They are Pearl stencils of some type-note the cymbal arm mount,tom mount, and I recognize the "Speed Pedal"hi-hat stand.Funny how such a fairly large and complex item would go totally brandless-I own a Made in Taiwan(MIT)white "panelling"covered set from circa 1978 with no badging of any kind-also Pearl,but your old set was MIJ-Made in Japan.

By the way...those glasses are ALL IT!

It is actually a Star stencil. Procrast has a similar kit on another post as this sits. You see, if you look very closely, you can see the snare lugs are longer and narrow. I can barely make them out. I have taken a lot of time to make myself aware of the snare lugs as this is, in many instances, the only way to discern between the Pearl and Star stencils. The Star lugs are, as I have posted many times, identical to Slingerland snare lugs. And the T-rods are Star as well. Pearl did not use these type, with knobs on each end. If look very closely, you can see these are the longer ones. Pearls are shorter and fatter and do not have the same ridges on the sides like these. Also, look at the tom mount setup, exactly like the one he has posted. These are very early 64-66 Star stencils.

I hate being wrong-but I am!Upon further reminiscing,my grandfathers"Ralston"set was very similar to this one.Ralstons are "Supreme Quality"and therefore Star.

What do you mean when you say "stencil"?

A stencil kit is made to look like an American, but is made the same for many different "brands". In the early 60s, both Pearl and Star (later TAMA) were predominantly stencil builders. They made many millions of drums under hundreds of names and a few with their own badge, usually the higher quality kits were their own. They made typically 2 teirs of quality for the stnecils. Some of the hardware is good, most marginal and some downright crap. Many will say all the MIJ is trash...and many of those would not be drummers today were it not for this "trash". And they only recall a vague memory of poor quality heads and assume that the entire kit is junk. The heads were indeed bad, however I have kits that are of amazing sonic quality. My WMP kit sounds like an early 60s Slingerland 3 ply kit. Granted, they have been worked over, but what I have in them, I couldn't sniiff used heads off most American kits, and I love them. I love them all. They are all a part of our heritage and history, and they will endure. I fully expect my rescued kits to last another 50 years, as they are not the trash all want you to believe. If you have bad memories of poor sound quality, don't blame it on the drums. You were young, knew nothing of tuning, and the heads were indeed trash. Re-head those same shells today, tune them up and I can tell you, you will think twice about them.

Soap Box

Dig the glasses!

Thanks Jonnistix. great explanation