OTHER "SWEET" PROJECTS I'VE WORKED ON LATELY

Here are some of the MIJ snare drums I have acquired and cleaned up recently.  Everything I find these days seems to be red or blue.  All were pretty simple refurbs with no interesting difficulties or discoveries on which I could comment.  These were all re-headed with the help of my personal Sales Engineer Ray Gonzalez at Sweetwater Sound, Inc. who sometimes takes time out of his busy day to call me on the phone to check up on my purchases, to see if I'm happy with their service and to see if there are any other items I need.  He's pretty dedicated like that.  Ray cuts me a little bit of a deal when I purchase multiple sets of snare heads at one time.  I get the standard Ambassador Coated for the tops and the thin Hazy heads for the bottom, which come in a special combo pack.  It's quick and convenient, and I love when the package arrives and I find that little package of candies that Sweetwater always slips in there with the invoice.  I think little touches like that make for good marketing.

And speaking of marvelous marketing maneuvers that manage to manifest a monstrosity of money-making moments (which means nothing - I was just arbitrarily applying some alliteration there), here is a really cool timbale I found on Ebay for twenty bucks.  As I can tell from the lugs, a typical "diamond" style most notably used on Pearl drums, this is probably a Japanese-made timbale which is somewhat rare.  You don't find a whole lot of Japanese-made "World Percussion" (timbales, bongos, congas, etc.) from the 70s-early 80s still around, but it does exist and can usually be snatched up for a good price because it's not all that collectible (or valuable).

As you will have to imagine with your own mind, I cleaned this drum up masterfully and it now looks brand new.  Unfortunately I think I stowed it away in my climate-controlled storage space without bothering to take any photos beforehand.  When you have a nice, shiny chrome drum sitting around on display, the first thing your average moron will do is say, "Wow!  Look at the awesome job you did polishing up this drum!" as they promptly pick up the percussion piece and get their dang dirty fingerprints all over it.  So chrome drums are usually rushed to storage around here to prevent this.

But here is a good example of a perfectly polished chrome  drum with a pink sparkle tom perched upon it.  This Tempro Pro metal snare drum was part of a junk kit that a friend of mine had stored in his attic for many, many years.  He kept telling me he had this set stashed away and one day he was going to get it together and learn how to play it, sort of a life-long goal he had set for himself.  I would tell him, "Sure, bring the set over and I'll see what you've got!" and he would say, "Yeah, I'm gonna do that one day," but it just never panned out.  I think he moved three times over the course of those many years, pulling the kit out of the attic and moving it to the attic of the new house.

FINALLY in the spring of this year he called (or texted) me and said, "Dude, this is it.  I'm moving to a new house once again but this time the drum kit is not going with me.  I'm going to bring you this pile of junk and you can either fix it up or throw it away.  I don't care anymore.  I'm never going to learn how to play it.

Upon receipt of the set of black-wrapped drums, I discovered the front bass drum head sported the name "Blackhawk," a low-level brand of drums made in Taiwan (sometimes referred to as "M.I.T." drums) but designed, imported and marketed by Gretsch in the 1980s (and probably actually assembled stateside as well).  This was at the point in time when American drum companies like Slingerland and Rogers were dying off, and others like Ludwig and Gretsch were struggling to compete with the Japanese onslaught of Tama and Pearl by introducing inexpensive alternatives like the Ludwig "Rocker Series" and these drums from Gretsch called "Blackhawks."

The initial introduction of the "Blackhawk" line featured adequately-made, reasonably-priced and decent-sounding drums with Gretsch-like badges and fairly sturdy and ornate hardware, perfect for beginners and/or those not wishing to spend a fortune on a higher quality setup.  By 1989 however, these types of drum kits devolved into cheaply-constructed, bare-bones pieces of crap made entirely in Taiwan and with the Gretsch name (and quality) removed.  No badges, thin plywood shells without re-rings, and inferior lugs and hardware that was easily bent or broken.

Unfortunately this later version of Blackhawks was the type I had acquired, the ones that made the unsuspecting think they had some budget Gretsch drums when actually what they had was a load of Taiwanese junk.  And when I say "they," what I mean is "me."  Seriously, there are lugs broken off, various knobs and screws stripped or missing, and no bottom rims.  What a mess.

However I did notice the snare drum was not a Blackhawk but instead a Tempro Pro.  Therefore I cleaned it up and the Taiwanese junk is still lying around.  I still haven't decided whether to waste any time on this kit or just throw it away.  It's a heck of a challenge, but with other more interesting opportunities on my plate right now, these badly-battered Blackhawks will just have to wait.

Several blue drums I have lined up for service.