UPDATE: So I finally had a chance to pop off the head on the snare drum. Pretty interesting situation inside.
First of all, the badge is nailed on. The nails go all the way through the shell. The t-rods/swivelnuts look to have the standard thread pattern, they aren't like the thinner metric thread pattern found on Star t-rods.
I popped a lug off while I was at it and was very impressed. The chrome on the interior of the lug was in fantastic, basically perfect, shape. This was especially surprising given that every metal part on the inside of the drum was completely covered in rust. The lug was made with a pretty substantial metal - much better than Star's pot metal, and possibly better than what Pearl used as well. This is making me re-consider my position that this set could have been made by Pearl.
The shell itself is a pretty thin 3 ply, but it doesn't look like the kind of luan found in early Pearl and Star drum interiors. The color of this interior is much lighter.
And, of course, the 'fix' for the very badly damaged edges - some kind of scrap metal reinforcement bars. I dont know if they actually work, but it was an interesting idea. I dont know if this damage was sustained by the drum having a great fall, ala Humpty Dumpty, or if it was the result of being over tensioned, but either way, I'm at a total loss on what to do about it. To be honest, my first notion was just to clean the thing up as well as I can and let it be a decoration. Then I momentarily considered stripping the parts, but that seems wrong. My feeling is that any attempt to repair the shell might not only be a failure, but damage it even further.
Interesting pics either way:
