Exports were never made with fiberglass.

They were an entry level set with some pro style perks.

Exports came in two flavors ,wrapped and lacquered.

Thanks for the reply. I know that Exports were considered entry level. I am by no means a Pearl expert (on Exports), but these, at least looking at them from a strictly cosmetic point of view, remind me of their pro level kits in the late 70's and early 80's, save the badges.

The Export bass drum I use on my gigging kit has that same taupe-colored spatter paint. I believe it's just another version of reso-cote or whatever you want to call paint with particles in it to make the voids in the luan disappear. I like Exports. They are well built, have good solid hardware and are cheap. But I don't care for steel bass drum hoops, so they get replaced. As far as being "entry level", you can certainly go far lower than Exports...and the set you bought is the size combination I play out with. HMMMMM....

I had a set that I bought new in 1986 that looked just like that. Had them for about 3 years then sold them to a friend when I bought a mid-60's Slingerland.

I remember thinking they were particle board, but they had a very nice lacquer finish, and the hardware was really strong. They did sound pretty good. But I had always wanted a Slingerland since I was in high school and the band teacher gave me a 76 or 77 catalog (the one with the big copper set on the cover).

I do not think they are worth too much, if you are looking to flip them. New low-end kits built today are much better built than those mid-80's Exports.

Steve

Thanks for the replies everyone. Here is what someone replied with on the Pearl Forum:

Looks like an 8" tom, badge is an 85 badge and that's Birch exterior .. with that said it's an 85 ELX. 85 ELX 8x8 and 10x8 toms had a 6 ply shell, 2 Birch + 4 Asian Mahogany plies. The rest of shells were 8 plies (2 Birch + 6 Asian Mahogany) with Acousti-Coat interiors (which you thought was particle board)

So I guess what looks like particle board is actually a thin coat of "Acousti-Coat" (aka Granitone, aka Resocoat). If the inside ply is birch, why would they need to cover it with Acousti-Coat? Seems odd to me. Makes it seem "cheaper" and more porous than birch would normally be.

I think I might try painting the insides with just a basic white wall primer. I have some. I'm not concerned about re-sale value, because they are not likely to fetch much dough anyway. However, I use coated heads, so the interiors aren't visible anyway, so maybe I'll just leave them as is. The primer would probably help make the shell stronger though, and would seal it for possibly a tad bit more projection.

One thing I will do, especially on the 8" and 10" toms is try to reinforce where the lugs are, as noted in the posts above that the 8" shell is flattening out a bit at the lugs. What would you recommend? I'm thinking of large washers or some stiff plastic or something on the inside of the drum at the lugs as a backing plate.

Luckily these are the ELX, so it came with matching lacquer wood bass hoops, so that's a nice bonus.