There is a thread on this kit over at DFO. I pointed out there that the rack tom would be pre-international. Heads are made by Remo and any Remo dealer can order them for you. They have even expanded the range so it's not just Ambassadors now. I live in a small town in a small country and my local music store can have these heads in 3 days for me, usually, and not much more expensive than international size heads.

BTW, the part # for a 12" pre-int Ambassador is BA-0112-PR. I think the part numbers for the other available styles will be the same as standard with the 'PR' prefix at the end

Thanks fayray, I'm wondering how you nailed that as all the lugs look to be the same to me. Speedboat with raised lines on all 3 pieces.

Good call regardless! :)

it's the hoops. The pre international hoops have the narrower beer barrel style ears. If the 16 had been pre-international it would have had 10 lugs per side. Your kit is from the transition period from pre-int to international and Premier were using up old shells so it's not unusual to find a mix of shells. So your 16 and 20 are the darker mahogany? The mahogany shells are fantastic. You should be able to order heads from your local music store with that part number and have them in a few days. Much better than using standard hoops etc

Wow, I need glasses! Premier hardware is so weird but I love the styling and die cast rims and my other 2 Premier kits sound great so I'm sure these shells will be just as sweet!

Thanks again fayray for the heads up on the heads *pun intended* :D

you're welcome. I'm looking forward to seeing them cleaned up

Checking into ready available pre-int heads from drumfactorydirect.com and they have a nice selection of Premier heads to choose from!

They are out of ambassador coated though so I'd have to go for a vintage a coated batter, any thoughts on those as far as comparing to just a straight ambassador coated?

They also have fiberskyn3, ambassador clear/coated, vintage a, pinstripe and coated emperor heads available.

Party

Slowly starting to clean these up a bit, some before pictures:

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Oh my, the forum doesn't auto resize larger pictures I guess, sorry.

I'm not exactly sure how to remove the pitting, but some Never Dull wading polish knocks them down just a bit. Not using steel wool as I've heard steel wool is bad for chrome?