SENSATIONAL SILVER SPARKLE SPECTACULAR!

 I don't have much to say here.  This was another typical, routine restoration job that involved disassembling, cleaning, polishing and reassembling the drum without any issues.  All the parts were good and were re-installed.  I didn't even replace the existing heads because they still had plenty of life left in them.  I did utilize new tension rod washers and snare wires, but that's a normal replacement need.  Nothing tricky about that.  Cheap Japanese washers are always the first thing to rust and the flimsy original wires are always bent up and useless.

So without further ADD-EEW! here is the drum in its "Before" state:

And here is the drum after I have worked my magic on it:

Okay.  That's it.  Show's over, now move along.  Nothing more to see here.

GLAMOROUS GREEN GLASS GLITTER

If it is not completely obvious to you right off the proverbial bat that the above snare drum is BLUE and totally not GREEN, then please adjust the color on your computer monitor or immediately schedule an appointment with the nearest optometrist.  Yes, this freshly restored, beautiful Blue Sparkle Pearl snare drum is indeed "blue" as the nomenclature implies, but the reason it appears to not line up with the headline I have chosen is because this is only the beginning of the story I am about to relate, a riveting tale that no one is going to read or remotely care about.

Now that I have wasted time and filled up some space with a pointless opening paragraph, here is the brief anecdote that I decided to write to accompany my photographs.  This blue snare drum was just another of several.....and I do mean several...Made-in-Japan snare drums with a blue sparkle wrap that I have restored over the years.  In fact, if you knew anything about vintage Japanese drums you would definitely know that the most pervasive characteristic of them was their wrap finish.  Chances are that if you find one of these drums it's going to have a sparkle wrap of red or blue.  Those two were obviously just the most popular color choices of the time and so it stands to reason that more of those wraps survived until now.  I have found many gold sparkle drums, a few Champagne sparkles and a handful of other interesting "agates" and "pearls," but ordinarily I most often only encounter the red and blue sparkles.  It gets quite boring rather quickly to be honest.  I can't tell you how many drums I have passed up just because I seriously don't need any more reds and blues!

So when I reluctantly purchased yet another damn Blue Sparkle Pearl snare drum just so I would have something to work on, having been furloughed indefinitely from my job, I was delighted to discover the glue underneath the wrap had deteriorated to the point that the hardware was the only thing holding the wrap to the drum.

I already had concerns about the sticker residue (shown here to the left of the leftmost lug), which was probably the result of one of these dumbass antique dealers sticking a big ol' price tag directly onto the wrap.  Note to sellers: DO NOT DO THIS, you big dummies!  Now I have to figure out a way to remove the sticker and the glue residue without damaging the delicate wrap!  Not an easy task!

Besides that, there was this disturbing auction photo that clearly shows that the wrap has come loose near the Tone Control Knob.  I can see the head and rim has squeezed a portion of it away from the shell, and it is starting to crinkle and tear.

Bravely I took the risk and bought the drum anyway, hoping to get this instrument back on track by repairing the damage.  But, as I stated earlier, when I removed all the chrome hardware in preparation for cleaning, the wrap fell off.  This meant I could forget the BSP wrap altogether and start from scratch!  What an opportunity!

Naturally I would want to choose a new wrap that was more interesting and eye-catching.  Of course I'm not going to recover this drum with another blue sparkle wrap!  That would be monotonous!  No, I decided to go with something rare yet appropriate for the era.  That's why I went with Precision Drum Company's "Green Glass Glitter," although back in the day it would have been called "Green Sparkle Pearl."  The difference is GSP consists of green sparkles which produce a more subdued sparkleness, whereas the GGG finish also contains mirror sparkles in the mix which cause it to SPARKLE noticeably more.  It really POPS, unless you have a shitty digital camera from a decade or so ago that is completely incapable of taking decent photos of drums.

So there you have it.  Definitely not the most professional "re-wrap job" ever executed, but I'm happy with it.  It works.  If you could just pretend that those photos are totally awesome, that would be great, because I'm old and I'm tired and let's face it, I'm just not very good at taking pictures of drums with my god-awful camera.  I'm not going to stress out about it.  I'm done here.

WHY the misplacedmtnman HATES TO SELL

Probably the most misunderstood aspect of what I do here at the misplacedmtnman MIJ Museum is when people see my work and assume that after I have performed my miraculous magic and restored all these old drums to their original splendor, the next step is for me to turn around and sell these projects for a huge profit.

