Hello folks,

Haven't posted in a while, so I was I wondering if someone could shed some light on this subject. After picking up a vintage Bollero 10 lug snare drum, and then giving it an overhaul for restoring by removing the wrap, adding modern hardware, in this case, new Pearl throw and butt to be more gig reliable, I discovered something weird and annoying. Keep in mind that the problem in question has NOT been tampered by me at all, because all i did to the snare until now, was remove the wrap, plug up the holes of the old throw off and butt plate, and sanded and stained the shell,( which came out pretty great btw). But when i installed the heads just to hear what the drum sounded like, I noticed that the original rim holes weren't aligned with the tension rod holes in the lug. So my first thought was, slightly warped hoop. So i brought the drum to my local used/new gear drum shop to buy a new Gibraltar 2.3mm batter hoop and , low and behold, I wasn't losing my marbles. The original hoop holes were totally uneven straight from factory, and then when I bought a new Gibraltar hoop, it was the same story, although it fit better than the original hoop. But then on closer inspection, both the shop manager and i noticed that it was also the lugs which were unevenly installed from the factory ! Crazy, but not unheard of, since we all know the quality control reputation of MIJ drums. So, i will keep the drum for now, and give it a test run at my next gig to see if it holds up well tuning wise. If not, I'll get rid of it. If any of you guys have encountered this type of problem, pls feel free to share them here, as I'm curious to see if having uneven factory installed lugs and hoops is a regular occurrence. As always, all thoughts are appreciated..

Cheers,

Rob