lol... charmed, indeed.
If I took this to the local drum shop, they wouldn't laugh me out the door, they would say "cool looking off-brand vintage kit, dude, how does it sound?"
The reality is, it sounds much better than both the pos Pearl Export "All Black" kit I bought a few years ago, and sold in a hurry... and the nice looking but drastically overpriced Gretsch Club Catalina that went back to GC in three days early last year. That kit was a toy, and both had the benefit of nice wood for the shells, decent bearing edges and proper hardware. BUT, as a result of those two purchases, I now look in the used bin before buying new, and sometimes find some really nice stuff - on brand or off.
I have played quite a few different kits in this lifetime, some that would now be considered 'vintage' as in 'fine wine' and some that are just 'vintage' but my bottom line is: if it sounds good, tunes up easily and stays there and doesn't fall apart when you play it, then it's not a toy, and not crap, no matter what the shells are made of.
Oh, and I forgot to ask this very important question: Tim, do you like Tom Waits?
As a writer, singer, or actor?
LOL
As a writer he's okay, as a singer, eh- I could take him or leave him. As an actor I think he's pretty good.
I'm not charming, by the way.
To me, as somebody who repaired drums for 18 years, vintage insinuates that it is
actually worth something. For example, one of my mom's friends has an original Beatles' era Ringo Ludwig 4-piece kit in a closet at her house. Her son got it when he graduated High School in the 1960's - he played it for a year before he was killed at 19 in a motorcycle wreck. The set has never left her house - ever. It's been in a closet since 1967. It's got the original heads on it, and she even still has the freaking price-tag that was on the set.
To me, THAT is a vintage kit.
A lot of people have older gear and think that they have a gem that's worth thousands, and that was the point I was trying to make. These old sets have real no monetary value.
Sure, if you want to invest $750 in the set, you could bring it up to par with new hardware, new bearing edges, etc to make it a player, but based upon the brand, it still isn't really worth anything because the shell are junk, and the hardware isn't even as good as the cheaper stuff that is out there today.
But my question would be "Why would you want to?" I'd rather put the $750+ toward a used name kit, or in my personal thinking, toward shells and hardware from Drum supply house (drummaker:com) or precision drum, and put a kit together myself.
I have taken the hoops and lugs off of one of these older economy shells, and literally seen it come apart because there was nothing actually holding it together once the lugs came off.
That is the point I'm trying to make.
Also, a forum member wrote to me asking about cutting bearing edges.
I'll tell you basically what I told him.
If you like this kit, or somebody has one of these kits, and you want new bearing edges on it - either take it to a pro to have the edges cut, or buy some other crappy single drums to practice cutting edges on, because you are not going to get it right the first time.
Trust me - I screwed up a lot of shells practicing, and I knew what I was doing with a router - I was a professional woodworker for quite awhile prior to trying to cut my first bearing edge. (Norm Abrams from This Old House and New Yankee Workshop was my hero when it came to woodworking. LOL )
Try to get them for as cheap as you can, and just consider the price of these other shells the cost of learning.
Tim
i ve been looking one the net but cant find any information so i guess its a rare thing nowdays....maybe a museum would be intrested 
)
