I think a naked Premier set would make a fine addition to the featured drum sets on this site-show the world what you found.....and then see what the Premier people have to say about it.It would be a different matter if it was disclosed that these were not entirely wood construction.Ignorance is no excuse.And Premiers are not Staggs or Brand X from Indonesia.They are not $199.What would happen if Ludwig did this?

You can thank Yamaha for that! Premier never recovered from the damage Yamaha did. Premier had to cut corners so deep just to keep it going it couldn't get back into the saddle.

Yes, keep the hardware. Get Keller shells to replace.

[quote=JRichard;65619]You can thank Yamaha for that! Premier never recovered from the damage Yamaha did. Premier had to cut corners so deep just to keep it going it couldn't get back into the saddle.

Please don't take this wrong, but how could Yamaha have "caused so much damage they couldn't get back in the saddle"? I am not trying to start an argument, but Yamaha builds quality musical equipment, and I have never known them do less than an admirable job. What, specifically, could they have done to kill off an entire company? Are you sure there was not just **** poor managment, as is usually the case with most companies that go broke? If you can't fix a broken pipe, you call a plumber, not a bricklayer, so they say...in the business world, if you make a mistake and it costs you money, you either fix the mistake or continue to bleed cash

The Japanese have hurt many manufacturers over the years. back in the 80's the big 3 u s auto makers were makin throw away cars. they were low quality cheap made cars. Well Toyota, honda, nissan started raising thier quility and started selling like hotcakes. Consiquently the us auto makers lost a considerable market share and never have recovered, eventhough they have improved thier quility immensly, they never got back on top. Toyota is the worlds #1 automaker now despite all thier issues recently. I personally prefer Gm, but there's millions of americans who prefer japanese. A lot of the us drum companies have thier drums made in tiawan and china now. It''s all about the might buck, not about quality anymore. What ever happened to MG cars?

I understand all too well what has happened, over and over again, to American Institutions, yet we as American fault the Japanese for "killing" our auto business....NO, they did not kill it, the Americans shot themselves in the foot by building crap. I don't care how you stack it up, I will only buy something that is a value. There is a difference, when you are talking price and quality and value. For $20,000, I am not going to buy a car that is a throw away, when for that same hard earned money, I can buy a quality built vehicle, that is built here, by American workers (2004 Nissan Titan), and will outlast its' counterpart, with fewer mechanical problems.

I disagree about your titan outlasting my GMC. Gm has upped thier quality since the 80's furthermore my 2003 GMC will smoke that nissan in a drag race! lol and my 2000 corvette will run off and leave anything nissan has or toyota or honda has ever had! My gmc has 120,000 mile so far and has never gave one single problem. I get customers come in to my shop that have a GM truck with 250,000 miles on it. It aint the 80's anymore. Too bad GM didnt wake up sooner though.

The Titan and Tundra are both dam good trucks, but so Is my GMC.

Seems to me they are xpk? or apk? whichever were the wrapped ones and i notice the black painted inner shells. I had 2 of these kits before with the funky wrap and i thought they were great sounding drums for an intermediate kit.

I cant believe they were made out of that material but obviously they were.

I thought they were birch/eucalyptus shells.

Have you removed the wrap from the other drums? I find it very hard to beleive the FT is a Premier. Premier did a composite laminate/wood series at one point but it was not like what's in the picture. Plus the wrap was glued at the seam, Premier usually glues down the entire wrap.

The Yamaha issue. At the time Yamaha was not a major player in world wide drum building and had no distribution. Premier was up for grabs, so they got a foot in the door, used Premier's markets and distro to push the Yamaha lines and let the infrustucture of Premier die. Once Yamaha became a player in the market, they cut Premier loose, leaving it in ruins.

Just like any good American company would do, so the point of the "Yamaha killed Premier" arguement is not a valid one. If Gretsch, or Ludwig, Rogers, hell, CBS had done that, it would be nothing more than a "casualty of war, or business", and this statement would never had been made. So it is OK for American business engage in this practice, but not a Japapnese company? It is nothing but pure business, and to the victor go the spoils. Nothing more, nothing less. That, gentlemen, is called capitalism, and it is what this country is built on.