If you want to see a pic of the drum its my profile pic!

I owned a Whitehall Snare many years ago and they were Japanese imports from the 60's. Check the internal shell ply grain. If it is running up and down then it is for sure.

Unfortunately they do not have a high value like their American counterparts. They were made to sell for less. To do that of course besides cheap labor they used inferior materials.

Interestingly enough a lot of drummers parents were able to afford them so that generation is more likely to buy the drums. There is always something about having your first drum set.

On a good day a set like that should sell for between $100 and $200 if in excellent condition with the matching snare. Sometimes if it is a strange finish they can sell for more. I might have seen a set sell for $400 at one time, but it was a very strange finish and had all of the drums.

I hope that helps

David

Webmaster

Hey John.

I have a relatively complete Whitehall kit (bass, two rack toms, floor tom, original hardware) which my parents bought for me in 1976 (when I was still in high school) from Gillett's Home Entertainment Center in Michigan. It is the only kit I have ever owned and it's still going strong; still looks great and sounds better than ever. It has served me well through half-a-dozen different bands, including my two current ones.

It has a beautiful gold pearl finish and, besides a few nicks and scratches, is in great shape considering it's age and the abuse it has taken being dragged around to hundreds of gigs over the years. It looks so nice, in fact, that I have had other drummers offer to buy it from me on the spot. One of the offers was for $500, probably more than it's worth on paper, but not enough for me to part with my old, reliable friend.

Some history: Whitehall Drums were imported during the late 60s by David Wexler & Company of Chicago. They were made in Japan by Pearl and very much resembled Slingerland drums, especially the lugs and pseudo Stick Saver hoops. The drums came in red sparkle, blue sparkle, white marine, gold pearl. A later model, the W-500, came in jet black, wine red, and forest green.

The original specs were:

Snare drum - 6 1/2 x 14" - chrome - 16 lugs

Rack toms - 9 x 12" and 10 x 13" - 10 lugs

Floor tom - 16 x 16" - 10 lugs

Bass drum - 14 x 22" - 16 lugs

Double tom mount with tom arms - 7/8" diameter tubing

Snare stand - double braced

Cymbal stand - double braced

High hat stand - double braced

Bass drum pedal - double spring

Spurs are retractable

Drumheads - black front bass drum - all others clear

Deluxe padded drum throne - double braced

Set includes 16" cymbal and a pair of 14" high-hat cymbals

Obviously, I've had to replace many parts over the years (cymbal stands, heads, pedals, etc.) but to this day it plays and sounds as good as any kit I've heard.

one of my japan kits has a 13"x8" blue sparkle Whitehall tom with re-enforcement rings top, bottom and middle. I know from the lugs it's a '60s Slingerland copy. it's a luan shell, but I think it sounds great! Pearl, Star/Hoshino/Tama or whatever, it rocks!

Whitehall was ALWAYS a Pearl stencil. The name died out then they revived it for a short time in the 70s.

I have been using a Whitehall 14x14 blue sparkle floor tom for about 6 years now as an add on to a 3 piece Roxy jazz(14 x5,10x8,20x13) setup. It matches the others fairly well,but the Roxy lugs are different. has a grey painted interior on a thick shell(probably luan) and came with triple flanged hoops(which I replaced with sticksavers)----16 lugs, which vibrate loose about every 2 years. Pretty good drum. I paid 49.00 for it 6 years ago on ebay.(U.S.)-----has an internal muffler,which I like. The brand was never here in Canada. We had mostly Stewart,Coronet and Silvertone. Pearl arrived sometime in the 60's. I did once see a very old kit that emerged from a barn, complete with bongos, that reportedly came from the 50's, badged Pyramid in a pyramid shape .Had exactly the same lugs (slingerland knockoffs), like Whitehall,Stewart,Silvertone.

This is a post 67 drum. They both (Pearl and Star) went to the thicker 6 and 9 ply shells at virtually the same time. The shells for most kits after this time were the 6 and 9, but there are some 3 ply shells from some of the "special" kits after this period. I have seen some of these and they are, for the most part, nicer than the thicker variety. Now, in the Taiwan days, there are a ton of those thin snares and most are really bad. For some reason the 3 ply shells from Taiwan are nowhere near the quality of the earlier Japanese 3 ply stuff. Star, for instance, made a stencil line for St Louis Music called "Majestic" and they offered two lines, believe it or not, one called "Semi-Pro" and they are 3 ply w/re-rings. The main line, the "Deluxe", are the thicker ones. The Semi-Pro line have some wonderfully deep and resonant tones.

Whitehall wasn't always a Pearl Stencil.

Mouse

Mouse, did Whitehall ever have one of the black oval "World's Supreme Quality" badges?