Help: Wesper or Weasper, anyone? - Page 1

http://www.vistalites.com/other/wesper.htm

Other Acrylic Drums - Wesper

Another close relation to the Cardinal and Star lines, produced in the 1970's by Hoshino before they went on to make the Tama line of drums. Wesper seem to be structurally identical to all those others (I'm not typing those links again!) and were sold in Sweden. This kit, owned by Johan Adegran, carries the moniker "Luxor pro" on the bass drum head - not to be confused with the Luxor snare drum produced by Rogers.

This site from Sweden has small pic of a wood Wesper kit.

http://www.trumpeter.se/Equipment.htm

and a sweet blue Wesper kit..

http://www.vistalites.com/collection/tiger.htm

http://mg.hinet.nu/default.php?lang=0&ID=221

And a Swedish Blues Band that uses vintage Wesper drums...

http://web.telia.com/~u73101590/index2.html

My drum teacher has made it a point on several occasions to point out that there are no bad drums... just bad drummers.Violin

However....

Direct copy from.. http://georgesdrumshop.webpossystem.com/museum.asp

That site is a very good reference on Japanese Drums... here is a good section from that site that addresses your question:

Characteristics

Most 60's Japanese drum shells were made of Luan, a low grade mahogany used in making hollow core doors or similar wood, and were covered in sparkle, oyster pearl and satin flame sheet plastic finishes because the wood was not finish grade. Many beginner drums, like Pearl Exports and Forums, are still made of Luan today. As far as I have seen, the very early Japanese drums used a three ply shell with a thick one ply maple reinforcing ring at each edge and sometimes a third ring in the middle, mainly for reinforcing the thin shell. Some later sixties drums had thicker 6 and 9 ply shells and did not use reinforcing rings, and were usually painted silver-gray inside, copying Gretsch's silver interior paint. These thicker shells have a louder and more definite sound than the three ply shells. Metal (steel) snare drums were also manufactured. The Apollo Starfinder was a complete set made of chromed steel shells with Ludwig copy bowtie lugs.

The bearing edges (top and bottom edges of the shell) and snare beds (snare wire seating indentations cut in the bottom edge where the snare strings go across) were roughly cut at best, so a drastic improvement in the tone of snares, toms and basses as well as snare response and tone can be made by having the bearing edges and snare beds recut and "trued" by a pro. A friend of mine, Ben Jacoby, has used polyurethane to strengthen luan shell bearing edges for a more rigid surface, thus producing a better tone. The softness of this old low grade wood in the thinner shells is what causes these drums to not reach the loudness and projection of a maple or other premium hardwood or metal drum.

The hardware for both Pearl and Tama companies was almost identical in many models. The chrome plating used on 60's Japanese drums was usually low quality and there is usually a lot of rust and pitting found in drums that have been exposed to moisture. Stands and pedals were very lightweight, usually copies of Slingerland. I don't collect stands but will look for pieces if you commission me to do so. It's hard to find them in good working condition.

The metal hoops were usually copies of Slingerands "stick saver" hoops which were flanged inward at the top and Ludwig's triple flanged hoop which flanged outward at the top. I've run across many triple flanged hoops that were so out of shape that heads pop out of place. I suggest that you replace the top hoop on snare drums in particular with a Pearl super hoop.

The tension casings (lugs) were mostly copies of Slingerlands or Gretsches and for the most part were good looking cast pieces, though made of very light metal.. I have one Norma drum that has some strange lugs that look like distorted Rogers lugs. The Star drums also had some nice looking Sonor copy teardrop lugs. I know of one Apollo kit that had Ludwig bowtie type lugs.

Snare throwoffs and the butt plates were usually shaky at best. Copies of Slingerland Zoom-matic or Gretsch Micro-Sensitive throwoffs were the norm and usually didn't function well. Sometimes replacing the spring in these improves their ability to maintain tension. I suggest replacing the throw off with a modern unit using a adapter/jig so that you don't drill holes and destroy the future collectibility of the drum. Tone controls (mufflers) were usually copies of the Slingerland screw type.

Bass drum tom mounts were usually Slingerland and Ludwig type rail consolette affairs. There were also retractable single post tom mounts for both single and double toms. Bass drum mounted cymbal holders were usually Slingerland L-arm type two stage units. Bass drum spurs were usually retractable straight pieces of metal rod, with a round threaded cylindrical bracket that was attached to the bass drum through one hole with a hex nut on the inside. They weren't very sturdy.

The badges and colors were unique. The satin flames, Agates, tiger stripes and Tiger Eye (Root Beer) pearloids are the most unique and desireable. Many drums did not have badges.

Heads were the worst. It's hard to believe that I made my first plastic drumheads last for years. I have one late 50's Apollo set with original calfskin heads.

Collecting

These drums are just now starting to be collected (2001) and I'm afraid I'm the guy who has fueled the renewed interest in them. The proliferation of these drums on Ebay is evidence of their resurgence in popularity. The problem with collecting these drums is that they aren't really "player" drums like the old American drums like Slingerland, Ludwig, Rogers, Leedy, Gretsch, Camco, etc. which are usually bought for their sound. I tend to collect unusual badges, colors, wierd lugs and strainers, etc. I really like the bass drums and toms that have lugs on one side offset from the other side. Who thought of that?! :-) . There isn't a lot of documentation on these drums and I'm always looking for catalogs and flyers. A lot of these drums just simply don't have badges and were just sold by distributors as "no names". There are constant surprises. . One cool thing is that MINT condition doesn't really matter too much with these drums. It's OK to modify them, but get in touch with me before you start drilling, I know of existing hardware that will fit old holes. Please document them with a picture before you start modifying them.

Prices

A personal crusade of mine is tokeep the prices down on these drums. There simply is no reason to ask "collector " or "vintage" prices. Ebay has brought a lot of these out of storage so the supply is good. Don't pay too much and you won't have to sell for too much! They were cheap beginner drums to begin with and are nowhere as good as a modern beginner drum or set. They have no value as fine instruments, only as oddities. These are the prices that I am seeing these instruments go for on EBAy and in stores. Let's try to make it easy for each other to collect and enjoy these drums by not trying to make an exorbitant profit on them, OK?

Snare drums:

25.00 to 100.00 for a common model.

50.00 for a rare or unusual model.

Up to 250.00 for a completely refurbished good sounding rare model: new edges, new wrap covering, upgraded throw off, new heads and snares, chrome buffed out.

Tom toms: $30 to $75 depending on condition and rarity

Bass drums: $40 to $125 depending on condtion and rarity.

Sets: Depending on condition,

65.00 to 150.00 for a common three piece set without stands and cymbals,

100 to 250.00 for a common five piece.

150.00 to 300.00 for a common five piece with stands in working condition.

250.00 to 450.00 for an unusual model, color, hardware, badges, New Old Stock, Mint Condition, etc.

I have seen one Starfinder (see pic. at bottom of page) that I consider to be worth the 700.00 that the seller was asking. I have seen a three piece maple shell (rare) set that I thought was worth the 450.00 price.

Hardware:

pedals: basically worthless;

cymbal and snare stands: 5 to 15 dollars apiece

Bass drum mount cymbal holders: 25.00

Tom holders and mounts, and spurs 15.00

Lugs 3 to 5.00 each

Japanese brass cymbals; worthless soundwise except as a "trash" or effects cymbal. Occasionally cheap bronze or nickel silver Krut or Zyn cymbals were sold with these drums and they are worth 25 to 40 dollars apiece. Very few appreciate their overly bright sound.

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