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I've been playing the 9 piece Tama and, while I LIKE it, it is quite
large. I've wanted a smaller kit for a couple of reasons.
One is to practice on the basics. A smaller kit eliminates the
temptation try to hit as many things as possible. It forces you
to be more creative. The other reason is portability and space.
 I didn't
know what I really wanted in a small kit until I had the notion
to recreate my very first drum set. When I was about 13 or 14,
my parents bought me a used Crest drumset in red pearl finish.
(see this good page on 60's Japanese imports: Drum Guru). It had a 9x13" bass mounted tom, a 16x16" floor tom,
a 14x20" bass drum and a 5x14" snare. The hardware was Gretsch copy, the
ride cymbal was mounted to the bass drum and the 13" tom was mounted to
the bass drum on a "rail mount consolette".
I'm still in the parts acquisition phase of construction. I searched
for months for just the right red pearl wrap. I thought I had
found the perfect match from a company in Germany, but when I got the
actual sample it wasn't red but a dark pink. It had the odd characteristic
of changing to red when hit with a flash. So in the photos on the
website it looked perfect.
Photo below on the left is without flash, right
is with flash. The top sample is the same in each, but the German wrap (bottom)
changes color. The color on the left is what the wrap looks like to the
naked eye. The color under flash (bottom, right photo) is exactly
how I remember my set from 20 years ago. If that were the wrap's
"real" color, it would be perfect.
During my search, one drum supply company
did some searching of their own to try to find what I wanted. They
didn't find the exact match, but they did find some colors and patterns
that they don't currently carry and decided to add them to their line.
The color is great and the pattern is similar to my original set,
only smaller. This is the wrap I've decided to go with. It's
the top sample in the above photos. Some other
"vintage" parts I need for this project are the bass mounted cymbal holder
($65-$200 used), a rail mount consolette and Gretsch lugs. I found
a genuine Ludwig cymbal holder at a garage sale for ONE DOLLAR! (see photo) I found a source
for the Gretsch lugs and consolettes are always available on ebay for
$50-$100. I really only need the top portion of the consolette (see
photo), as I found the bottom part of one (see photo) while digging
through my drum junk box the other day. So I hope to save a little
money there.
The lugs on the original Crest are copies of Gretsch but not exact
copies. See the photo below for side by side comparison.
Frankly, I prefer the look of the cheap imitation over the "real" Gretsch.
Unfortunately, I only saved 8 of the Crests.
Technical details for drumophiles: 2.3mm hoops, Keller 8 ply maple shells
with 45 bearing edges with 1/8" roundover on bass drum, bass drum will be
increased from 14" depth to 16", Ambassador coated heads on tops of snare
and toms, clear Diplomats on resonant side, smooth white resonant on front
of bass drum, clear Powerstroke III on bass batter.
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