Hi,

the tom lugs are exactly (or copies of?) Pearl President parts.

Why doesn't the rail consolette work? What's wrong with it?

And: 'Custum': one more of those ridiculous Japanese fantasy drum names.

Never heard of ...

Ralf

[COLOR="DarkRed"]Congrats ! Nice rehab ! 'CUSTUM'...hehehe...I love it.

Are all drums badged ? I ask because the lugs on the toms and the lugs on the bass are different. They are definitely all vintage Japanese, but the bass ones look like Star, while the tom ones, as mentioned, appear to be Pearl President or Tempro. It may be that this was a mix-'n-match kit. No matter, as the drums were pretty much all the same spec back then, anyway.

The consolette rail...hehehe...I may be the only person in the world who actually Likes 'em. But I understand your frustration...they were basically just tension-screw adjusted bent metal, not anymore sophisticated than plumbing pipes...so, some work well, some don't.

If it is just rough and hard to screw/unscrew, then using some PT Blaster (it's like WD40, but better (and smellier) may loosen things up for you).

If not, then take the upper portion OFF the kit and store it somewhere, leave the rail portion On (they make great handles when you are moving the drum).

Yes, once the edges are fined a bit, the sound on these old '60's-70's Japanese kits improves immensely. Your head choice is pretty spot-on, too.

Enjoy. [/COLOR]

Im actually going to be putting an effort into collecting these old Japanese kits,i just love them now,and thats a 180degree turn around for me.The toms and kick sound so mellow but i will add,i will certainly use my best snare drums with these.Yes Sir

[COLOR="DarkRed"]Well, it's certainly a cost-effective hobby, because they never seem to sell for much.

Just FYI (not that you necessarily want to)...but recutting the bearing edges to a sharper edge will make these sorta drums "punch" a bit more.

They are fun old kits...but as you said, not very loud....[/COLOR]

Thx Jaye,but loud is what i dont need anymore.Im micd at rehearsals as well so i dont need to hit very hard.I let the drums do the "singing".

Hey, thanks everyone for your responses!

Let's see... yes, I am aware that the lugs are different on the bass drum. I think you are right and it may be a Star brand; it is painted gray on the inside but the toms are not. I bought a set of matching bass drum lugs off ebay but the screw holes are spaced about 1/8'' too wide and I was NOT going to drill more holes. So I just left the lugs on it. Maybe the wider spaced lugs were for 22'' bass drums. The only badge is on the rack tom, but I'm pretty sure the floor and the rack tom were from the original set. If anyone is interested I could post some pics of the inside of the toms.

The rail consolette wont stay tight enough to really hit the rack tom. And when I attach the tom it kind of sags and wont stay 'up' enough. It's frustrating because I would prefer to use it over a stand, but I need the set to play and be solid. Might the incompatibility between the mount and the tom come from the fact that they are slightly different designs from different companies?

I agree that the snares are the weak link with these drums. I usually play a supra or another Taiwanese snare I have. But I do like that I have a 'matching' snare with the kit (OCD kind of thing, I guess.)

I also dont mind that these are not super loud, generally speaking. I think it kind of adds to the character of the drums, and I can always hit harder. The bass drum has a pretty good boom to it, however.

As for collecting these drums, I am all for it. I have no problem with some kid taking a Chinese set and painting it death metal black and drilling holes all over it if they want, but I think the MIJ stuff is generally higher quality than has been given credit for and these things deserve to be rescued, set up for optimal sound and playability, and sold for modest prices so someone can get themselves into a decent vintage set for a fraction of the cost of a Lud/Sling/Rogers. I would like to say, for the record, that I dont think there is a lot of money to be made in the restoration and reselling of these sets, because new hoops, heads, springs, lugs, tension rods, and inserts can definitely add up to more than the initial cost of the set and not necessarily translate to an equal increase in the value of the finished set. Fixing these up is a labor of love. That said, this is just volume one. I have a few more of these sets that I'll be sharing with the forum down the road. Dont want to spoil the anticipation (ha!), but there will be some WMP and gold sparkle!

Mij Wmp? :D

'... And when I attach the tom it kind of sags and wont stay 'up' enough. It's frustrating ...'

That must not be. I üersonally have a similar construction and it can be fixed steadfast.

As far as I can see on one of the pics, the 'flexible' part of the clip which fixes the arm on the rail consolette is too tight to the other clip side. So you can't put more power on the fixing screw as the metal parts are in touch. I guess, if you give the 'flexible' part of the clip a more flat curve by pressing it (carefully) in a bench vice, you create more space between the two clip parts and the screw (should be a stainless steel one) can put more pressure on the clip parts.

... hope I can be understood ...?!

Ralf

Nice job! I have a little "red rocket" single ply snare with rerings that really cleaned up and tuned up nicely. And being a single ply, with 45 bearing edges, makes this one hard to find drum. They were not known to last. Look at the rail on my Majestic. You may need to grab a new set of bolts, and maybe try a different L arm as they used two sizes. One being a hair narrower than the other. I too am starting to "collect" the Japanese sets. They are cool! And do yourself a favor. If you see one of the "Made In Japan" steel snares for cheap, grab it. They sound really good. I mean scary good, if taken care of. I picked one up for like $18 on eBay, and it came to me in almost new condition, and it is a 72 model. It sings like some of those $500 drums. Some people are laughing at that statement, but until you tune one up yourself, you'll never know. And they can be had for a song. Make sure it looks like the one in the picture, not the CB, or Dixon or any those. It has to be the one with the round blue blue badge. Ask Poppy, he has one.

These are actually a matched set, the bass has faded badly, and the original snare is on the couch, behind my son. Have fun with it!