The kit was delivered yesterday and I cannot be more pleased. They are 100% the Phenolic drum shells. Wonderful tone even with the awful heads that are on them. The bass drum heads are so bad I cannot get a gauge on that yet, but the rest of the kit (especially the floor tom and snare) sound amazing. I cannot wait to re-skin these with coated ambassadors and hear them sing (roar). The only flaw I noticed is that the wrap on the bass drum seems to have bunched up around several of the lugs. It seems like an original wrap but I really don't know how to tell as the badges are nailed in and the vent holes are held in place by bendable metal pieces (kind of like a clip) on the inside of the shell. The wrap on the other drums is great and even the bass drum is not noticeable unless you are right on top of it. This kit is really a mystery as it clearly has the lugs and shells of the President series but does not have the name president anywhere on the drums. Awesome kit, great price. I never thought I would get excited about an early Pearl kit.

The drums are re-skinned and sound amazing. Loud, crisp and more pronounced than my 1970 Ludwig Super Classics. The shells are amazing. I cannot be happier with this purchase. The snare is amazing as well. Best $$$$ I have spent as it pertains to sound.

Those are killer drums..............LUCKY!!!!!!!

I had the same wrap issue with a similar vintage Pearl wood fibre kit.. Happened after a morning left in the car... Keep them away from excess heat.. Nice kit and I like that wrap.. Tuned many of those phenolic shells whilst setting up new showroom stock and they are easier to tune than a wooden shell..

Are your hoops phenolic too? ( I never liked the ring in the Pearl metal hoops ).

Cheers

John

Great score!

Creighton

Glad to hear it. The particular "aqua" blue sparkle on those is one of my favourites.

Congrats!

Mitch

Yes, the hoops are not wood or metal so I guess they are phenolic.

Yep, that's what they are. That's a photo of my drum.

Wow, I have the exact same set, light blue glitter finish, wrap bunched up behind the lugs a bit too. Samesies! The expert at Pearl had nothing on that badge. He admitted they appeared to be standard early Presidents (true), but could not say for sure that it was a Pearl badge (it is). The chromed pot metal construction with flat black paint in the reliefs is standard Pearl of the era.

Killer drums set, just awesome. I have coated Ambassadors on mine with Gretsch diecast hoops all around. It handily out-Gretsches all the Gretsch sets I've had. Wonderful tone and actual dimensional correctness, ie: round is really round, flat is really flat, etc (*cough, 3 ply Ludwig, ahem*).

Now...sell me yours! Keep the snare and I will go 22/22/13/13/16/16. These shells can do size doubles with great ease. I have extra 13 and 16 toms now that don't match cosmetically, but tuning the 13s together and the 16s together is effortless because there are no dead spots (*cough, Ludwig again, ahem*). Through the range they sing in full voice. Honestly, the best Pearl drums I've ever played.

Best guess is they are 66 or so, an early badge design that didn't make it. Otherwise, it's regular early phenolic President. The President line is said to have debuted in 1966, however they don't appear in catalogues until 1967. In '66 they also moved into a new factory, so my guess is that between launching their first truly pro quality line and moving production to a new facility, Pearl likely didn't get much promotion into the initial '66 launch. The big push came in '67. My guess is these are the first run Presidents with an early badge that was changed by the time they went to market with literature in '67. Makes sense to me anyways. Pearl says they have no clue and I believe them.

How cool is that. They really do sound incredible. It would be hard for me to sell them though. Thanks