'75 seems a bit late, but I'm just going by the fact that my first "pro grade" drum set was Pearl Fiberglass, purchased in '76. The lugs were the "newer" shaped lugs, and a cursory look over to the "reference books and catalogs" section under Pearl I found this 1975 catalog cover:

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/images/my_collection/catalogs/pearl_catalog_1975_cover.jpg[/IMG]

The difference in quality at that time and the snare drum you have (which is an amazing looking drum, by the way!) is fairly pronounced. They had a new throwoff mechanism that was a die cast that had a lever on top, and it flipped down to de-activate. Overall, in '75, at least, Pearl had arrived in the Pro-quality era of drums to stay.

I understand your point- I wasn't saying they were making Presidents with these President style badges or the diamond lugs in "75 but I do believe they were still producing this special resin type brown fiberglass up to about 75". That seems about the time it ended. At that point they kept the President name on all their high end "artist" series drums (All had Pearl President on the front bass drum heads but not on the badges). My kit here is "69 - so very early example. But I have played kits here in Japan with diamond lugs and the 73/74 mount hardware like in your pic and with these same President badges. I think I might have a gig picture showing that- the club owner said it was a 74"

Cool.. There are several excellent catalog scans available.. Is the brown color of which you write a lighter, almost yellowish color? Mine, from '76 were a grey color but they were black wrapped. The "restoration" set I've got right now, a double bass 24/24/12/13/16/18 (non-original 16) have the opal-colored wrap over a yellowish fiberglass (other than the 16 which has the grey fiberglass).

When I was looking for a set back then my drum teacher told me about a Pearl set that was for sale that had that yellowish fiberglass, it had to be around a '75 or earlier set. I always just assumed the gray fiberglass was used for the black wrapped sets whilst the creme wrapped sets had the yellowish fiberglass..

The President "fiberglass" shells are only referring to those that are quite thin with sharp edges and the dark brown color. On this forum, I was recently told by one member that this dark brown "fiberglass" was actually called a [COLOR="Red"]phenolic shell-[/COLOR] and closer to masonite that what we think of as fiberglass. The yellow/grayish white shells you are talking about I have seen, owned and played often- it 's a different drum- a good drum, but completely different.

This Japanese 75" catalog page may confirm what I was saying it seems. My wife Yukari is Japanese and she says it says fibershell made with the chemical POF which is likely the phenolic compound. You can see this dark brown fiber shell was made into 75"

[IMG]http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/Osakabop/shellconstruction75pearl.png[/IMG]

Interesting.. Is it true that the Japan market-sold Pearl is not the same as the USA market? The catalog is different. Which shell are you talking about on that scan? BTW The shells that I had and have (both the gray colored and the yellowish color) are both fiberglass, the same material Steve Gadd's shells were on his drums he recorded with in the 70s. His drums were concert toms professionally converted to double-headed toms.

Hi Pounder, the shell in the scan is 2nd from the top- thats the President phenolic shell '75. I first saw the yellow/ white fiberglass shells in a '77 catalog. I don't know if they were in 75 or 76

Addition: The third shell there is a wood/fiberglass shell- it appears white.

"Plastic Fiber"

[IMG]http://members.bex.net/zdrummer/PP4.JPG[/IMG]

"My Pearl President 4-piece"

[IMG]http://members.bex.net/zdrummer/PP03.jpg[/IMG]

Zman, lovely shots there- I hope everyone can look at that interior shot and see how wonderfully preserved and resilient these phenolic shells are- and the bearing edges are sharp and the shells are quite thin- these Presidents are extraordinary drums- trust me. If you took this shell and slapped a Tempus badge on it with a glass glitter wrap people would be charging top shelf prices for this. I am a real President fanatic- thanks for posting this.

Great interior shot. Thanks Zman. This is just what my 12x15 tom looks like. The badge doesn't say President or anything special on it other than Pearl.

Of course we wouldn't ever do such a thing Osaka-San. We like our drums to say Pearl. x-mas3