If only that were true.

No, unfortunately there are only two kinds of people on sites like Ebay: Buyers who want a "steal" on something valuable, and sellers who think just because something is "old" it is worth a fortune.  Therefore most of the time transactions are at a standstill and neither side wins.  Nothing gets sold.

For example, right now on Ebay I have probably a half dozen freshly restored snare drums up for sale.  They all have brand spanking new heads, new wires, spotless chrome, all original parts and are fully-functional, ready-to-rock.  My price?  $125.00 plus twenty bucks shipping.  Totally reasonable, right?  My mission is not to make a huge profit, but to at least break even while providing a nice, vintage drum to a fellow drummer and/or collector.

But I get nothing.  Very few views and maybe two or three "watchers" at the most.

Remember the "Experiment" I conducted with this Black Diamond Pearl Revere snare drum?  This drum actually sold, and I got my 125 plus 20, which barely covered what I paid for it and added to it.  Great job everybody!  Right?  Am I right?

Well, not exactly.  Turns out, this drum was purchased by a music store in Minnesota, and now they have re-photographed it (as seen above) and listed it on Reverb for $350.00.  Oh, swell!!

They also bought this Blue Marine Pearl Winston from me on Ebay, and have now re-listed it on Reverb for $225.00 (incorrectly as "Blue Onyx Pearl," by the way).

So see how this works?  Or doesn't work?  If I was barely able to sell to them for 125, there's no way in hell they are going to get 350 or 225, but maybe...just maybe there will be a sucker out there who doesn't know any better and will pay this exorbitant price.

But I don't blame the music store.  No, it's fine.  I love capitalism and if they can get that price for my work I say more power to them, because I have many more snare drums they should buy from me.  A whole storage unit full, as a matter of fact.  Let's sell them all and make ourselves rich, because that's the American way.  I'm proud to see my restoration projects being sold for these prices.

But are they being sold?  Or are they simply being dangled out there as "sucker bait?"  Is the average MIJ snare drum purchaser/collector who knows a little bit about Japanese drums really going to see these prices as fair and reasonable?

Here's another example, this time on the seller's end.  Remember the asking price I set in the examples above?  Well, say hello to a seller named "smile_its_free" who has this lovely White Marine Pearl snare up for sale on Ebay for only $149.00, which despite the seller's handle, is far from free.

Oh, and in case you are that brain-dead moron with money that they hope you are, the seller points out that this drum "could use a new wrap."

REALLY?!!

Yeah, and it also needs new heads, new wires, new rims, new t-rods and a shit-load of metal polish.  Basically what you are buying is a luan wood shell and some dirty chrome parts.  In my estimation, you're going to need about $149.00 worth of new stuff to make this $149.00 piece of shite presentable again, so spare me the "killer snare" comment posted with your ad.  Your drum is a beat-up, extremely-abused emergency case that in saner times would have been sold for $10.00 if the seller was a pothead who desperately needed a dime bag and his drummer bud just felt sorry for him.  Then the purchaser would either throw the poor thing away or toss it into storage to be forgotten.

Which, now that I think about it, is probably the case here.

Here is my final example of why the vintage MIJ drum market is bat-crap crazy and impossible to negotiate.  This is why I have a 10x10 storage unit FULL TO THE BRIM with Japanese drums and refuse to sell them.

This is a badly-faded, hunk-o'-junk U.S. Mercury four-piece.  It's supposed to be "Red Sparkle," not the interesting "Sunburst Sparkle" that it has become due to several years of neglect.

Now, I don't know a whole lot because I have only bought and restored thirty vintage drum sets and about 150 some-odd snare drums and toms, but in my humble opinion and from my decades of experience, this kit is in sound structural condition.  It has all its hoops and hardware, new heads and so forth, and I would be willing to reward this seller with a generous offer of $400.00 plus shipping.  I mean, the entire set-up really needs to be recovered but other than that it does have intact badges, the proper tom mount, FT legs, BD spurs and all that.

But no, this seller is demanding $850 plus another 150 in shipping.  That's a THOUSAND dollars for an old, severely-faded, luan-shell, cheap-ass Japanese drum set.  In what universe does this make sense?  Anyone (in their right mind) could buy a vintage American-made kit for the same price!  You could have a maple-shell Ludwig with a descent, non-faded wrap and rock-steady hardware for a thousand bucks!

