Hi All, The story about Mr.coopers inport drum business he started..This was told to me over the years of knowing him before he passed away...He had a drum shop he open back in 1950 called "cooper drums" in garden grove,ca..He sold all the big name drums ludwig,rogers ,ete,ete..So in 1960 he was looking to make more money,and came up with what about inporting drums from japan,up to this point no one was doing this..So he talk to Pearl about making drums for him and selling "pearl sets in the u.s.a. but not under Pearls name,they did the deal and the drum inporting started...The first sets Mr. Cooper only sold in his store the name he used was "MINDY" name after is first granddarghter,these badges were simple sticker type they were recteangle in shape with silver backing and mindy in black letters,sets were 3pc,4pc,5pc with cymbals only colors were red,blue,gold,silver speickle finish.He sold these for about 1 year under that name sells were very good so he order more sets in 1961 he change the name to "COOPER" these badges again were simple stickers that were oval in shape silver backing with cooper in black letters..In 1962[mid] he ordered more sets but wanted to sell them across the U.S.A.he said he added pearl finish[w.m.p.--b.d.p.--pink d.p.]and change the name again to "Tempest" change the badge to a oval made of brass-[slingerland copy]-painted black with tempest in gold letters badge also had "de-luxe" under the tempest name at bottom of badge again sold these sets across the U.S.A.--By late 1964 Pearl wanted to export pearl sets under the Pearls name thats when Pearl drums became inports to the U.S.A,but still made sets for Mr.Cooper to sell under the Tempest name Mr.cooper told me by 1966 Pearl was flooding the market with the sets they made,they were useing Pearl and about 75 other names..Pearl still made the Tempest sets for Mr. Cooper but also wanted him to order more sets so in late 1966 Mr.cooper came out with another name of drums"stagemaster" also still useing Tempest these badges were stickers somewhat oval is shape letters and around the badge was gold the backing color was an off-white..By late 1968 or the first part of 1969 Mr. cooper stop useing Tempest and Stagemaster as names to sell the drums he was selling and stated to sell "AMERICAN CUSTOM" drums also made by Pearl...More on "AMERICAN CUSTOM" drums next time...Mikey----P.S. Mr.Cooper give me all the badges i talked about i think iam going to email David a photo of these maybe he could post them here or maybe one of you guys can>>>
Hi All,Now for the american custom drums story..In late 1969 or the first part of 1970 mr.cooper came out with A.C. drums- sets were 3,4,5, piece sets--in sparkles and added pearl finishes,Mr.Cooper came up with his lug--they were a copy between Rogers and slingerland and used these from 1969 to 1980[i have photos iam going to email david of the lugs]. Now about the badges the first ones were simple sticker type silver in color with black letters,he used these from 69-1973..In late 1973 he change badges to a thin long one shape was a recteangle the same bages Pearl used on the "Wood-fiberglass" drums these were black in color with gold letters with gold around the eages,Mr.Cooper used these badges from 1973-1976,he change the badges again to a bigger recteangle silver in color with letters in black,he used these from 1976-1982..By late 1982 change them again[back to the first ones he used but they were made of metal] he used these to the end of the A.C. drums that stop in 1989...Alittle about the shells from 1969 to 1980 the shells were 9 ply mahoghany with no rings--alittle more on the shells these shells were the same ones pearl used for their drums from 1970-75--remember the Pearl "wood-fiberglass" shells they were 9 ply mahoghany with a patch of ''f.glass put onto the inside of shell..all of pearls drums were these shells..By 1980 shells were still 9 ply but to cut cost the shells were the cheap wood used on most of the new drums of today..lueg wood..also to cost cost Mr.cooper change the lugs to a pearl copy lug that were and used still to this day by many drum makers...Will i guess that its the end of the story,i just would like to say thank you to Mr.Cooper who told me this story[over the years i know him 15 in all], about how the japanese drum inporting started,He [Mr.Cooper} passed away back in 2000,i only wish that i did ask more questions before he passed..Mikey
