Thanks John for your reply. I was concerned that the thicker drums would sound dead with thicker shells and the round bearing edges. I love how your kit looks. It looks just like my Star except mine has a 13"16" and 22"
Pure, they can seriously be tuned to sound great, more like a Gretcsh if you LIGHTLY sand the edges to smooth!
See my videos on crack repair.
What is all this nonsense about dropping shells and cracking? If you drop a plate it will crack too. In over 40 years of drumming I've only ever dropped one drum, a '72 Rogers rack tom supposedly "built like a tank" with the grey stonework interior. Guess what, it cracked. The re-ring broke right off of it. Any drum can break if you mistreat it. It's a stupid rationale for judging a musical instrument.
Now to address the OPs concern, I for one would not let the fact that the shells are thicker dissuade you. It's true that the 3 plys tend to be A BIT more resonant, but it's not true that it's a dramatic enough of a difference to make that the only factor one should consider. As others here have mentioned, the edges and I would add the shell roundness are major and frankly much more important issues to consider.
If those factors are up to snuff, and you put on decent heads, and I'm with John on this one, I like the clear ambassador type heads top and bottom, these drums can sing regardless of the number of plys.
I am late saying thanks to all of you guys. I was looking at at some of my old Post and I didn't realize that it went on another 4 months.
LOL....saying "you have to be carefull" with the 3 ply Luans is an understatement. You drop one of those at a gig on a hard floor and you will probably end up with a cracked shell. Who needs that?You know, I've owned 3 MIJ stencil sets, and I even restored them. I played Gretsch round badge for years and now I play a vintage Trixon set at gigs. My take is, life is too short to play those crappy MIJ drums, and the headaches they give you arent worth the cheap price. But...to each his own, as Jerry Vale sang.
Nobody is saying to go on a world tour with a MIJ kit, but they are fun to collect, restore and play.
LOL....saying "you have to be carefull" with the 3 ply Luans is an understatement. You drop one of those at a gig on a hard floor and you will probably end up with a cracked shell. Who needs that?You know, I've owned 3 MIJ stencil sets, and I even restored them. I played Gretsch round badge for years and now I play a vintage Trixon set at gigs. My take is, life is too short to play those crappy MIJ drums, and the headaches they give you arent worth the cheap price. But...to each his own, as Jerry Vale sang.
You're a know anti-MIJ poster, on here and Drumforum.org. So, I take everything you say about MIJ drums with the hugest grain of salt.
Here's how it breaks down: there are great MIJ kit's, bad MIA kit's, and MIE drums surpass both, in terms of build quality, imo. I own all types.
As far as 3 ply vs 6 ply. I have both, but do prefer 3 ply with re-rings. The 6 plies can sound great, as another poster mentioned, edges make a huge difference.
Enjoy!
Nobody is saying to go on a world tour with a MIJ kit, but they are fun to collect, restore and play.
John Mayer's most recent drummer, Aaron Sterling toured with Mayer using his favorite kit: a US Mercury MIJ set.
I've used several of my MIJ kits on tours; in and out of cases, in and out of buses/vans/etc, up and on stage, etc. All good. Myself, or my tech handle ALL my drums, whether MIA/MIJ, or MIE, with care.
Also, when I do sessions I get just as many requests for my varies MIJ set/snares, as my MIA's and MIE's.
Finally, the secret is out on vintage MIJ drums, expect to see more and more of them on stages, studios, etc.
Disagree......a Quality drum shell WONT crack if dropped. Those Luan shells will crack if you breathe on them the wrong way.....c'mon guys.
An American made 3-ply shell would crack if dropped too, because it's only 3 ply.
I have several MIJ luan kits with the thick shells (I believe they are 9-ply) that are painted gray on the inside with no re-rings. They are built like tanks and are actually quite heavy, especially with the 2.3 mm hoops that I use.