Or could you?  I don't know any more.

That's why I am disheartened by the present state of the market.  I don't see drummers selling their stuff for sensible prices because they want to move up to a nicer, more expensive set-up.  Now I just see greedy "American Pickers wanna-bees" thinking they've scored an awesome find that they can peddle to some know-nothing for a huge profit.

I restore drums because I love the instrument and I want to see it used again as was originally intended.  I want to make these drums available again so kids who can't afford a thousand-dollar brand-new Tama or Pearl drum set can have something sensible to start out on.  Did you know that Neil Peart's first drum kit was a four-piece Stewart?  It was, because his parents couldn't afford an expensive American-made kit.  And Neil played that little luan kit to death, and went on to become one of the greatest, most-admired, most influential drummers of all time.  A legend that started out on a cheap-ass MIJ.

But now, sellers think those kids or their parents want to shell out a thousand dollars for a shit-kit like this.  It just makes me sad.  In my effort to provide my finished projects on Ebay for reasonable prices, in hopes that some kid can finally acquire some skins to bang on, my drums are only bought up by those who turn around, jack the price sky high and then hope for some doofus or perhaps a wealthy collector to come along and fall prey.

And ultimately, my work will more likely sit out there indefinitely on Reverb and Ebay, and the kids go play Xbox.  Again, I'm all for capitalism and I sincerely hope those snare drums are truly worth the asking prices.  I'm just a little doubtful.

Just one more photo to reinforce my point.  See this beautiful, jet-black Yamaha four-piece?

This kit is for sale on Ebay for $379.00 plus $163.00 shipping.

Is that MIJ kit above really worth twice as much as this almost-new Yamaha, just because it is so-called "vintage?"  I am not so sure.  I'd rather have the Yamahas, and I collect vintage MIJ drums!

Right now people are anxious and unsure when it comes to the economy.  Items in general are not selling on Ebay (I have things other than drums posted there).  My prediction is, this Yamaha kit will not sell, and the MIJ kit will definitely not sell.

_________________________________________

The misplacedmtnman is an anonymous individual whose opinions mean absolutely nothing to anyone.....ever.  Due to a lack of friends or a life in general, he wastes his time writing these ridiculous articles that no one will ever read on a website that no one ever visits, so even if he were to write "Fuck all you rioters, Biden supporters, and other traitorous, Marxist terror-supporters on the Communist News Network," no one would actually see it, comment on it, or know that he had written it.  There are advantages to being completely ignored by everyone in society at large, and a statement like that has nothing to do with percussion products anyway.  Oh, and also.....fuck twitter.

RE-VISITING THE BLUE AGATE PEARLS

 I know it has not been very long since I first presented this kit, but I have already made some improvements.  Since the original post here I have added another floor tom, not because it was needed or part of some plan, but just because when a drum pops up on Ebay and I can make use of it, I snag it.

So here are the photos of the updated kit.  Yes, I know these are horrendously crappy pictures, but it is muggy and stifling hot here, this is how the pictures turned out, and I am certainly not going back out in the heat to try and get better ones.  The blurry and poorly-lit ones will have to do.  Did I mention I have debilitating arthritis?  Yeah.  Nobody cares.

KIT SPECIFICATIONS:

• 14 x 20" Bass Drum
• 8 x 12" Tom
• 14 x 14" Floor Tom
• 16 x 16" Floor Tom
• 5 x 14" Snare Drum
• 5 x 14" Back-up Snare
• 3 x 10" Junior Snare Drum

This concludes this feature article.  This assemblage has now been documented and cataloged, and will be safely returned to storage until such a time as they are again needed.  The misplacedmtnman does not, and never will, really care what you think about these matters.

BROKEN PROMISE: HOW THE MPMM HAS LIED ONCE AGAIN

MISLEADING MISCREANT MORON CONTINUES TO BUY AND RESTORE DRUMS DESPITE PROMISING OTHERWISE...THE FILTHY FIBBER!!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have heard it all before and it is always a LIE, LIE, LIE!!  Despite swearing up and down that his MIJ Museum was full to the brim and he would no longer continue purchasing additional drums HE HAS DONE IT AGAIN!!  DARN HIM TO HECK!

