Hi njphil3!

To answer your question about resale...sure...you can always resell. The better question is, will you see a profit? I would say, probably not. Unless you're getting the kit for next to nothing, it could very well cost you more in any parts, heads, etc, than what you can get back on the kit. Many of us here on the forum face this issue all the time. As for myself, I refurb kits many times just for the "therapeutic" value and usually take a loss when selling. It's more for the love of doing it than for making money. I do get lucky on a few occasions when I do make money on a kit.

Remember, many of these "stencil" MIJ kits don't have too much monetary value attached to them. There are exceptions, of course. Just make an informed decision and decide for yourself.

Mark

Agreed. Not sure what youre paying for the set or what condition its in, but the MIJ sets generally sell for anywhere between $80 - $250. The really rare wraps (not WMP) get the most $$$ because sometimes, an MIJ is the only place you can get that color.

The Blue and Red Sparkle sets go for around $100 most of the time. You can fix up an MIJ to sound good, but they really arent Gig sets, they cant take the abuse.

excellent advice...thank you!

This is very hard to answer without pics and price that you need to pay to get them. Condition and costs related to heads and such to get it to a good playable condition satisfactory to you - all are pertinent here.

Most of the time, MIJ kits are GREAT - if you know what to look for, how to tune them, condition of the edges/true-ness of the shells, and are looking for a kit to play and keep. Resale is usually not a way to 'profit' on them, but you can 'gain' a very enjoyable kit.

The bit about whether or not they are gig worthy - depends on the kit. There is great variability in the MIJ world, and much in this issue is subjective. Next, it this a kit that is worthy of originality (stock condition/parts) or is it one you would be swapping out parts on to improve the quality (and durability) of the hardware? "Frankenstein kits" and 'Custom Mod" are not just labels for wrap color.

WMP is common, Tempro is common as well - made by Pearl I believe - my guess early 70s - and possible to have the 'Battleship" style lugs.....how's my guessing so far?

Hmmm.....I really dont think I'd agree with the statement that most of the time MIJ sets are Great. ...in fact, I'd say its the opposite......that most of the time MIJ sets are junky, its once in awhile you find a good one with good shells.

might have to perform a blind test here. In my experience you can get MIJ kits sounding pretty great. I even bought a 90s MIT kids kit (20/12/14+sn) the other day (for a kid) for $15. Fitted useable used heads and it sound perfectly playable and I'd have gigged with it if needed. OK, the snare sounded terrible.

Now if I could just get my Trixon Telstar kit to sound anywhere near as good I'd be happy.

Fay: Whats wrong with your Telstar? My 1965 Trixon Telstar sounds great. Sure the bass drum isnt a real thumper, but the snare sounds super and the toms sound awesome. Is it the heads youre using?

Maybe it's the early model kits with the odd sizes. The 16" end is a tight fit and requires an Aquarian to fit and the 20" end is undersized. The bass drum is dead (maybe the pratt muffler needs to come out) and the 16/20 FT just wont tune up and resonate like it should. The 13/14 is average at best. I've spoken with others, including a real drum guru here that played them in the 60s and still has 2 sets now. He says they sounded good with calf back in the day but he has trouble dialing in a decent sound with modern heads. They are a cool looking oddity but pretty much every other drum I own sounds better.

Lucky for me, I haven't met an MIJ I didn't like. Sets, orphans...tons of love for that stuff here. They don't typically have the tuning range of higher end kits, but when you find their zone they can be great (and plenty gig worthy!).