Black Halo Glitter with Satin!!!

[Josh Conover]

This has been a dream of mine since the Session Studio Classic line was introduced back in 2012. Maybe even earlier than that since I've always wanted to have satin hardware on Comet Sparkle but knew I'd never own a Masterworks kit. I had already decided to put my Crimson Burst shell bank together and thought, maybe some day down the road I'll order a few drums in the Black Halo finish and put my satin hardware on it. A little "show piece" if you will. When I heard that Pearl was discontinuing the Black Halo Glitter finish in the Session Studio Select line I immediately felt sad that I had missed my window of opportunity. All of a sudden Drum Center of Portsmouth has a shell pack on sale for $1,099 with a 20" kick and 8" through 16" sizes. What a deal with the added 8" tom! And then I looked closer and realized it had Masters series hardware on it. I noticed it was a bridge lug when looking at the thumbnails so I tapped on the pic to enlarge and realized it was satin as well! WTF?! It had been listed for less than 12 hours and I bought it on the spot, Lol.

When it arrived I looked at the hardware and realized it wasn't in great shape. In fact, someone had really butchered the hardware install. The gaskets were completely F'd up. When I removed the lugs I realized the dude had WAY overtightened the lug screws and dented every lug hole. Some of the gaskets were on upside down or even rotated so they didn't line up with the lug. This guy must have been a complete idiot... sorry to say it. I ended up not using ANY of the satin hardware that came with the kit with the exception of the 8" tom which became a shelf piece on display with some of my books. One bonus though, the kick had stainless steel tension rods that ended up on my Crimson Burst 20" kick! I just finally had a free day this past weekend to get the drums outside for a proper photo shoot. Sorry I pulled a "cuznred" and didn't set up hardware or cymbals. I just wanted to showcase the kit's finish and that sparkle you have to see to believe! I hope you all dig it as much as I do!

[Josh Conover]

Also, here's something strange. When I was taking the kick drum apart, I noticed the claw hooks that came along for the ride were about half an inch longer than your standard Masters series claw hook. They looked wonky, hanging over the hoop, past the heads metal collar.

Also some pics of the gaskets on the first drum I pulled out of the box. This really bummed me out and I put off working on this project for quite some time knowing I'd have to find replacement gaskets...

[Eric]

Sweet rig.

[RushDrums24]

What is there to say, a beautiful kit. Pearl shot themselves in the foot discontinuing that finish in the SSS line. Its like a Lamborghini look for Mondeo money!

[TMdrums]

Very nice Josh! That kit looks great!

[AL PERCIVAL]

Excellent job Josh! That hard work really paid off. It’s a really cool kit. It’s too bad Pearl discontinued that finish. Every time I see it, I can’t help but think Eric Singer though (and that’s not a slag). Cheers.

I don't think we stock it, but I see you can still special order color 316 Black Halo Glitter.

[Josh Conover]

Very nice Josh! That kit looks great!

Thank you so much!

I don't think we stock it, but I see you can still special order color 316 Black Halo Glitter.

I figured you'd still be able to special order this finish, at least for a few years, but I couldn't beat the price that DCP offered.

[Josh Conover]

Sweet rig.

Thanks!

What is there to say, a beautiful kit. Pearl shot themselves in the foot discontinuing that finish in the SSS line. Its like a Lamborghini look for Mondeo money!

Excellent job Josh! That hard work really paid off. It’s a really cool kit. It’s too bad Pearl discontinued that finish. Every time I see it, I can’t help but think Eric Singer though (and that’s not a slag). Cheers.

I'm sure Pearl had their reasons for discontinuing this finish but it really has to be seen in person to appreciate. It's even hard to capture in video.

[doomonyou]

Was the kit used?

[Josh Conover]

Was the kit used?

It certainly was. There is no way Pearl would have botched the hardware install like this. Also, Satin hardware hasn't been available since 2007. The previous owner must have had it on an older Masters series kit and swapped everything out.

I already had my own satin hardware that I had collected over the years so I ended up using the stuff I already had. Here are the pics from the DCP eBay ad.

[Josh Conover]

Here's a pic of where the 8" tom ended up.