All the drums from the lower line Premiers of this period had cardboard as an outside ply. I have a 20" blue bass drum that is the same. Their idea didn't work. APK's?

Love the Flame.

Is it cardboard on outer ply?

Hello teverson-sr and green glass drum

Thank you fellas for responding

It is very likely as you say teverson-sr

The section of exposed outer ply where the wrap is missing

did not appear to have much grain to it now that you mention it.

It never occurred to me that there was anything other than some inexpensive wood underneath

It seems hard to believe as the hardware and all seems a few cuts way above the usual low end

green glass drum ...The only reason I even went for a look was because of the cool color

I almost walked when I saw the damaged wrap on the bass

but gave a half hearted hundred dollar offer for them

the seller jumped right on it with no hesitation so I just could not leave them behind

It was all I could do to fit all them drums each in it's own hard case into my 04 Sentra

From what I read they used MDF on some of the drums which is not quite cardboard

I had some Remo Quadura shells hanging around now those babies were actual cardboard

I read also, that the kits with MDF were painted black on the inside

Next time I am at the space ..I will check on that

Hi Kenwood!

Cool kit! Yes, it is the APK line. I believe the color was called Marmalade Satin Flame, which was offered for only one year, 1997, for the Premier's 75th Anniversary. Other satin flame wraps were also offered. The shells are a combination of Eucalyptus and Merranti. I don't believe any MDF, or cardboard, was used! The shell interiors should be painted black.

Precision Drum still offers Marmalade Satin Flame. Give them a call and request a sample!

-Mark

These '97 Anni APK's should be fine and will be eucalytus/meranti as said, the first run small APK's in late 95/96 did have MDF outer veneers under the wrap which breaks down over time.

All APK's were black painted inners, purely to hide the unsightly meranti.

I'm intrigued by the lengths drum companies would go to to use crap where existing products worked just fine. Let's see now, I could save the company .01 cent if I made cymbal stands out of aluminum-foil covered PVC pipes...Even the idea that a paper-based substrate would hold up to hot-cold-damp-dry is pretty obvious.

I stopped by the shop earlier and had a better look under the wrap

They do indeed, appear to have the MDF as the outer ply

I took a filthy, dusty, petrified pillow out of the drum

To reveal the black painted interior

I will say this, the MDF so far as I can tell, does not look to be broken down at all

It could be, that since the previous owner kept them in cases that the drums were not exposed to as much moisture

as would otherwise be the case, had they just been left hanging around uncovered. in some garage or basement

I wonder if by being in the cases for so long

if that could have had something to do with the wrap splitting apart as bad as it has also?

as I mentioned, the splitting is only on the bass drum so ....I dunno?

Hello Mark and thanks for the reply

Marmalade Satin Flame a very accurate description for sure

I think I like the drums even more with the MDF

since A. I got them nice and cheap

And B. according to Duke's info, they are a part of a limited run that pre-dates the 75th anniversary editions

which were of the Eucalyptus and Merranti construction you mentioned.

The 75th series being sort of rare in of themselves, having been produced only for that one year.

and C. that the apparent Achilles heel of this particular kit is the failure of the MDF over a time

which fortunately does not seem to be the case with this kit .......I have to fix this bass drum

Hello Duke,

Thank you kindly for the reply and the info including that catalog page

as I mentioned to Mark these seem to fall into that 95/96 batch you mentioned.

Hello teverson-sr It does not make sense to me either pal

I mean the chrome hardware seems so sturdy and well made why half step on the actual shells ?

Hey Kenwood,

The MDF was obviously used into '97 as the kit you have IS a '97 Anniversary limited edition wrap.

The black painted inner is the meanti, I have my theories as to why they had the mdf veneer between the eucalyptus and the wrap on these small lug APK's but its just a theory I probably can't prove!

WHAT IS YOUR THEORY? Is Eucalyptus a "greasy" wood like Teak and unable to take glue well? The world wants to know! At least I want to know...