THE RED SPARKLE "MIJ-it" KIT

Here is my latest acquisition and the drum set I have been working on most recently.

Now don't let the "Ludwig" head fool you.  This is a vintage 1960's "no-name" "Made in Japan" set of drums that I am calling my "Red MIJ-it Kit" as opposed to the blue-sparkle version I already assembled.  This grouping was in pretty good shape but did have some issues, the most obvious being no snare drum.  Remarkably I was able to contribute a previous project that matched perfectly.  The red-sparkle Jewel snare drum I had already restored had the same wrap and identical lugs.

After each of the three new drums were completely disassembled, painstakingly polished and given new heads, the result was this gorgeous little jazz kit: 5 x 14" snare, 7-1/2 x 12" tom, 13 x 14" floor tom and 14 x 20" bass drum.*  The floor tom was given new legs as these were missing, and the bass drum got a new shell-mount cymbal holder to fill the hole where one should be.

Japanese drums, whose shells are made of lightweight luan wood instead of the sturdier, more resonant varieties of American-made drums (maple, birch, etc.), are still excellent-looking and decent-sounding percussion instruments that are wonderful to play.  That is, I must say, if you have a moderate approach to playing and are not some heavy-handed, hard rock drummer that thinks the more violently you play the better.  Drums should be handled like a woman, with respect and care, sometimes firm and determined, sometimes gentle and graceful.  Just whacking the heck out of them is never the answer.

In my humble opinion, if you are constantly breaking heads, cracking cymbals and shattering sticks you've got the wrong idea.  Of course if you are a touring professional or someone who plays a lot on a regular basis, vintage Japanese kits are not for you.  They are rather delicate and will not withstand the constant use and abuse.  But for a beginner - or a "dabbler" who enjoys tinkering around more than actual playing (like myself) - these kits are fun to mess around on.

That's my commentary for today for what it's worth, and that's the completion of my red MIJ-it kit.
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*Though these sizes may seem odd, they are indeed accurate.  While 12-inch toms are usually 8 inches deep, this Japanese model is a slightly shorter 7-1/2.  The 14-inch floor tom, which should typically measure 14 inches deep, is actually only 13 inches deep.  This is another way that the Japanese cut corners in order to produce sets that looked like American products but cost much less.  Shaving off an inch here and a half-an-inch there, using inexpensive luan instead of American hardwoods and lighter-weight, chrome-plated metal hardware instead of thick, chrome-plated steel, enabled the Japanese to drastically reduce their overhead.