That is truly a fantastic result.

Was it by hand with rags?

Or with a motorized polisher?

Is the red color on the 12 impregnated into the acrylic.

Melted into it?

It seems strange that the kit in red could fade to clear.

Magical New Zealand Sun right?

Or is the red color on the 12, a film on the inside of shell?

Either way you got that tom looking great.

Novus!

I just used rags. I'm at a loss to explain why the 12 is properly red and the rest has faded. There is no film or anything to indicate it's different to the other drums except the color remaining strong. I thought maybe it had been stored away separately but the condition of the chrome (pretty rough) matches the rest of the kit. Maybe came from a different batch?

Here's a photo showing how some of the red remains on the 13" tom (and the 16 and 22).

Anyway, I'll play it as a 22/13/16 so they'll match, just the badge will face in on the 13. I may look out for some better condition lugs too. They are fairly common and the ones on the kit have that ugly pitting under the chrome.

Thanks for the info Andrew.

I have never seen a Crystal Beat shell here in the states.

Pretty rare I think.

Looking good.

Andrew that looks GREAT. Novus 2 is the way to go for sure!! Nice job.

Thanks guys, I'm quite happy so far but the bass drum is going to be a challenge. I'll leave that until last I think.

Green Glass drum - I have a feeling not many of these were sold and even fewer have survived. They came in clear, red and blue and searching the net yields just a handful of examples and only one in red (faded to amber) and no blue ones. So pretty rare indeed. But there seems to be a few in New Zealand. There's the one I bought in the other link and the woman in the below commercial where she's playing the kit with Iggy Pop contacted me about hers. Apparently her kit has a couple of large cracks but she reckons it still plays really well. I've seen at least 2 others as well.

We may have been a dumping ground for hard to sell stuffHurting

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtL51VME4Qo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtL51VME4Qo[/ame]

A friend has a set and I think you will be very pleased with the sound. His kit has been the house set in various recording studios through the years and it always sounds great. He had me wrap it years ago because drummers would often balk at using clear drums.

You did a bang-up job on the tom shell. I think you are going to love them.

Oversized shells on these for some reason, making collar clearance tight.

Thanks for that. I've never played an acrylic kit but I was talking to a drummer after a show the other night and he was playing a reissue Vistalite kit. He said it was the easiest of his kits to tune. It did sound very good too.

The previous owner fitted new Remo heads on the toms that seem to fit fine on the 13" at least. Unfortunately they are pinstripes but I might have to go with them for now. If you saw the price of heads over here you'd understand whyHurting

Interesting that all the catalogs I've found state that the toms are 13, 14 and 16 but this kit, and the other one I purchased, are 12, 13, 16

wow! nice work. on the issue of the 12 being so much more red. it kinda makes sense that the owner was a 1 up 1 down kinda guy and simply put the 12 in a closet while using the kit for 20 years. i went back and forth from 5 to 4 piece a buncha times. some drums get more use. i bet the red one has much fewer surface scratches. while the others are scarred from gigs of glory. amen.

That's exactly what I thought John but looking at the chrome and shell scratches the 12 looks to have had just as much exposure as the others...apart from the fading of course. Still, it seems like the most likely cause, or a different batch of tint.

Andrew, that's funny because my friend's great sounding recording set also has pinstripes on the toms. They are modern ones though and far livelier than classic 80s pins. They aren't far from a G2 sound.

I have long been infatuated with NZ and I wonder what the drum wildlife is like there. It seems like there would be lots of Premier, Pearl and Yamaha. Is that close?