cool thanks for the info. I have been cleaning them I will get pics up soon sorry for the delay!

Hi,

I have a chance to buy a Kent 5 piece kit in a black/white onyx type finish. 20/12/13/16, matching 5x14 snare!! The kit is missing a few parts/pieces, and the only structual damage I saw was a 1"x1" chunk missing of the first few plies on a spot on the resonant side of the kick. How greatly will this devalue the kit/sound? It only has 1 badge left, and it's the oval shaped white badge with KENT in silver letters. Is this the Japanese shell, or maple shell? Looks to be 3? ply, all painted gray interiors. Let me know what you all think. Oh yes, and I have negotiated the price down to $130.

Cheers!

white badge I believe is the New York made kents. For $130 i dont think you could go wrong. I would go for it. Also I noticed that the wood grain on my kents go around the shell instead of up and down which most imports due. So I am guessing mine were also made in new york.:)

Well, my drums are in fact 6 ply, and the grain goes up & down. Weird....

After looking over the other set that I also aquired along with the kent (it was $150) for both. I found out it was made by none other than Tama! Keep on Pl

I am still cleaning the kent. Pictures of both will be up soon. I promise!

Actually, not that weird. As far as I know, Kent sold some drums with the Blue flower badge and the grain running up/down on them. I've seen pictures of them. Some with reinforcement rings as well.

My guess (and it's just a guess) is that these were import shells where Kent may have affixed the badges themselves (or shipped them to japan) - Possibly, they were just using up the leftover badges before they changed to the suqare "Kent - Made In Japan" badges.

I have 3 Blue Flower badge Kent's (2 wood, one steel) and there's no question that the wood ones are maple, 2 or 3 ply, with the grain running around the shell - I assume these are USA made drums, not imports.

Some felt the imports were better made than the USA ones.

My Kent is a Japanese model ( the snare stariner gives it awsy as its the typical Japan stencil style ) though the shells are maple and have the grain running around the shell as opposed to up and down.And I had the flower looking badges on my kit as well.And matter of fact a stamp date of 1969 inside the bass drum.I'm still shocked to have found that.

Hey ARCHxANGEL - The strainers on Kent snares were prone to breakage so there's a chance that it was replaced with a Japanese strainer after the fact. Of course, extra holes would likely be present unless the Japanese model just happened to line up with the existing holes.

Do you have the "overkill" butt plate on your snare? Those were pretty solid and it's easy to spot an original Kent - They were HUGE.

I very much have the over kill butt plate on the snare,lol. And there were no extra holes on the snare.And considering the stamp date was 69' maybe thats when the shells were still made in NY but they could have just started to import things such as the Japanese strainer before completely out-sourcing the whole kit to Japan manufacturers.And hole wise its not likely that there was ever an origional Kent strainer on the snare.Based upon the sole fact that the Japanese stencil strainers have the two screw holes side by side ( not one on top one on bottom ) since there was always a knob to adjust the pull on the snare wires.Here is a few photos ( not sure if I even posted these to begin with,lol )

[IMG]http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i187/ARCHSxDOMAIN/MVC-044F.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i187/ARCHSxDOMAIN/MVC-038F.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i187/ARCHSxDOMAIN/MVC-0391F.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i187/ARCHSxDOMAIN/MVC-040F.jpg[/IMG]

Its an absolutely beautiful set and the finish still looks outstanding.The other clue to point me more in the Japanese direction is the use of the clip style tom mount on the rail as opposed to the pearl style that I have seen on American Kent kits.

Few More photos.

[IMG]http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i187/ARCHSxDOMAIN/MVC-039F.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i187/ARCHSxDOMAIN/MVC-042F.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i187/ARCHSxDOMAIN/MVC-041F.jpg[/IMG]

Also what clued me in when I bought the set ( aside from the lug design ) is that the reso side bass drum head is an origional Kent head.How the shop I bought this from still labeled the kit as Misc. I'll never know,lol.