jazzbo,
I think you are right about there being only so much you can do with a drum anymore. The options have kind of been exhausted. That's also one of the reasons why I like vintage Ludwig drums. Ludwig, in many instances found "the" way to make drums. They tied all the style appointments together, for one thing. Two other examples of "perfection" would be the Acrolite and the Supra, in my opinion. What could anyone do to a drum to improve on those two designs? I can't find a thing. Like all things related to drums, it's all subjective.
As nice as some Pearls and Tamas and Yamahas are, they just don't make me feel the same way when I play them as I feel when I play a vintage American kit.
Maybe it's that some musical instruments are magical and made by the magical people who used to do things by hand in the old factories with antiquated-yet-magical equipment. Maybe that's it. Who knows? Maybe the crooked and lumpy drums are still magical. Maybe that extra hole under your tom mount was made by a real human who was capable of making human mistakes and then doing a very human job of covering it up by sweeping it under the rug. Maybe that hole happened during a time when these objects were not considered as important as they have now become. After all, people back then used to often take the bottom rims off and nest drums inside one another and throw them into the back of the psychedelic painted van and set them up on damp outdoor fields and flatbed trailers. Things like QC in regards to drums wasn't the top priority -even in the minds of the people who played them. Drums were not thought of the way a fine violin would be thought of....or a Steinway piano would be thought of by a classical pianist. Drums, back then, were not coveted items among a vast field of collectors.
But, today, with the advent of drum collecting, people tend to scrutinize things they collect. They often want to try and have the finest example of things. It's only because of the way we have changed our own perception of these things do they now get noticed.
To be fair, many of the early Japanese "stencil" kits were P's OS with their splintering luan shells and slipping hardware. I owned a Tempro set for my first kit and so I can attest! In those days, even the lumpiest Ludwig was a million steps up from a Tempro!
But, as you say, the times have changed. What could be done to a drum HAS been done -many times over. And now, not much changes. A drum is a drum is a drum , for the most part. So where do we go since we can't go forward any further? Well, maybe we go back. Maybe that's where those quirky things can still be found -where the inexplicable and magical drums can be found. ?