Oh man, I sold em after 1 year to get my first set of Luddies. I got enough for my Kents to pay for more than half the price of the new (1964) Luddies. I'm sorry I sold the Kents. It was my first kit and one my dad bought for me. But I was 13/14 and didn't know better. I thought I was going to live forever.

John

RE:Steve Jordan,

I knew he liked vintage drums,so I contacted him around 4 years ago before he played here with Clapton.

With the Net,you can find out where they are playing,of course,so I called backstage to the hall they were playing 4 days before they played here......Left a message I had vintage gear,and he called a few hours later!

He bought a 20"

Paiste 602 from me,and gave me free tix to the show.

I kept his cell phone number,and when I saw he was playing here with Mayer,called again,and told him about the 18" Luddy kit.

He hooked me up,+1,with front row tics/aftershow passes.

The guy who had the Luddy kit had the Kent too,so I bought that at the same time.

Then,in July 2010,Steve hooked me up with 2 reserved seats for the Crossroads Fest in Chicago,where he was playing with Mayer.

! Scalpers were getting $300 a tic we heard there!

Hey John,

I'll trade the WMP Kent's for a Rogers Mardi Gras kit if you know anyone who has one!LoLoLoLo

Blair - I just viewed a Drummerworld-link video of Jordan/Mayer/Paladino = freaking awesome! I've not listened to that trio but I will hunt down some more - Cool story re: you and Jordan.

Thanks Gary,

thats the lineup I saw at Crossroads.........

I was a hootin and a hollerin! People were looking at me like..WTF?

It was nearly 90 degrees F out that day,and since we had reserved seats,we had a bit of an overhang to protect us..........

Other people were right out in the direct sun all day!

Winwood played with Clapton that night.........Steve G. on drums.......awesome!

I have a 16" Red Sparkle Floor Tom by Kent. Bougt it new at the factory somewhere near Buffallo in the mid-60's. Think I remember paying around $50 for it. Got it to use with my 1958 Ludwigs, which came without a Floor Tom. Covered all the drums with some Faux Woodgrain contact paper in the 70's when my band-mates started complaining that my sweet sounding Ludwigs looked "old". Just removed that stickiy stuff and started refurbishing. No date, logo or anything in the tom, except pencil scribbled 16 1/2, and what might be craftsman initials. Very thin shells (2 ply?) with no reinforcing rings. In fact, no logo on outside of drum either. E. W. Kent by Weather King on oribinal batter head. Severe crazing to cracking on shell wrap.

I have a 16" Red Sparkle Floor Tom by Kent. Bougt it new at the factory somewhere near Buffallo in the mid-60's. Think I remember paying around $50 for it. Got it to use with my 1958 Ludwigs, which came without a Floor Tom. Covered all the drums with some Faux Woodgrain contact paper in the 70's when my band-mates started complaining that my sweet sounding Ludwigs looked "old". Just removed that stickiy stuff and started refurbishing. No date, logo or anything in the tom, except pencil scribbled 16 1/2, and what might be craftsman initials. Very thin shells (2 ply?) with no reinforcing rings. In fact, no logo on outside of drum either. E. W. Kent by Weather King on oribinal batter head. Severe crazing to cracking on shell wrap.

The drums had basically a paper tag on them,so someone might have ripped it off........they come off easily............

A fellow on Ebay sells replacement badges, but they are Blue, as were the later Kent badges.

A few words regarding the difference between American and Japanese made Kent drums:

Yes, the American Kents were made of very nice maple. However, the construction of the shells was a weird wrap around/spool technique and the glue drips were horrendous - and require more than just a light sanding to deal with. (If anyone knows how, I'd love to hear.)

The edges, from what I've seen were somewhere between terrible and not even considered during production. This also has something to do with the shell construction, see above.

And although the lugs themselves were rock solid, probably the best made parts of the drums, very often you see that the holes for the lugs were drilled out crookedly.

In contrast, although luan obviously isn't as desirable of a wood as maple, I have never seen a MIJ shell as poorly made as some of the Kent drums I have seen. I've never seen lug holes badly drilled. I've never seen edges (that left the factory) that weren't shaped decently.

So while the American Kents can be re-worked into some nice drums, I think that a blanket statement of "the American Kents are worthwhile, and the Japanese Kents are junk" is misleading and incorrect.

I have always loved the "E.W. Kent" design on the heads, though.