The way I approach drums and musical instruments in general( I also repair/rebuild stringed instruments and some woodwinds as well) is two fold. First I look at the construction parameters-----design, materials, execution and then based on that, I do the best I can to adjust all that is adjustable, in order to maximize performance.
If a drum is made from easily found materials-------recycled lead and tin, ubiquitous mass harvested softwoods, steel where brass should be, chromed directly on steel with minimal fine polishing, soft poorly cut screws or bolts and lousy grainy wrap; then ,designed to a minimal standard and manufactured in the hastiest fashion all clearly for a burgeoning mass market ; I view it as a failure. I do what I can with it but I know the end result is going to be disappointing , irregardless of the effort I put in. AS it goes; you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. The makers of such garbage ( I actually, just described a 60's Japanese drum), have only one incentive and that is to cash in on the naivety of consumers, who have more money than brains. The focus is profit, not quality and in this particular described instance, there was no competition, so the sky was the limit as to how many units of said garbage, could be pumped out and shipped to legions of wankers in the west, who were dumb enough to pay for their crap, because they fantasized being rock stars.
At the same time, in history; Amati, Trowa, Medvecky,Duban( my apologies to others , that I have temporarily forgotten), under planned economic situations, were making drums from generally quality materials( yes there probably was recycled metal), brass for shells, finely cut threads, beech shells and the same handmade wrap that Trixon and Sonor were using across the Berlin Wall. The shells were formed and glued according to old world traditions, sometimes 10 lugs were used( a guaranteed sign that the maker was serious) and some of the most inventive original designs and engineering were applied to the hardware. The makers of these drums , made them that way because they were brilliant musical instrument makers----they were not just trying to fill an economic void for cheap consumer goods. Yes; the manufacturing side of the relationship , sometimes broke down because of lack of incentive at the worker level( but did you know, that there was a union licensed policy at British Leyland, in the 1960's and 70's to sabotage production----dropping crankshafts on the floor ,just prior to assembly etc. etc.----all in the name of union vs.corporation. In the early '70's ,Leyland was making 50.00 on an Austin Mini!). Factory incompetence, clearly exists everywhere
and it isn't unique to commies. Stifling of creativity and the pumping out of cookie cutter junk happens everywhere and in the case of percussion instruments, there has been way more of it unloaded on to the western world by accepted free market manufacturing cooperators, than there ever was on to the markets behind the iron curtain because the one incentive that the artisans in Marneukirchen , Kraslice and elsewhere had, was pride in their craft, something that extended back centuries and wasn't just a job, that was created to stuff a growing market full of unneeded goods.
