Other Acrylic Drums - Pearl

BY RICHARD MORGAN - AKA "PearlDude"

Pearl first launched acrylic drums in the 1973 catalog. The drums were only offered in clear and there as no matching snare offered at that time. The only toms offered were 9x13, 10x14 and a 16x16 floor tom. Bass drums were 14x22 though a 14x20 option was available. The snare offered at launch was a 5.5X14 Chrome over Brass "Jupiter" snare - a Super Sensitive type snare with the through the shell throw-off. They where somewhat pricey for an import kit, A 5 piece kit with the 22" bass drum was $1175 in 1973 catalog and with the 20" bass drum they where $1125.

In the 1975 catalog Pearl offered the Transparents in Colors: Clear, Blue, Red, Yellow. With the new colors they also added the matching 5.5X14 acrylic snare to the line.

I got the clear set from the original owner who had listed them for sale in a 1986 (yes a 1986) Modern Drummer magazine. In 1996, ten years later, I was looking through the back issue and saw this listing and said "hey what the hell I'll call it". Well... not only was the number still the same and the guy still lived there, but he still had the dumb kit and had forgotten he even had the drums it had been so long for him. Well, anyway we worked something out - I paid too much - but I got them, and 6 yrs later I still have them. He used them for many years around the NY City area. There are rub marks on the toms from the snare being to close and there are some lite haze marks on one of the floor toms. The snare is pitted on the lugs as well.

The Pearl drums had a seamless shell which stood up better than the Ludwig Vistalite line. However, in order have a seamless shell Pearl had to roll a thin layer ply type shell much like the Wood ply drums where being made at the time. This had its faults. Temperature changes caused a hazing or cobwebbing effect. I personally have seen this happen; I watched a crystal clear shell haze over before my eyes. Heat changes don't affect the shells if they have time to adjust. This flaw most likely resulted in the line being dropped - though this wasn't the only flaw in the Pearl Transparent drums. The color didn't hold up and they would fade. I don't know what causes this. I have a red set where the toms have faded but the bass drum is as ruby red as the day they where new. I got the kit like this and they have shown no signs of fading any more. I saw a Transparent kit on Ebay sometime ago and the kit was faded to a Lite Purple from Blue but the bass drum was the same color and looked to be a good match; maybe the whole kit exposed to sun light?

Heat doesn't affect the shells if they have time to adjust to the temperature change. I my case the inside (air-conditioned) temperature was around 69 or 70 or so and the outer temperature was around 95. I don't store my drums in the air-conditioned atmosphere anymore and I don't play them when it is cool outside. Spring or fall is when I transport them the most. I recorded with a clear transparent kit and the Engineer thought he was in trouble! However, after micing them up he found we only had to take the fount head off the bass drum and put a blanket over it only to cover up the snare from bleeding through the bass drum mic. These drums have great bearing edges and tuning them is very easy and where made to sound good and a lot of time and care was taken into the Edges.

I also got the red/orange set from the original owner. Apart from the fade and some hazing on the 14 tom and snare, these drums are in MINT shape with mostly original heads and all original hardware too. Very light pits on the lugs but the shells are crack and scratch free. From five feet back the fade looks nice other then the bass drum being alittle brighter in color and the hazing is not seen at all.

The following scans come from the 1975 Pearl Japanese catalogue...

.....and this is from the 1979 Japanese catalogue.