Well, this is a Japanese Import brand. I get these questions a lot on the main web site. Mainly because the Japanese were importing drums under at least 30 different names.

Mainly companies like we know now as Pearl and Tama were a big part of it.

Here is the page to the Japanese Badges

http://www.vintagesnaredrums.com/japanese_badges.html

It sounds like your set has been upgraded on the hoops since Japanese imports had cheap hardware. With that said most of the time they were copying American drum companies to take part of the market in the 60's and 70's. Hence the strainer similarity you mentioned.

I'm sure they sold tons of drums since many people could not afford a new set of Slingerlands or Ludwigs etc...

The wood grain on the shells interior should run up and down. Unless these might be a newer version or better shells.

David

Webmaster

These drums were even worse than US Mercury{***-import}.

I know of NO endorsers, they were basicly BOTTOM OF THE BARREL,

If your folks could NOT afford a descent student level drum set THIS IS WHAT YOU GOT !!

Sorry to say, they are basicly worthless !flower Toilet Toilet

//

Were these japanese import drums imported in the US by american dealers?

Does import always means low budget?

As for the quality of hardware, it seems time has changed. Most american drum companies don't use any american made hardware anymore on their drums. All of the hardware is Taiwan made and of lower quality as on japanese drums. Japanese companies are always in developement and invent genious hardware systems while american companies often stay old-fashioned at this point.

Lots of good questions and Yes, I would imagine American stores

would order through their normal music distributor. The distributor

was probably responsible for ordering from overseas.

That is a good question and I can only speculate.

Back in the 60's I think Import did mean low quality. I have a little article on the web site from a Pearl employee. He discusses the word "Export" and how it applied to the drums that they were making at that time in the 80's.

Click Here

I have always been impressed with Yamaha and Tama hardware and the inventions they had in hardware.

Early on the overseas companies were copying American drums and when they realized that quality was important they started creating there own patents and unique hardware.

I is much cheaper for current companies to use hardware that is from overseas then make their own stuff.

We do see a trend for simpler lighter hardware in the industry and the day of the 80's and 90's double braced heavy duty stands is taking a back seat.

I'm sure others in the business can shed more light on this topic.

David

Thank you for responding.

Tama and Yamaha indeed do a lot of good inventions. Also Pearl is a leader on that field. I own a Pearl Masters Mahogany Classic jazz set wich is wonderfull. I also have a Gretsch renown maple jazz set. Both sounding great, but the Pearl hardware works better. I visited the Gretsch website and discovered that they recently made some upgrades on hardware.

It's a pitty that almost all of the hardware isn't made of real metal (iron?) anymore but of an alloy called "zamac" wich is not so durable and the layer of chrome is less thick and less beautifull put on.

I've heard (and this is only hearsay) that Zim-Gar were basically Tama, before they started using the Tama name. As stated, it's likely that they (early Tama) were making drums under many names. My first kit was a Cortley. Although it was a low-end/low-price import, they seem to be fairly decent quality as they have lasted over 20 years and are still in use to this day (by my nephew).

First off here is a list of many if not all of the 60's stencil kits.

Pearl and Tama 60's distributors and stencil brands:

Apollo

Artist

Asama

Bolero

Barclay

BlacKJack Deluxe

Bradley

CB-700

Champion

Coronet

Crest

Crestline

Crown

Decca

DelRay

Dixie

Dixon

Drum Trio

DrumMate

Edgeware

Emperado

Gamble

Goldtone

Heit

HyLo

Ideal

Kingston

LaBoz

Lido

Lyra

Magnum

Majestic

Matador

Maxitone

Maxwin

Mayfair

Mica Norma

Olympian

Paramount

Polaris

Prestige

Raven

Recco

Pro

Regent

Revelle

Revere

Roxy ? (may be German)

RoyalStar

Penncrest

Saturn

Sound

Star

Starlight

Stewart

St. George

Stetson

Telestar

Tempro

Toreador

Truetone

Trump

UltraTone

U.S. Mercury

Vibra

Weltron

Werco

Westwood

Whitehall

Winston

ZimGar

I actually enjoy and collect kits of this nature. While no they are not " the best " of the best...they do have meaning to me..and they are a part of drum history. Would you actually believe that CB ( under Kamam ) made the Free-Floating snare first and sold it to Pearl? They did.I wouldn't say these drums are worthless. More and more people are buying them since they are being tossed away,mega-modified with holes,and being cut,etc...And honestly comparing the 60's - 70's stencil kits to kits of this type made these days. The older kits are better. They generally had the right number of lugs on all drums and had some care invested in them. These days there are kits with 8 lugs on a 13" tom..10 on the 16" floor tom and maybe 12 on a 22" bass drum. And the drums are made from ply-wood. A friend of mine a few years back gave me his groove percussion kit as he was gonna just throw it out but figured maybe I could use parts or do whatever with it. I had to drill new holes for all the lugs and buy all new ones as the ones on the kit would snap when you would tune the drum.And all I kept thinking was my U.S.Mercury,Tempro,etc...never gave me this grief,nor anyone else.But to re-cap no their not great kits and not top of the line. But with good heads,good bearing edges and proper tuning they sound really good.

Nice list. I have been working on collecting images for badges for many years so if you take a look at my badges you might see a few you do not have. If you have badge images please send them and I can add them to the web site.

Here is a link to the main badge page. Click on the Apollo badge.

I will keep you list on file for the badge page, since so many people ask questions about Japanese sets and what they are worth etc..

David

webmaster

[EMAIL="vsd@vintagesnaredrums.com"]vsd@vintagesnaredrums.com[/EMAIL]

The only badges I have are from my Tempro and U.S.Mercury kits. The tempro badge you have pictured already but i'll definatly take a pic of the U.S.mercury badge for you.Most of my kits are badgeless.But sometimes Misc drums can yield a hidden treasure. A few years back I bought a 60's used 3 piece kit. 20" bass,14" floor tom,and a 12" tom. I had no idea what make they were and got the set for $40...so it was a good deal either way.After some research...and severe ebay looking I determined its a 60's Yamaha kit. I found out by the lug design as they were very odd sized and odd looking.In the few years I have onwed the kit I have seen maybe two listed on ebay and know one person who owns one.They are rare to the point where the Yamaha head-quarters in Cali doesn't even have a kit for display,lol. I noticed one on here and would love to pay the $400 for it ( well worth it ) but alas I don't have room for kit 16....as it is...I'm gonna have a hard time finding a place for my 06' Peace endorsement kit which is gonna be a 12 piece,lol.