My first kit was a wine red Baxter set, bought new back in 1992 at the Hi-Note in Oakville, Ontario. They were Taiwanese, if I recall correctly. Cheap lauan shells; early 80s Pearl-style lugs and tom mounts. They weren't good drums -- though the finish was pretty, and the bass drum spurs were excellent. And as a drum-obsessed 14-year-old, I loved them with all my heart. But it didn't take long to outgrow them.

Mine was the only Baxter set I've ever seen. From what I hear, they seem to have sold most of them in Canada -- I don't know if they ever sold that brand in the States.

Given that the hardware was early 80s Pearl-style, there may be some connection with Pearl, though I always just assumed that they were buying generic parts. Unless Baxter has a longer history than I know of, these drums are probably 80s or 90s, not early stencil. Good luck with the search -- and if you do pick them up, let me know!

Baxter= firewood....You see,not all mij are well built!...or MIT,OR Indonesia,Thailand,Mexico,China...etc..

OK, so I guess they won't be some unusual vintage find.

Afraid not,but,they will and do serve a purpose as an entry level kit for beginners or a rehersal kit etc.Regardless of the quality,ALL drums serve us drummers one way or the other....Its all good!:)........OH,...welcome to the forum.

Thnx. A lot of helpful folks with a wealth of knowledge. Love this forum.:):)

Get pix. Let us see them, and get to the edges if you can. This is where you can make them a working set. If the edges are not trashed completely, they are probably similar to Maxwin/Royce. If they are really sharp, try to soften them a bit and see if makes the more tunable. The reason I say this that they could be the precursor to early Pearl Imports as were the Maxwin/Royce. My point is, and has been, that if you can get them very cheap, and they are solid, you CAN make a playable kit out them, as I show each time I take on firewood.

I completely agree. I have the Silvertones on this thread. I should soon have them gussied up enough to show off again. I did some sanding on the bearing edges, put on some new G2's on top, and Hydraulics for reso's, and I am completely happy with the sound. Should soon have pic's. As for the Baxter's.....I thought I might have found a cool vintage kit. None the less, if they are in good enough shape, and cheap enough, I may still pick them up. Still waiting for pic's from the seller. I am still hoping to find more info on them. Maker, seller, etc......

Here's the deal, if they have Pearl hardware, they are a Pearl stencil, like the Maxwins, and they were probably MIT. Therefore, they will be Pearl, no doubt about that.

And I made a mistake in my ealier post, they are the predessors to the [COLOR=red]Exports [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Those are, like it or no, decent little shells and you may want to snag them if the opportunity arises, for cheap. I don't know that I would go more than 2 bones, though, if that. I guess I just have a problem paying good money for drums that are everywhere, and really non-descript. Not cheap, just don't think they are worth much, other than to practice restoration techniques on. I do make a distinction where the Export types come in . If they are the pre-74 drums, they are, in my estimation, completely a different type of drum. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Once they went to Tiawan, the game and even the quality changed. I know that is hard to swallow for many people, but to those of us that truly dig MIJ drums, there is a huge difference. Look at them, the MIT are the beginning of the Export era. I know these are decent shells, and many people keep them around for practice, but they have no character, like the older MIJ kits. [/COLOR]

That said, they do rock. And many a great drummer growing up after being born in the 70s were given these as their first drumsets. I just prefer the older 60s and very early 70s kits.

Interesting stuff!

Jonnistix, I'm curious about the early Export shells. Would these be the same shells they were using in the 80s and 90s?

I know my '92 Baxters were cheap vertical-grain lauan shells -- far inferior to the Exports that were on offer at the time. But I don't doubt that with a skilled hand on the bearing edges, the drums could be much improved. That's a few levels beyond my skill set, though. :)

I agree that the 60s MIJ kits seem to have much more character than the 80s and 90s MIT drums. To my eyes, the only really special drums being made in the 80s and 90s were Gretsch, Ayotte and DW. There were plenty of other well-made drums made at the time, but none of them seemed to have much personality. Especially at the entry level. A black five-piece Westbury just can't hold a candle to a 1960s MIJ kit with those great, crazy finishes.