jonnistix,

Hold on to your bra straps. I just read a post and looked at pictures on the Pearl forum. A kid named Chino has just bought a new Asama set MADE IN 2003! The pictures are killer, and the badge appears to be much the same as on the red and black Asamas we've talked about.

You could go to Pearl Drum Forum, search for "Asama," and choose the thread that's about " My Asama Kit." (Or something close to that.)

I can't wait to hear from this kid.

Time for a rum drink.

OOPS! - I just figured out that Chino posted this in 2004. Might not be hearing from him, after all.

Time for another rum drink.

(I'm reminded of the end of the movie, Chinatown. Everything has just gone wrong. Faye Dunaway's eye has just been blown out by a gunshot. And Jakes partner gets him out of there saying, "C'mon, Jake, it's Chinatown." Meaning it's a rough place -- things often go wrong there. So I'm tellin' myself, "C'mon, Dave, it's Asamatown.")

Hi folks

For any advanced description of ASAMA drums, just follow this link;

http://www.ladrummerie.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=40735&p=592911&hilit=asama#p592911

there are more topics on this forum about Asama hardware and snare drums.

I don't think this brand was neither a Pearl nor a Tama-Hoshino product: nothing in the construction of the shells nor in the high end hardware parts.

Maybe Kawai,

As far as I know we can find roughly 4 types of kits:

stencil crappy fepos gear, cheap rhodoïd wrap, lauan, pearl-like lugs, tama tom holders,

Zola-coated lauan fepos shells, Asama stamped "trapezoidal" lugs, tama tom holders, better quality,

medium range bright red stained japanese maple finish ply, curved lugs, with the small "volcano" logo casted on it,

high range 900 and 1000 models, hard wood multiply, straigt deep shells, with curved lugs, same type as previous, fast lock tube type tom holders (kind of Pearl-like system), and nice Sonor Signature like finish: red mahogany ply inside and a gorgeous glossed Camphor burl for the external finish ply;

[img]http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/401/aqbm.jpg[/img]

Asama high end 14"x6,5"and 14"x8" Snare drums w/ Tama KG parallel strainer are very nice instruments

[img]http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/1365/1001155i.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/5295/1001699x.jpg[/img]

more to come;Sumo Dude

I have a bdp kit with no badges which is clearly a PEARL MAXWIN kit imo, but curiously it has an ASAMA reso head? no big deal as gear turns up all the time with mixed up heads, how ever I remember the vendor telling me with great authority that ASAMA where a sister company to TAMA and iho was an ASAMA drum kit. I did a bit of googling but couldn't find much info, I think i made a post with some reference at the time. The deal for this kit included a ft that was to come along later, and that time has come, much later than I would have liked, how ever have been contacted by this past vendor. Now having come across this discussion because of my interest in early yamaha kits it has sparked my interest to quiz this guy when we catch up. The pics of the ASAMA drums gives me an impression of a TRAK snare that I have, but not suggesting they come from the same stable, Am in Australia.