Hi Biggun, well, first question to ask is are you sure of the year(s), is it actually a Pearl badged kit, and if so, are you sure of the type/ply rating of the shells? If it is a true early Pearl kit in good to great condition, it has some value to it. If it has a funky wrap, it is even more desirable to someone. In general, these old Japanese kits are not worth a ton of money. Some of us get a kick out of rescuing and restoring these older 60-70 stencil and original kits, but for the most part, well, they a good to learn on. Could you post some pics?

There wasn't a specific set, just was wondering what the overall opinion was. I grew up playing a 60's stencil kit and wish I had it back. But I was wondering more about some of the true Pearl kits from maybe 1975 to late 70's- like ones with the silver or black rectangular badges. I remember wanting one when I was younger, but I've never played on one before. I see some of these from time to time on ebay/craiglist and just wanted to get an overall idea what they are about.

I guess I'm asking about sets like these...

Well, here is my take on most Japanese drums from that era. The Pearls I have have seen from that era have rather chintzy/thinnish hardware that seemed to strip out rather easily. The shells were a mixed bag of 3-6-9 ply, luan or any combination of these (or fiberglass, which I haven't seen much of recently). And, some were just straight luan, like the Maxwin series (which if the shells and edges are in really good condition and they are cheap, cheap grab them) Those for some reason if tweaked with good heads and tuning sound great for the money. I am not sure they are worth too much, you should be able to pick up a set really cheaply. If you'll pay close attention, they are not really popular, I don't see many around. The wrap was taped for the most part as well.

So you have cheapish hardware, although some is very innovative and very sturdy, poor quality wrap with poor installation and who knows what type of shells. Like I said, this is purely my opinion,and others will likely have theirs as well.

Shop very carefully, choose a kit that is plywood, remove the sucky wrap and sand down the shells and refinish it in a nice stain and lacquer, make sure to address any hardware issues, and you could end up with decent drums for decent money. Or buy a set of Tama's from that era and be on your way.

:2Cents: :2Cents:

Those would be nice. Have you located a set of these? I'm not sure what the finish is, but it looks to be something akin to Cortex...

And those snares are badazz if you work on the tuning a bit. Look at my post "The other half of the score"It is one of the stencil run, my guess is 71-74, and it sounds like a much more desirable American made drum, and it looks like it came right out of the store to boot. Immaculate condition....

hardware is less than desirable. however ive had great luck getting these old pearl shells to sing. not garbage by any means and if it floats your boat thats all that matters. fiberglass wood ones are loud and focused. check it out arena rock sound.

No I haven't found a set of the ones in the pic, I just was using that as an example. But it does have that cortex look to it. I have seen a few mid 70's kit here and there, but have never really heard the good or bad of them so I haven't messed with them. Good to know about the hardware issues, drums aren't as much fun if you can't play them.

I think for the most part if I found any kit with funky cool wrap, decent condition/complete for cheap, I would pick them up. You never know what fun you might get out of $100 -200 bucks.

[COLOR="DarkRed"]They neither s#ck nor are they anything to write home about. As John said, the wood/fiberglass combos were just made to be friggin' LOUD...much denser/harder interior shell surface with the fiberglass coating in there.

The all-fiberglass shells, although some folks try to talk 'em up as being rare...kinda suck. The shells are thin, the edges are bad, they just sound very flat. But the wood/fiber ones are at least thick shells with half-decent edges so they punch.

But, these were luan shells up until the late '70's, although one sees the occasional maple shell versions which were likely their top-shelf models.

Generally, for a 5-piece of these sorts, luan shelled whether fiberglass interior or not, they aren't worth much more than about $400-600....so the Q becomes, are there better kits for that money ?

I'd say the answer is: yes. Even the Gresch Catalinas, Pearl Forums, Tama Stagestars or Rockstars, etc. of today are better kits...the shells at least have some birch or maple in 'em and the edges are significantly better cut, IMHO....[/COLOR]

I located a 3 pc (22,16,13) wood fiberglass 70s kit for about 3 bills. It's an opal pearl wrap in good condition. Worth my time?