If they came with plastic, keep 'em. They'll keep whatever mojo the kit has.

Tama used plastic hoops on some kits in the 90's. I think it was a carry over from Star kits from the 70's.

Hi V.,

Unfortunately it is true (yes, and lame, indeed): STAR used partly black plastic hoops in the very early 70s. Namely the budget bass drums were fitted with these hoops.

As you mentioned, the hoops came with a groove to place a stripe of matching wrap in the inlay. The rest of the hoops was not painted.

I'd keep it original and wouldn't recommend a replacement with wooden hoops.

Ralf

Had a Hoshino kit a while back, with plastic hoops. Hoshino also used the Stewart brand - does it have the sharks tooth lugs? The one I had sounded great. Always leery of re-wrapping an old MIJ kit though - A proper re-wrap can be costly, and also diminishes any potential 'vintage' value, but I suppose you realize that...

Thanks for the information, guys.

I think I'll keep the hoops original, other than adding a new inlay strip.

@Daddy Nowhere:

I don't think my Stewart has the shark tooth lugs. They look like standard shape MIJ lugs to me; they are not pointy or anything.

I know what you mean about re-wrapping. I am not very concerned about resale value. My sole motiviation was that the original wrap was red sparkle, and I already have a red sparkle kit, and a couple of other kits with red as the dominant color, so I just wanted to do something different.

I wanted to keep the Vintage MIJ vibe, so I chose Gold Sparkle. It seems like when you see MIJ kits in sparkles, you see red and blue often, and then you do see Gold, but it is much less common. I was going to go with Green Sparkle, but as mikey777 pointed out, no MIJ kits ever came in Green Sparkle.

I am doing the wrap myself, and I am not all that experienced in installing it. I know it is not hard, if you are smart about all of your "pre-work". I figure it also gives me a chance to practice my wrapping skills. Better to hone my skills on these MIJ shells than a '64 Ludwig Downbeat!

The wrap should be here Monday for the rack and floor toms (I ordered a full sheet), and the bass drum will be done shortly after that. I'll be sure to post pictures when it's all done.

i have a late 60s mij kit myself and it came with the plastic bass drum hoops as well i kind of dig them it doesnt affect the sound at all and are more durable then the wood ones in my opinion with the pedal clamped to it. i wonder if pearl and star both did this that i would like to know it would help narrow down the i.d. process

Yes, original and YES, superior.

Wood is far from ideal, especially 60s MIJ wood. For real quality, best-to-worst, it's plastic, then steel, then wood. I'm not making the point to criticise wood drums, but I do dispute the common pro-wood/anti-plastic position. It does not serve us IMO.

Remember the reasons that drums were made of wood in the first place - cheap and easy top the list. Back then everything from teeth to wheels were made of wood - and to genetally poor effect, lol. Early automobiles had dismal wooden wheels, a terrible choice of materials, and a failure for all the obvious reasons. They advanced past that around the turn of the century and never looked back. When will drummers catch up?

There's a reason that all the (still currently) great snares of the 20s are metal. The wood survivors are no longer representative of their original sound because wood is so unstable and inconsistent. One can't even truly relate what a given model of old wood drums sound like because they are so inconsistent from one example to the next. It's no wonder the metal Ludwigs always come out on top.

interesting and some valid points but painted with far too broad a brush. certainly plastics have improved the quality of certain products but they have also been responsible for the degradation of others. i'm not sure that wooden car wheels and George Washington's teeth are directly comparable to wooden drums. yes ,wood was the original material in many things because it was available , fairly easy to work and relatively inexpensive and for that reason the quality parameters for many of those things are based on the performance of wood. wine corks, many musical instruments, furniture,some sporting goods,flooring,wine barrels,fine paper,cutting boards,knife scales,canoes,gunstocks, to name a few. wooden drums and metal drums are not the same. they exist in parallel, each having capabilities and sonic qualities with a different focus. if plastic shelled drums ever arrive , with any degree of quality, they too may have a place but plastic will never replace wood.

Interesting point, but I disagree to a certain extent. I have never liked metal hoops on bass drums because A). They are heavy B). They rattle like a hula hoop when you move them around, and worst of all C). They have a ridge "bump" running down the center, that makes it nearly impossible to clamp a pedal to.

Sometimes plastic is better, but plastic simply cannot resonate like wood can, nor can metal (just like the differences between wood and metal snares, but to a smaller degree). Vistalite and Fibes drums come the closest I can think of to plastic. They have their own unique sound, and that's neither good nor bad, it just depends on what you like.

There is a reason that all the medium and high end drum kits come with wood hoops, while the entry level stuff comes with metal hoops, and none (other than a few lower end Tama kits) come with plastic hoops. If plastic was truly better, I am sure that DW, Sonor, Gretsch etc. would be using the best quality materials on their high end stuff, and they all use wood hoops, as does any mid to high end kit. Also, there is a reason that when shopping for after market bass drum hoops, metal hoops are less than half the price of wood hoops, and you cannot buy any after market plastic hoops anywhere.

Again, you make good points, but not all drum building materials are created equal, nor do they sound equal.

I went to Precision Drum and had hoops custom made (from Keller stock) to my specs for less than $100.00 for the pair. This included a non-standard 15/16" inlay width in my case. They also slit the inlay material I brought along to proper width for me for free while I was there.

Yes, I had to paint them and glue in the inlay, but I got the exact hoops I wanted and saved $20 off the Gibraltar price and kept an American job here.

Yes I had to paint them, but even used ones (which are even more money!) will require that... If you want nice wood hoops give Andrea a call and she'll take care of you.