Anonymous sources revealed just this weekend that the misplacedmtnman has been secretly stockpiling drums in a nefarious plot to assemble yet another MIJ drum kit, this one with a "Champagne Sparkle Pearl" wrap finish.  Here are the exclusive photos of this insidious, clandestine project:

 

 

Experts in the field have detailed the components of this latest venture as follows:

• 14 x 22" Bass Drum
• 7 x 12" Tom
• 14 x 14" Floor Tom
• 5 x 14" Snare Drum

"It is a very nice-looking assemblage," one source is quoted as saying.  "The Champagne Sparkle wrap is one we haven't seen on any previous collections the misplacedmtnman has brought together, so even though he is a lying sack of crud who definitely has an addiction to percussion products, he does dang fine work."

When asked about the floor tom which appears to have a wrap that doesn't exactly match the other drums, the source speculated that this drum was chosen to make an artistic statement.

"The faded Blue Sparkle wrap on that drum blends beautifully into the setup and compliments the others," he said.  "It presents a subtle statement of diversity and inclusiveness, because if you are judging these drums by the color of their wraps, that makes you a hateful, racist bigot.  Stop questioning other people's lifestyle choices.  Stop embracing harmful misinformation."

At this point we pretty much gave up on our source and lost all interest in this topic altogether.  Nobody really cares.  Article over.

WELCOME TO THE M.I.J. E.R.

 Welcome to my "Emergency Room" for "Made-in-Japan" drums.  Here I take on the difficult challenges of repairing and restoring old neglected drums when the cause seems hopeless.  Let's look at a couple of tough cases.

THE RSP STAR SNARE

This drum was recovered via Ebay where it was being "sold for parts," which is rather odd since there aren't any major problems visible here in the main auction photo.

This is a Red Sparkle Pearl 5 x 14" Star Snare that at first glance looks perfectly fine.  The wrap is bright, the chrome is shiny, the badge looks to be in excellent condition and the proper butt plate is in clear view.  What could be the problem?

Let's look at another photo from a different angle.  Sometimes when you see the other side there's a huge hole in the shell or some severe damage to the wrap.

Ouch!  Okay, now we are starting to see the problem.  There are a lot of empty holes there.  A couple of vital parts are obviously missing.  I guess when they say they are selling it "for parts" they mean "because of missing parts" or "for parts to be added" or something like that.

Anyway, whatever the case, have no fear because here at the MIJ ER we have plenty of spare parts, don't we?

Well, I don't know about you, but I certainly do.  I've been stockpiling for years now.

Now let's see how things look after the misplacedmtnman manipulates his magic.....

THE GSP MIJ 16 FT

For our second patient we have here a 16 x 16" Gold Sparkle Pearl "unbranded" or "no-name" MIJ Floor Tom.

Most people with some common sense would shrink away from such a project and say, "Forget it, old man!  That drum is a hunk of junk!  It's past its time!  Not worth the effort!"

We at the MIJ ER, however, see potential.  We don't listen to common sense because we love drums, we have money, and a fool and his money are soon gonna buy some more drums to fix up.  Something like that.

HOW IS THAT for results, huh?  Rims and rods replaced, shined-up chrome and new heads?

THAT IS A FLOOR TOM BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE!!!

And that's what we do here at the MIJ ER.  We bring good things to life.....no wait, that's General Electric.  We bring good drums to life.  Or back to life.  Whatever.

And when I say we I actually mean me, the misplacedmtnman, because I did all the damn work while you guys were busy doing all sorts of other more important things.

Now.....unfortunately I don't even have a Gold Sparkle Pearl drum set that needs a 16" floor tom, so.....if anybody wants to buy this drum just let me know.  I might sell it to you.

Or I'll just add it to the stacks.....

SALVAGING S'MORE SIZZLERS

HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS, HOMBRES, THIS POST IS GONNA BE RIVETING!!!

That there was a brief experiment.  I acquired a new laptop to work on, and I was testing out a new photo management program I now have that allows me to organize my pictures into photo albums, create video compilations, add visual effects and whatnot.  Yeah, I know it's nothing that everyone else hasn't been doing for decades now, but give me a break.  I'm old and technologically challenged.  In another ten years I may figure out how to set up a YouTube channel.

