet! As part of a deal, as I was standing around shooting the breeze with George, I noticed he had a couple of boom stands....a Yamaha one in absolutely great nick, and a Mapex. Now, I've been looking around for a couple of stands for a couple of young students of mine, so this was the perfect opportunity to grab some. AU$20 each.




Even better, he had four second hand Billy Hydes rubber rebound practice pads, three are 12", one's an 8". I'm always shopping around for various students and friends. AU$50 for the lot he asked.



Oh, and on the underside of the floor tom? Well, this head's gonna have to be replaced, for sure.

[Drumbledore]

Part SIX:

A few shots showing the textured surface of the laminate:







The distinctive 'WOOD-FIBERGLASS' badge on the toms, which is on the opposite side of the 'Pearl' badge:




What is a slightly unusual touch is that someone (not sure if it was the owner, the drumshop from where it was bought or wherever) had put a few of these reflective silvery stickers on the tom hoops. I'll carefully remove them from the hoops as I'll do this clean-up job, but I'm in half a mind to put them back in place, as they're a cool lil' touch to the toms.

[Drumbledore]

PART SEVEN:

The front head with a large sound hole cut in it, a bit of a common sight on drums of this age. Coincidentally, I have a 22" intact Pearl logo head that was given to me ages ago, lying around the place. Now I'll have a use for that drumhead!





Okay, a couple of more shots of the kit, front, side and back, and I'll then sign off. Enjoy!




Will have to remove that double bass patch and put a lighter one in, like an Evans. Maybe go for a clear Evans head. Or, to go the whole hog with a 70's vibe, get a fresh coated Remo Ambassador head and use 70's style damping....a strip of felt running along the back and underneath the batter head, a moleskin impact patch, and another strip of felt underneath the resonant head. I'll also add that the toms all come with internally screwed damper felts that again can give me that dry and muffled tone prevalent on 70's recordings, should I go for that sort of vibe.




Thanks for having a look, folks!

[xsabers]

A friend of mine has a set like this in his garage that he has offered to sell to me for $200 US. They are white, or were white, but are more dingy off-white now. I thought about picking them up as a project but I just don't need another set of another project right now.

[CB700]

That is a every cool kit

[Drumbledore]

A friend of mine has a set like this in his garage that he has offered to sell to me for $200 US. They are white, or were white, but are more dingy off-white now. I thought about picking them up as a project but I just don't need another set of another project right now.

Is there much work to be done on them?

That is a every cool kit

Thanks CB! A couple of my students have said the same thing today too.

[EyePea]

Nice score Drumbles.
I recorded my first songs in track on one of those kits way back in the mid nineties.
I played a paddock gig on the back of a flatbed truck and used that same kit, in the same colour. I had other band drummers comment on the kits afterwards. It was something that I remember well.
Thanks for posting and bringing back some memories.

[crispycritters]

[QUOTE=Drumbledore;603796]PART SEVEN:

The front head with a large sound hole cut in it, a bit of a common sight on drums of this age. Coincidentally, I have a 22" intact Pearl logo head that was given to me ages ago, lying around the place. Now I'll have a use for that drumhead!



Looks like you had a very successful shopping spree recently DD - I just looked at AUD/UKP conversion rates and you scored that complete kit for £150 - sweet deal, I wish I knew more about vintage gear - I see a few older kits occasionally but by the time I have done a little research, and find they are desirable/collectable - they are long gone and I always miss out. Ho Hum.

On a different note (sorry to divert slightly) - what is the thinking behind cutting huge holes in the bass drum reso heads? I have seen quite a few kits that have had this done - normally 80's/early 90's kits and never quite understood why.

[HolyChina]

[QUOTE=crispycritters;603890]

PART SEVEN:

The front head with a large sound hole cut in it, a bit of a common sight on drums of this age. Coincidentally, I have a 22" intact Pearl logo head that was given to me ages ago, lying around the place. Now I'll have a use for that drumhead!



Looks like you had a very successful shopping spree recently DD - I just looked at AUD/UKP conversion rates and you scored that complete kit for £150 - sweet deal, I wish I knew more about vintage gear - I see a few older kits occasionally but by the time I have done a little research, and find they are desirable/collectable - they are long gone and I always miss out. Ho Hum.

On a different note (sorry to divert slightly) - what is the thinking behind cutting huge holes in the bass drum reso heads? I have seen quite a few kits that have had this done - normally 80's/early 90's kits and never quite understood why.

looks maybe but i think people didn't know back then that is better to not cut big holes in the drum heads. That is one trend I'm glad is gone.

[late8]

Nice!! Thanks for the pics!!!

[Drumbledore]

Nice score Drumbles.
I recorded my first songs in track on one of those kits way back in the mid nineties.
I played a paddock gig on the back of a flatbed truck and used that same kit, in the same colour. I had other band drummers comment on the kits afterwards. It was something that I remember well.
Thanks for posting and bringing back some memories.

You're most welcome.

Looks like you had a very successful shopping spree recently DD - I just looked at AUD/UKP conversion rates and you scored that complete kit for £150 - sweet deal, I wish I knew more about vintage gear - I see a few older kits occasionally but by the time I have done a little research, and find they are desirable/collectable - they are long gone and I always miss out. Ho Hum.

On a different note (sorry to divert slightly) - what is the thinking behind cutting huge holes in the bass drum reso heads? I have seen quite a few kits that have had this done - normally 80's/early 90's kits and never quite understood why.

Not sure, but I have a feeling that because in the 70's it was pretty common to remove the front head completely and use blanket or big foam block muffling for a 'dry, flat' bass drum thud (plus that gaff-taped up, single headed toms which sounded like hitting oatmeal boxes....think Don Henley from The Eagles from that era, for example), when the late 70's/early 80's was coming around and a few brave souls were going for more open, resonant sounding toms and cutting snares (Stewart Copeland, Phil Gould from Level 42 and a few others come to mind....heck, there are pictures of Bill Bruford's kit from the time he was doing his Bruford solo band, where he a had a kit with Rototoms as his rack toms, and he just has this thinnest outline of a front head on the bass drum!), they still favoured that dry-ish bass drum thud, but possibly realised that when gigging live, that the front of the drum would risk going 'out of round' if there was no front hoop. So someone (who knows?) came up with the idea of cutting a pretty large hole in the front head to allow this (and of course, ease of miking), and maybe someone suggested "hey, leave the logo intact!" or something like that. Well, that's my plausible theory anyway!

Stewart Copeland:



Bill Bruford:



Phil Gould:

[xsabers]

Is there much work to be done on them?




Thanks CB! A couple of my students have said the same thing today too.

Hard to tell. It would depend on how well the wrap cleans up. If it doesn't clean up, then a re-wrap is probably in order. They just look like they were left in a smoke filled room for 20 years. Very dingy white. Everything else seems ok though.

Wait a minute, are you trying to talk me into buying them?????

[slinky]

i like the kick pedal. Kind of hard to tell but that may be a stock ported head. Why is the kick not the same inside?

[N2Bluz]

Nice score! One of the things I like about those old Pearl kits is the quality of the castings and the chrome plating. The shells are also well made, even on the cheap Maxwin kits.