Ok, I think I've finally put together some substantial, uh, evidence.
My hunch has been that Pearl was the manufacturer of some of the other early MIJ brands like Gracy, Topper, etc.
Take a look at the Torodor snare here - obviously a Pearl made snare. Then, connect the dots from there.
(idrum4fun, I hope you dont mind that I jacked your pics!)
(and David, hope you dont mind that I used your pics, either)
Don't mind the "jacked" pics at all! I'm honored that you chose to use my drum!
I've gotta thank you, the pics of your blue sparkle Torodor snare have been tremendously helpful in my research of these old MIJ drums!
I still say that many of the "other" players in the MIJ market were nothing more than assemblers, using either/and/or Pearl and/or Star parts to build up their own drums and call themselves drum builders. It is obvious that most of the parts are one or the other, and in some cases both.
I have no desire to be contentious on the point, but rather to merely state that it is indeed my own idea that this is how it played out.
I see far too many of these to simply believe that either Pearl or Star actually did all of the assembly of them, but that they sold parts to other aspiring builders and watched as they were too ignorant to make a serious go at the market.
Ok, I think I've finally put together some substantial, uh, evidence.My hunch has been that Pearl was the manufacturer of some of the other early MIJ brands like Gracy, Topper, etc.Take a look at the Torodor snare here - obviously a Pearl made snare. Then, connect the dots from there.(idrum4fun, I hope you dont mind that I jacked your pics!)
Hey cn679, I have the same drum in the first two photo's but with the name of CREST on it....Mikey
