I have refinished a few of the mij kits. They all had luan shells. Some of them I sprayed the inside with lacquer and some not. I dont have the trained ears you guys have but I cant hear a difference, they both sound good to me. What you need to look out for is mit drums and Im speaking of the cheep hardware, not the shells. I have seen several lugs break off. They really used some cheep pot metal for those.

Jeff C

I have rebuilt/restored MANY MIJ/MIT sets.Luan is consistant in it's inconsistancy.My mid-seventies Royce set is one of my favorite general gigging kits.It has good non-splintery round-over edges.I also replicated the grey interior paint with a thin primer/sealer.They are the once common 9-ply no rering drums so reviled not so long ago.Excellent round Eagles- sounding tone.They are definitely Taiwan Pearls,like Maxwin and many others.

dav3502, since I'm not so happy with my sound yet, can I ask what heads you're using and what ply shells you have?

Yup. I've got the 6 plys, no reinforcement rings. Currently using coated emperors over clear ambassadors on the toms. The kick has a powerstroke 3 with a coated Ambassador reso head. 13" mounted Tom,16" floor and 20x14 kick. My snare drum has whatever old and dirty head on it that I bought it with. I like the sound of the snare so much I would rather leave it on than risk not being able to replicate that sound if I change the heads. I play mostly classic rock and tune them low, both heads at the same tension.

Dave

I've owned several of those El Cheapo luan Shell kits and had so many problems, I swore off them and went back to name brands.

First of all, those snares will never stay in tune for a full set. Around the 3rd song, I had to break out a drum key and tighten the top head, every 4 songs or so. My band members got very upset when people were dancing and we should have been cruising into "Hanky Panky" , insted, I'm tuning my snare.

Second, if you overtighten a lug, you run a good chance of making the shell "bow" where that lug is. UUGGH.

The last problem I had with them is how thin and fragile they are. If you use padded drum cases, I guess youre ok, but dont ever drop a luan shell drum on a hard service...it will crack.

Theres a reason why those drums are so cheap. For me, they are good only as practice sets where you can bash 'em and not worry about it.

I have a couple "Luan" MIJ kits. I have a mid-70's CB 700 (8 ply/no re-rings) and a late 60's Black Jack (3 ply with re-rings). I like the sounds of both of them.

I use both for rock. I like the boom and fatness of the sound overall. I use Coated Ambassadors on the rack toms (top and bottom) and Coated Powerstroke 3's on the floor toms and bass drum (both heads).

I did have the bearing edges professionally re-cut to a double 45 degree by Precision on both kits. They tune up WAY easier now, and stay in tune. I gave the Black Jack's 3 thin coats of satin finish polyurethane on the inside (then 000 Steel Wool to smooth them out and take away the sheen), just to protect the wood and give them added rigidity due to their thiness. That Black Jack bass drum (14" x 20") is my favorite bass drum to play, and it sounds incredible! Super powerful yet not overbearing. The first gig I played with those, my bass player commented after the first song: "Is that your normal kit? I can really hear and feel that bass drum, it sounds great! Did you change something?"

Honestly, we can all argue for days on end about wood types, tuning, head selection etc. To me, it all comes down to what YOU like and what sounds good to YOUR ear. I've always felt that if a drum is structurally sound (not out of round or cracked, etc.), has quality heads on it and is tuned properly, it will sound good. It might not be "your" sound, but it will sound like a quality drum.

This may have been mentioned before, but C & C Custom Drums offer a Luan kit (for big money!). If they are using Luan, than it certainly can't be all bad!

Actually, you should NEVER use Polyurathane to coat the inside of a drum shell.

Polyurathane gives the drum a "boingy" sound.

Normal Shellac is what you should use. It makes the sound louder and more projective and doesnt have that "boingy" quality.

"Boingy" quality or not, I am very happy with the sound. Again, everyone has their own preferences, but it all comes down to if it works for you or not, and if you like the sound or not. It works for me and I like the sound, so I do it.

I loved my '66 Star, 22/12/14, 3ply w/ re rings. They had a warm and round tone, were lightweight and looked really cool. I particularly loved the deep boomieness of the 22" kick with a powerstroke 3 bater & clear amb reso. I applied 3 coats of spray shellac to the inside of the shells for volume and noticed a significant increase in sound production. I used Aquarian coated on the tom bater sides and coated Ambasadors on the reso sides.

What made me sell them last month was the constant lug buzz from the unprotected springs at medium to loud volume. This happened on all 3 pieces, I didn't have a Star snare, but was most pronounced on the FT and kick. Nobody could hear it but me, but it drove me crazy. So I sold it and got a '73 Premier and couldn't be happier. Same warmth, bigger sound, sturdier drums, not that expensive...and NO buzzExcited

Still love the sound of my MIJ luan kit and will probably buy another someday.

Brian

I have this kit I bought from a kid off Craigs list about 2 1/2 years ago. It was a old PDP EZ series kit I gave $70 for. The wrap was all bubbled but I could tell the shells were ok. I removed the wrap and gave them about 4 coats of Danish oil inside and out then 4 coats of spar polyurethane on the outer shell's. The kid had new Evans EC2 coated heads on the reso sides which I moved to the batter side and put some new thin attack heads on the reso's. The snare sounds great with a Evans HD dry and Ambassador reso snare. I turned the badges around to show the solid chrome side. I also have now removed the double tom mount and replaced it with a metal plate drilled for the same hole spaceing, and use the 14" on a floor tom stand. I don't know what exact wood DW was useing for this line of drums but they are nice solid shells. I use them on outside gigs if the weather is iffy or in sun. Every time I am about to take them to a outside gig I rub them down with Old English Lemon Oil. Got caught in a squall once at a outside gig and the water just beaded up and fell off of them. They sound really really good. Surpriseingly good. I also think the natural wood is beautiful. Can someone tell me if these are some type of Mahogany, Luan, or Basswood? The shells are not super thick but maybe 3 ply because they are light drums. No re-rings. I stuck that Yamaha reso head on there as it was what I had available. Not trying to mislead anyone.