I don't think this is the case any longer. I purchased a Pulse Pro Lacquer kit from Musicians Friend about 3 - 4 years ago. Beautiful lacquer finish job an these drums and the inner and outer plys run horizontal with a nice, tight grain and appear to be the same wood. The shells are very nicely finished inside and out, unlike the older stencil kits with their course inner plys.

5 piece, all hardware on the kit has gaskets, RIMS style mounts on the rack toms, heavy duty Pearly type tom mounts, natural lacquered maple kick hoops, etc... It was $350.00 delivered and even included a kick pedal, hihat stand and two cymbal stands with some really cheesy cymbals . Granted, the above hardware is very light duty, but it all functions and is still being actively used. I donated the kick pedal and hihat stand to the school where I work and it's been abused for the last 3 or so years by high school drummers.

I guess what I'm saying is, you can get some serious bang for your buck with imported instruments these days and they aren't cutting the corners like they used to.

Here's a couple pics of my recent guitar purchase. Made in Korea, flamed maple top (real wood), mahogany body, abalone inlays, triple binding on the body (single on headstock and neck), set neck, etc... all for under $400.00. This thing is solid, decent quality wood (weighs about 11 pounds). Sounds great and plays well (with a little bit of work).

[IMG]http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/8618/img0308r.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/1575/inlay1.jpg[/IMG]

Modern manufacturing techniques have put countries like Korea and now China in the same ballpark as the rest of the world. The difference is the cost of labor.

Okay sorry about the hijack... back to the mystery drums :)

I agree with the upgraded finishing techniques-I just sold a Gretsch Catalina Maple set that was beautiful.My statement was particular to luan(mahogany)and more its inherent color/grain matching issues.I should have elaborated:

Mahogany(luan)isn't usually used in the finish ply.You need to do alot of sanding to get to a point where you can urethane/varnish/laquer.And getting a grain match on 4 drums without flaws or knots seems next to impossible.The Premiers that were just posted recently by M.Kekki are a good example of mahogany/luan finish drums.Have you guys seen any import sets recently with this finish?I have not-I think it's to labor intensive,among the other factors.Maple(or whatever passes for maple in asia),basswood and poplar (interiors)are more common as finish wood,but especially the asian maple.Very tight grain,clear and light.

Anyone else?

How about this....I just saw(on Ebay)Jamm by Cannon 10X12 and 11X13 toms with RERINGS.....These are off a typically $375 set.Whats that???

I agree with you on the old style luan shells. They would be too costly to mass produce with a nice finish. Maybe the drums in question have been refinished? I did it with an older stencil kit myself. Sanded the shells semi-smooth, stained them w/dark mahogany and shot them with a clear lacquer. They looked pretty decent, but I didn't even try to get the luan *smooth* by any standards.

The pics above look VERY similar to the shells I refinished. Kinda rough and grainy.

Bottom line though... what do they sound like?