Glad to have you, rock&rollmachine. I just bought a Pearl wood-Fiberglass from the same era as yours--although not as clean as those, or as large--that I've been stripping down and rehabbing. I'm not sure about the "President" tag; I've heard that applied only to drums a little older than ours. We have some folks who're big collectors of vintage Japanese drums, though, who're sure to be along shortly with answers for you.

What sort of music are you playing with them? How's that snare? I'd like to find one to go with my kit.

I like to play classic rock such as Deep Purple, Triumph, Rush, Kansas, Boston, Zep, Whitesnake, Pink Floyd and such. Then I get in moods where I like to play Chicago, Steely Dan, Diamond Rio and more laid back stuff.

The snare took a little getting used to as it has a little more 'pop' then my previous Pearl snare. I have made a few changes to the kit since those pictures were taken. All of my cymbals are Sabian or Zildjian and the Gibraltar double pedal was an addition I made to my TAMA Rock Star kit that I brought over to replace the single Pearl pedal.

I was told that this kit was bought in the early 70's but with the store they were bought from being out of business it is hard to find out anything but hopefully the people here can help me out.

Looks like mid-70's fiberglass. Loud things those. I used to have a matching 26" bass, could scare women and children with that drum. I'm glad to see there are still people out there playing those concert toms!

Man, I like those drums!

From the picture, the spurs on the BD didn't make their debut in the Pearl US catalog until 1978. Other than that, these could be anywhere from about 1973 to 1979. Pearl changed badge styles in 1980.

These are NOT from the President line, which made their debut in the Pearl US market in 1969 (maybe 1968?). The badges on those drums said "Pearl President Japan." Also the "fiberglass" shells of the President line was described as such: "...shell is made of unique plastic fiber..." and was a maroon color instead of what was made during the 70s.

First of all Welcome to this great forum! Now on to you drum set by the badge on the drums it would date it in late 1979 to mid 1980..Your drums are nota Pearl President set your drums are from a line called wood-fiberglass wood shells with ply of fiberglass added to the shells..Your set is one of the last year that Pearl made these shells...Mikey

Good call on these Mikey- I agree with you. What a classic - need a crew to haul that aroundChewie:

Again, a great kit!

A couple of questions, though...

1) You said the "most" of the drums have the "wood-fiberglass" badge on them. Are you just referencing the BD and the FT? Because IF all of the concert toms have that "wood-fiberglass" badge, these are really rare because I don't think Pearl offered the concert toms (in the US market anyway) in anything but "fiberglass" shells.

IF they're W/FG, they would have to have been special orders. From what I see in the pictures, I'd say the concert toms are FG.

2) What are the sizes of the BD & FT? If you've got a 22" BD, I've got an extra hoop with the correct inlay... If your FT is 16x18, that's a hard-to-find size.

BTW -- the 1980 US catalog has the newer regtangular badge that had room for a serial number. The badge in the picture is definately 1970s, not 80s.

I would say that those concert toms are fiberglass but not the President phenolic shell material (actually not a true fiberglass)- good point.

Like I mentioned in my original post on this thread the President "fiberglass" shells weren't actually marketed as such, and were definately a different color. I'm at work right now, or I'd post a pic of both the President shell and badge. And BTW -- the President line also had a different style of lug: had a "pointy" tail. Not what's on these at all.

One reason why I think the pictures show FG shells on the concert toms are the color of the interior -- that "raw fiberglass" color which is what is usually seen in Pearl's FG drums. Very early in the production of the W/FG shells the lining was the same "raw" color, but MOST of the W/FG shells out there are a white lining (or more likely an "off-white" due to normal fading).

Can't say this enough -- I'm a big fan of the Pearls of this era. So, any thread about them has got me watching!