RE-VISITING THE LUDWIG JELLYBEAN VISTALITES

Although the misplacedmtnman MIJ Museum is mostly comprised of Japanese kits, a few American drums are allowed to slip in once in a while.  This is mainly because vintage U.S.-manufactured drums are much more valuable and cost a friggin' fortune.  The most I have ever spent in my life was when I surrendered $300.00 for a Ludwig Black Vistalite snare drum, and that was only because I had already assembled a whole set and only lacked a matching snare.  On that occasion I was able to throw caution (and my money) to the wind, but normally I just cannot bring myself to spend that much on a single drum, or something north of $800 for a kit made by Ludwig, Rogers, Gretsch or Slingerland.  It just seems ridiculous.

When assembling my two Ludwig Vistalite kits, I got around this problem in two ways.  The first was by purchasing single drums instead of sets.  The second strategy was focusing on "less desirable" choices.  When it comes to Vistalite acrylic drums, the opaque black and white colors are not as sought after as the translucent colors (red, blue, amber, etc.)  It was much easier for me to acquire all the Black Vistalites I wanted for lower prices because of the reduced demand and competition.

When I set out to construct a "Jellybean" kit, I quickly discovered Vistalite concert toms were much cheaper and less-frequently bid on, so I was able to snatch up the colored toms I wanted without too much trouble.  Then I had holes drilled and converted them to double-headed toms.  For the snare drum I concocted the brilliant scheme of.....

Wait a minute.  What the hell am I rambling on about?  Nobody gives a crap about all this!  SHOW US THE DAMB PICTURES!!!!

Sorry about that.  I just get to talking to myself and forget that nobody cares.  My point to all that was that I found this 16-inch MIJ clear acrylic floor tom that I added to this kit to make it a hybrid, so now this Jellybean drum set is completely qualified to be included in the MIJ Museum.  That's all.  That's all I really wanted to say.  I don't know why I launched into all that back story.  Like you give a flip.  Pshhhh!