[COLOR="DarkRed"]It's an old Pearl "Valencia" model (double-loaded lugs all drums)...from about 1968 or '69, definitely pre-1970 and I believe Pearl only used that badge in '68 until '70.

The interesting thing on this one is....the floor tom legs re old-school so this may well be a bit earlier than '68....although to my knowledge Pearl didn't start using that name until '68. You should PM GeorgeLawrence, or visit his website georgesdrumshop.com and follow the links to the museum....he is the vintage Japanese guru.

Luan shells, the bearing edges are probably a bit primitive. Try cleaning up the wraps first with a household spray cleaner and follow that up with an automotive vinyl cleaner/wax....and there's a fair chance you can get some lustre back on the shells.

You'll need to remove all hardware but that's probably a good idea anyway. If you find the floor tom is sounding dead, replace the existing rubber feet with newer, thicker, wider feet...it'll isolate the drum from the floor more and make it sound the way it was supposed to. For some reason those straight legs with the old-school pushbutton thru-brackets really could kill the resonance on these shells.

These can sound pretty decent if you have the bearing edges re-routed to a sharper edge; then sand 'em to 220 grade and give the edges a couple of coats of tung oil.

If you don't wanna go that extra mile, just try hand sanding until they are smoother.

They won't be particularly loud of sharp-sounding...but with the right heads and good tuning, they make a nice small-combo sorta kit. And they do have that vintage Mojo thang goin' on Excited

In good shape on eFlay, a 3-pc like this is worth about $300 give or take, FYI.[/COLOR]

Should have left them in the trash IMO......Eye Ball

Hey thanks a lot for the input (except for ludwig dude, why would anyone leave a free kit in the trash?Eye Ball) I do have the fourth piece and i have started cleaning them up. The hoops aren't the best but the rest is pretty decent. They are not well made drums but they are a piece of history so i think ill hang on to em.

I do have a question though, I've seen you talk about this badge being from 60's and 70's but when i look at the link at the top of the page it says 50's, the pearl site also has a pic on their timeline that looks just like this kit. I'm not saying your wrong because i am not a vintage guru by any means, I'm simply asking why the discrepency?

Sorry, but to me (and many others) they aren't worth the time and effort. They are cheap luan shells with cheap hardware, that even after much reworking they still sound sub-par. They are nothing more than a conversation piece. After you're done "restoring" them all that they will be good for is looking at. Drums are made for playing in my book, not just looking at. Cheap toy drums are just that....no matter how old they are or who made them. Hey may be collectible, but still worth nothing (just because its collectible doesn't mean its valuable, there is a difference)....the trash was the best place for them IMO. You could always cut them at the seam, steam bend them flat again and make a door out of them.....the only useful thing for luan.....

I get your point and i agree, i never claimed they were a good drum i just thought they were a cool find. They are possibly the worst made drums ever, but..... so what!!! They were free, it's not like i chose to buy them. I do have an old acrolite snare and i love it, but those guys had been making drums for years by the time these pearls came along it was one of the first kits they put out. So, are they worth anything...no, do i still think they're kinda cool..... yes.

Cool set of early Pearls! Search this forum also, we have a few guys that can give you the info you need and they have already commented on a few sets like this.

David

Thanks, I've talked to a guy (jonnistix) briefly about them he just got a snare thats about the same as these. I'll post some pics when im done restoring them. Great site keep up the good work!

Hey, they are at least as good a drum set as I started out on (a Tempro Pro). Something to hit -for free? Sign me up!

My poor wife goes crazy when I drag stuff out of the trash.. but I got a great telescope 10" mirror (Jupiter looks beautiful right now)! A couple nice boxes of poplar stair railings... a couple chairs I garaged saled... I even got an old Homelite super XL chainsaw that I use to this day...

I can promise you.. had I seen that drum kit at the curb.. it would have had a new home!! Nice grab.

http://www.georgesdrumshop.com/museum.asp