Hello Jimmy
Just when one feels they have a handle on what's what and who's who?
with these MIJ kits out of nowhere you will be thrown a curveball that leaves you scratching your head??
This is the first time I have seen that hardware of yours
(lugs, cymbal mount, tom mounting plate, bass drum T rods,ect ect) On a drum kit wearing Norma badges.
That particular combination is very seldom seen
and most times when a kit so appointed shows up they have either a Zim Gar or Recco badge on them.
Mine in the 1st pic here are Zim Gar badged
Even the badges I am speaking of,
are unique to just these particular kits
They are not any of the usual badges you would normally see on Zim Gar kits (there were four or five) as all the known makers depending on the timeline have had their own turn with Zim Gar badged drums)
So I have only seen these uncommon badges with that same uncommon build config of ours
But as I said, never before have I seen Norma badges on such a special edition kit only the Recco and Zim Gar until now.
What I think is the case with your drums is that the bass and toms went out together from the factory , but the snare drum though it is red sparkle and badged Norma is possibly a replacement that was added later. I think that for two reasons
A. the snare drum hardware does not match the rest of the kit, but at the same time,
It would be the least obvious a mis-match when compared with any of the other commonly seen Norma badged snare drums in terms of the lug style.
and the drum itself is completely different than the snare drum that would normally come with one of these rare bird kits.
the 2nd and 3rd pics show the snare that should be with the kit.
And of all the MIJ snare drums I have collected it is pretty unique looking
and for this reason it could have been held back from being sold with the rest by some previous owner
The strainer looks very Roger's clock face inspired and the lugs almost look like Tama
also the hoops are taller than any of my other mij snares,
And B. while your snare drum hardware does not match with the rest of "your" kit
it does exactly match with hardware on my center lug kit described in my earlier post and re-posted here (4th pic)
.
Now on the floor tom I do see a difference between yours and mine
mine having sort of a older Kent or Leedy style leg brackets pic.5
while yours more closely matches the cymbal arm bracket on the bass drum. which does match with the one on mine.
So Jimmy nothing with these MIJs is chiseled in solid stone.
As to my comment regarding the build quality being flimsy I was speaking strictly of my center lug kit again in pic 4
Your drums are beautiful and pretty darned unique
Congrats and ENJOY!!....Kenwood
