Love the Old VIntage Pearl Drums!!! My Vintage Collection!

[Dana]

Well my collection is finished, with the exception of the Crystal Beat and I don't thnk I want a vintage set of those! I wanted to share these sets with you. I remember that my first set was a Jazz/Rrock Pearl, and a 1976 vintage with the leathette covering and a COB snare. Well NOW I have 4 sets three COB's and one is a Jupiter, a free floater, a sonor 1 ply and a maple! So this thread shows myobsession or hobby or whatever, and I did screw for screw bolt for bolt and all te sanding and finisheing was done by me.

The sets will be in seperate "replies" in this thread. No need to muck up the forum, for a thread with pictures!
Four Sets: two maple shell kits, 1980-2, a Wood/FIiberglass shell kit, late 0's, a 1974-7 set, and a 1981 "Larrie Londin" extender Fiberglass shell kit.

[Dana]

The Maple Kit is my favorite and I have had this since the Middle 1980's, and went through 3 bands with it, and 7 years of bars! Bought the 5 piece original "Black badge" kit in 1985. Added MLX series 13 x 9and 22x14 bass drum in 1988 or so. Original kit was18 x 18 floor, 14 x 10 and 15 x 12 with a 24 x 14 bass drum. I added aout 3 years ago when I refinished the kit down to bare wood, a 16 x 16 maple floor and a 10 x 8 tom, old back badge maple shlls, ad addd a Maple shell "Session studio" series 12 x 8. I use it as a single setup now.

[Dana]

The second Maple kit

Middle 1980s Black Badge, and I posted pics here before. Itis a 24 x 16 massive bass drum, and toms go from 8 to 18 ( no 15 inch tom though) all in "Power To" dimensions. It s all Maple shells with the excepion of the 18 floor which is an old Export floor. I used thermo set adhesive on the Bubinga veneer. I also hand applied all 7 coats of lacquer. It is a beauiful set. I want to put evans G2 heads all aroud *** the Maples seem to like this.

[Dana]

The 1980 Larrie Londin "Extender Set". There were portotypes and I bought them of guy o Ebay. Then purchased a16 x 16 lor and a 22 x 14 bass drum. The Wrap was from Jammin' Sam's, and did not matche the Bass Drm and the original "Red Flash" which is a little more metallic looking than the Red wrap o today. So the toms are regular sizes from 12 to 15 on the rack toms, andthe floor and bass. Inside the Toms is a sharpie writting "For Larrie 1981". Stll have the extender inserts. Pics to fllow:

[Dana]

The last one! My Lovely Wood/Fiberglass

This is a FUN set to play, and the tuning is easy. Not as rich or deep tones andthe Maples, but I LOVE it. The same setup as the oter kits as well. With one exception, the 8 and 10 concerts are NOT pearl wood/ fibeglass but I did not care. I wantd the set to be done This one is unique ad the wrap is called Deep Marine Pearl, and it is a bluegreenish pealr. It is actually quite lovely looking, butI did wish it were more blue. The wrap is a one of and is hard to match. Normal sizes from 10-18 without a 15 inc. I believe this to be a 1974-77 vintage set.

[BadAstronaut]

Nice collection Dana! .. Thanks for sharing!

[3pearlkits]

[Healthie]

Dana these are awesome! Love that wood fiberglass kit- those are my favorite drums. Best combination of price, sound quality, and vintage swag.

[louse]

very solid collection. thank you for sharing!

[Euthymia]

Wow. Great kits.

My favorite is the deep marine pearl.

[VegasDrummer]

Dana, in your opinion, which sound better, the WOOD FIBERGLASS or the LAURIE LONDON ALL FIBERGLASS SHELLS?

[Dana]

Dana, in your opinion, which sound better, the WOOD FIBERGLASS or the LAURIE LONDON ALL FIBERGLASS SHELLS?

LOL. That "depends" on what you think "sounds better" means. I tune the drums to their resonance, and let the shells decide what the drum is going to sound like. Meaning, I do NOT tune the drums with loose flappy thick heads to get that "low" sound "without the overring" which is in fact to me "quite dead". That was a trick in the 80s and then and now I think it sounds like hitting a "cardboard box". I would rather dampen over ring, rather than not have the resonance to begin with, SO, ........

With that I love the Wood/Fiberglass. It has that projection, easy to tune and very forgiving in my experience in turning these as well, and the wood shell "warms it up a bit". The Londin kit is an exception to the fiberglass shells, for one reason, the bevel on the bearing edge is very different from normal fiberglass shells, because these were "extenders" which add spacers on the nutbox tension lugs of about 1/2 inch, and that allowed a 1 inch larger hoop to be used, giving thesea "timpani" type of tom sond. The bearing edge is therefore on these prototypes is more rounded, and centered on the cross section of the shell thicknes. You could probably talk with the Pearl guys that for more specifics. The result of me converting these back to normal drums, it the fiberglass shells are more "muted, but like fiberglass shells, some consider them "harsh", and they are LOUD!!!!! Ringy, yet muted overtones.

With these unique kits, I LOVE the wood/fiberglas kit and the sound. I remember when I bought my leatherete "jazz/rock", in 1976, I wanted to get the wood/fiberglass then. I have always liked that sound and I play hard rock and it lends well to that and to today's country, new country, red dirt music, and of course hard rock as well.

I still love the maple shell kits most of all! Long way around the barn, but there you have it.

[Dana]

BTW I used to like pinstrips on everything, now I am a fan of the Evans G series.

[einspritzung]

Dana these are awesome! Love that wood fiberglass kit- those are my favorite drums. Best combination of price, sound quality, and vintage swag.

Was thinking about this post when I ran into the '86 GAX (only one of 3 in the US per seller. eBay item # 181564836992).
Interesting info I didn't know about these kits.

[wsgnst]

Was thinking about this post when I ran into the '86 GAX (only one of 3 in the US per seller. eBay item # 181564836992). Interesting info I didn't know about these kits.

The 1986 GAX is awesome! Everyone should check it out.