My buddy has a Made In Taiwan set. He's had it for about 12 years. He said his dad bought it from the 2nd owner who got it in the early 80s.
What years did they made Pearl drums in Taiwan? Just teting to narrow the year it was made.
No pictures yet, sorry.
I have bought a few no name , cheap sets recently off of Craigs that I grabbed just to get the nice cymbals off of,and the drums were made in Taiwan,and had the 70's -80's Pearl lugs,so I am thinking late 70's?
I posted a similar question just yesterday. Rectangular logos with just made in taiwan, no serial #s. The closest thing i've been able to find was a rock set in the 1980 catalog. Anybody have a clue here?
As far as I know Pearl moved the majority of it's manufacturing to Taiwan after 1975. But production facilities in Japan remained in operation throughout.
I have a Pearl BLX kit, (late 80s, early 90s) with 'Made in Taiwan' on badges. Wicked sounding kit!
The main reason Pearl opened it's Taiwan facility is because Star/TAMA stopped almost all of it's stencil production in 73, selling the bulk of it's contracts to Pearl. Can you imagine boosting sales by something like 400% in just a few months? The Taiwan facility, which is still open today, made some of the worst product there is, and almost killing Pearl's reputation.
So, the Japan shop, which now only builds high end stuff, kept the company alive as they took over all the cheap stuff, but it is what it is.
Jon...any idea why Tama/Star decided to stop stencil production?
Was it because they wanted to change their reputation to be a serious higher end drum company?
I started playing in 1973 and I remember Tama made some very good drums in the mid 70s.