ANYWAY, this post is nothing more than a blatant attempt to show off my collection of "Sizzle Cymbals," which are cymbals that have small holes drilled into them so that little metal rivets may be inserted to create a sustained rattling sound.  Not an annoying, buzzing sound but (in most cases) a pleasant decrescendo of subtle fizzing and crackling reminiscent of bacon frying, a cold carbonated beverage being poured or perhaps the after-effects of a large wave crashing upon a beach.  Am I conveying the concept here?  I've used up all the suggestions in the Thesaurus at this point.  As one would obviously assume.....they SIZZLE!

This type of cymbal used to be quite popular with jazz musicians in times past but not so much with drummers these days.  So I, being the maladjusted misplacedmtnman who tends to veer the opposite way from modern trends, make it my insignificant, inconsequential mission to find these old cymbals on Ebay and snatch them up.  Since they are a bit beyond their time as I am, usually this means these cymbals have the holes but not the rivets, and have what clever sellers like to describe as "antique patina."  In reality this just means they are old and dirty, but it also means they are typically much cheaper than the newer, shinier cymbals.

Cleaning, repairing and restoring these old treasures is not extraordinarily difficult, it just takes more time and effort than most people are willing to invest.  Since I don't have a life or any friends, I have plenty of both to dedicate to returning these interesting instruments to their original splendor.  That's just the kind of guy I am.

Taking a closer look at my cleaned-up collection, I currently have a 19-inch and two 18-inch Sizzle Crash/Rides.  The nineteen has a "Brilliant" finish that makes it look extra smart - pardon my redundancy - and if one was truly interested in the fine details, one eighteen has six rivets spaced evenly around the circumference of the cymbal, while the other has two groups of four rivets opposite to each other.  This doesn't make any noticeable difference in the sizzle sound, it's just a visual difference.  The really cool thing about these big boys is their versatility.  They sound great as a ride or a crash, hence the nomenclature "Crash/Ride" (obviously).  I enjoy evoking a wide range of sounds from these, from the bell to the bow to the edge.  It's all good.

The next type I want to feature here is the "Sizzle China."  This 17-inch made by Wuhan should have six rivets, but one has fallen out.  As I have been unable to find a match for the remaining five, I decided to just not worry about it.  So what is the sizzle enhancement for a China cymbal?  Well, let's see if I can describe it.  Have you ever heard one of those fireworks that goes "Pow!" and then has an extended crackling effect afterwards?  Yeah.  I guess...kinda like that.  You have the initial harsh, sharp crash of the China and then the loud rattling of the rivets afterwards.  The "sizzle" effect in this case is less "pleasant" and more of a noticeable extenuation of the abrupt China sound, which is precisely the point when using this type of cymbal to highlight accents in the music being played.  It is the reverberations of the explosion that just occurred.

You know, it would be really cool if I took the time to make videos demonstrating my points.  Nah, it'll be fine.....

Moving on, the last genre of "Sizzle Cymbals" I will present here are these "Sizzle Hats."  Yes, just as the name implies, these are Hi-Hats with rivets installed in the bottom cymbal.  Here in this photo I have displayed only the bottom cymbals.

Wow!  What a crazy cool configuration for your hi-hat cymbals!  I bet those sound super kewl!

Well......I thought they would.  Turns out, however, rivets - even many rivets like I have installed in this one on the left (a total of 12) - don't really have a chance to make a difference with hi-hat cymbals.  The reason is - at least with my style of playing - I find that most of the time I have the hats "closed," which means the rivets are not rattling.  When I do open the hats, even for an extended period of time, I can't really hear the rivets creating much of a racket, and are quickly stifled as soon as the hats are closed anyway.  So unless I open the hats and smash 'em like a crash, I don't really hear a discernible sizzle effect.  I definitely wouldn't pay extra for rivets in my hats in any case.  These two pairs I have already had the holes drilled and I installed the rivets myself at very little cost.

THE "PERCUSSION FORTRESS" BLOG WILL RETURN AFTER THIS BRIEF VIDEO MESSAGE:

Okay, so I admit this post fell far short of riveting, and I apologize.  However, I felt it was important to give a voice to these marginalized cymbals who have been forgotten, pushed to the side or ignored altogether.....and at the very least, are rarely heard in music today.  I brought them back.  I found them, cleaned them, rammed rivets into their holes and began beating them with a stick again, just as they have always deserved.  You should thank me.  I bid you good day, sir.