SCORE!! Well done. That is a proper time capsule and a really nice kit to play as well. Out of interest, is there any branding on the cymbals?

Thanks Fayray! I am amazed at how original this set is...I mean everything.

I looked at the cymbals - the only thing I saw on the ride was a simple "Japan" stamp on the underside near the hole, and on the hats I was surprised to see "Stewart" stamped (and I think "Japan" was on there too but I forget - I'm still at work, will check later). By the way I think the ride is 19" but forgot to measure - I'll do this later as well.

Talk about a closet classic - no holes, original cymbals, original heads top & bottom, snare stand, hi-hat stand, pedal, bass drum cymbal stand, small rubber block to lay inside bass drum hoop for pedal to grip, and even the two original wrenches for the rail consolette and tuning. The bass and snare have re-rings; haven't opened the toms yet. Chrome has some minor pitting and needs a little cleaning but would shine up real well. All original rods too, though I noticed one T-rod on the bass drum is slightly bent, but still works fine. Also one of the bass drum legs is missing it's rubber tip, but that's about it.

If you have any suggestions on how to clean the chrome (0000 steel wool?) and shell wraps it would be appreciated!

have a bit of a search of this site - there's tons of info. Many suggest soaking the metal parts in dawn dish soap overnight and then use a good metal polish. I can't get Dawn here so haven't tried it. If the tension rods are a bit rusty then you can soak them in white vinegar over night. This works well. Don't use steel wool as it will leave fine scratching and cause the finish to go dull.

I use Novus No.2 on the wrap. Remove all the lugs etc and wipe down the wrap with warm water to remove old dust and grunge etc, then simply polish with with Novus 2 and buff. I finish by applying a good auto wax.

Your kit won't need much by the looks of it. If you do the above, or similar, you'll have a late 60s kit that looks new...for $400.

Here are my two Yamaha kits

That ride is a great score. Some don't like them, but some (like myself) really dig them....and I'm not even a big jazz guy. Don't use them too much, but really dig them when I do.

What size is it? The 22s sound considerably better than the 20s (IMHO).

John

Nice Golden Dragon kit. It is very cool to verify the hardware on these C series kits. I have the same kit and have owned a few others... Nice to see the floor tom legs have no knurling. I have the smooth type also and figured they were original. I have seen so many different legs show up on old Thunder wrap kits that you have to question everything.

I see you have the model with re-rings. I suspect that if there are any stamps inside the drums they are numbers only? no letters? (The Thunder series kits without re-rings have the letter C- before the model number) Just trying to confirm a theory... that's all.

As far as cleaning up the hardware... we restore many drums at the shop where I work. We soak everything in a degreaser straight up (such as greased lightning) Just fill a big tub and put everything in... let it soak for a day or two and you will be amazed at the results. Saves a lot of work. Just take em out and wipe em down. They will look like new.

Many thanks for sharing the photos... enjoy your drums.

Sweet kits Fayray! Thanks for the cleaning tips too, I'll let you know how it goes.

Drummerjohn333, I just remeasured and the ride is actually 18" in diameter, and I agree, it sounds pretty good. The hats truly are 10" in diameter, smallest I've ever seen! And again, pretty decent sound.

nashdrum, very good call on simply having numbers inside, I wondered about that. I've only opened the bass drum so far, and found four numbers...I think it was 1111, but it could also be 7777 - kinda hard to tell so I'll have to check on this again, but interesting that you knew about them possibly having numbers instead of letters. Thanks also for the hardware cleaning tip, the less work the better so I'll definitely have to grab some Greased Lightning.

This looks like yours... don't know the year of the catalog tho.

The first photo is from a C series tom with re-rings (number only)... the second photo is from a tom that has no re-rings. (letter with model number) At some point in the future could you post the serial numbers here? (no hurry) I would like to save for future reference. Thx!

Bingo! This is exactly what I have, almost to a "T", even including the bass drum muffler strap. Very cool, thanks for finding that! "Carefully crafted under rigid quality control" - you're darn right about that. I can't believe how nice the finish was on the inside of the bass drum, as are the rest of the drums and hardware.

So, I was thinking once I have all the heads off to clean the drums, and when I put everything back together, that I should save the heads and put new ones on. Or should I play the old ones? I'm concerned that they might tear seeing that they're so old. Not sure how to approach this (I'm kind of a vintage drum newbie if you couldn't already tell ;) )

Thanks again all.

You got it nashdrum - as soon as I have time to get all the heads off (hopefully this weekend) I will surely post the serial numbers. Thanks again for educating me on these drums.

Keith