Incredibly beautiful Japanese Aria drum kit find!

Was also planning on adding foam in the lugs! They're not rattly at all to be honest, but the nuts some to move around a little during heavier use.

The color is most definitely growing on me. I want to find another bass drum in this color, and maybe another floor tom..

-Ali

I love the kit man...and i have another piece of info I learned at a special LAMA drummers seminar not too long ago.

A very very keen and knowledgeable German fella was there showing all kinds of interesting tuning techniques and also drum shell cleaning and maintenance techniques to make a kit record as best as possible...that is where I learned about the foam inside the lugs..

The other thing that blew my mind was his treatise on rims. He suspended several rims on non-isolating hangers and showed us the sonic qualities each imparts on the drum by tapping each of them with a drum key...like a Triangle would be played.

The difference between the welded rims and one piece stamped rims was astonishing with the one piece rims have a truer and more pure tone. Very interesting to a gear geek like me.

It is certainly a matter of debate on the impact that has in the recording process, but this expert was sold on it and he created some awesome sounding drums constructions in front of the group from old parts and pieces...very very interesting!

I always said if I resurrect an old kit, I would follow his suggestions on the rims and the cleaning and the foam
 
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Am no expert, but have flipped a few of these kits.

Luan on the concert toms, coated by some kind of paint o imitate the Ludwig 'granitone' look.
The bass drum? Innermost ply shown looks like basswood, not luan. Other plies am not sure.

No matter. Sound is all.
I agree with this, FWIW. Should have a fairly deep tone but with bright highs bordering on harsh. Your head choice will mask that however.

Got to say, overall, very smart condition, & I like the colour too :)
 
I'm from the UK but if any of these pop up in America/Canada etc let me know. Willing to pay shipping/tax purely to have a bigger setup of this kit.

It feels like I need more parts to it!

I'm no expert too, but I'm sure its not bassword as I build guitars for a living. Just doesn't seem right to me.. Concert toms are Luan. Tonally stunning though, the concernt toms are very light and cut through everything. Its got quite a unique feel to it.

-Ali.
 
They are similar. Rip offs of Rogers lugs apparently. I have no complaints since they all do their job well. Entire kit was made in Japan if that counts for anything.

One thing I didn't note; all the hardware on this kit is very heavy duty. The tom mounts are still rock solid 30-40(possibly?) Years on.

The original tom stands are interesting too. Very weird design.

-Ali.
 
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I agree with this, FWIW. Should have a fairly deep tone but with bright highs bordering on harsh. Your head choice will mask that however.

Got to say, overall, very smart condition, & I like the colour too :)

+1,on the basswood interior of that bass drum,Andy.In case the OP dosen't know it,KIS builds DRUMS for a living,and is well versed in knowing his wood species.

I don't build guitars for a living so I'm no luthier,but I've been around drums,in one capacity or another for over 50 years,and I know basswood when I see it.I've also never seen a guitar made out of basswood,which is very soft,and prefered by wood carvers for that reason.

Basswood and luan is also favored by Japanese drum builders,because of expence,and has and still is used in drum construction by overseas drum builders.

Steve B
 
+1,on the basswood interior of that bass drum,Andy.In case the OP dosen't know it,KIS builds DRUMS for a living,and is well versed in knowing his wood species.

I don't build guitars for a living so I'm no luthier,but I've been around drums,in one capacity or another for over 50 years,and I know basswood when I see it.I've also never seen a guitar made out of basswood,which is very soft,and prefered by wood carvers for that reason.

Basswood and luan is also favored by Japanese drum builders,because of expence,and has and still is used in drum construction by overseas drum builders.

Steve B

Very interesting! Most low end guitars, and almost every Ibanez brand guitar; is made out of a basswood body.

The woods/year of construction etc don't bother me purely because of the sound this kit has! I'm just interested to know as much as I can about the kit; as I've never seen one before and there's only 1 other picture of an Aria kit like this on Google.

Cheers for the info, this has been very interesting to read so far!

-Ali.
 
Interesting that the grain on the BD runs horizontally,most of the less expensive Japanese kits still had vertical grain.

Maybe it is my old eyes but your comment on the light weight of the concert toms reinforces my observation that the one concert tom with the scrapes inside is some kind of fiber board,not wood,look ay the square pattern.Anybody else see what I see or agree?
 
Interesting that the grain on the BD runs horizontally,most of the less expensive Japanese kits still had vertical grain.

Maybe it is my old eyes but your comment on the light weight of the concert toms reinforces my observation that the one concert tom with the scrapes inside is some kind of fiber board,not wood,look ay the square pattern.Anybody else see what I see or agree?

Yes, I see it. It appears to have a grain perpendicular to the edge on the top ply there and a horizontal grain under it....it appears to be splintering on the edge like a common sheet of rough grade plywood....BUT I am no wood expert. I do see the square pattern.
 
I noticed that, hence taking that picture!

Very interesting. I love finding out things about drum kits etc that make them unusual, unique, or just different to the ones people usually see.

The grain inside the toms is beautiful, they're have a very nice color to them as well. Will get some pics when I'm tuning it all as I'll remove the resos.

Another thing to note. I've had maple/birch/plywood/basswood/poplar etc drum kits. The rack toms, floor tom and bass drum are unusually heavy... I mean, really heavy!

When I first picked up the bass drum I assumed there was a big sheet inside it or something but nope. I'll weigh them at some point and post the results!

Another thing to point out, every drum is perfectly round still, and the bearing edges look perfect.

Also, L rod tom mounts on a low end kit from 30+ years ago? That seems really odd to me.

-Ali.
 
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Maybe you have a room with incredibly pleasing acoustic qualities, allowing a lesser quality drum to sound good and a high quality kit would really show it's worth. just sayin'

as for the wood, the inner ply of the kick looks more like poplar or maybe a type of birch.
The chipped out concert tom is definitely wood, but more like a Honduran mahogany. under that inner kick ply, you can count on any type of cheap filler, plywood, packing crates etc. The idea was to make money by building lots for cheap and flood the world.
 
The bass drum layers look completely consistent. After peeling back a slight part of the wrap on it, the outer ply is also consistent.

The concert tom is unlikely to be mahogany, it is dark in colour yes, but every other concert tom is lighter in color. I believe the wood on this one has possibly got wet, and aged to that color due to having no sealer or paint over it due to the chips.

Standard 30x15 foot ish room, sofas etc in.. I had a more expensive maple kit that sounded worse than this; and I haven't even tuned this yet.

The drums are too heavy to be made with some sort of crappy packing in between 2 nice layers of ply if that's what you were suggesting!

Just removed a screw from one of the bass drum lugs, took a magnifying glass and light in there and the insides of the screw hole are very consistent ply layers. Its definitely all the same ply, hope that cleared things up.

-Ali.
 
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Also, L rod tom mounts on a low end kit from 30+ years ago? That seems really odd to me.

-Ali.

Your drums were built by Hoshino,Japan who used hardware like that,for multiple drum distributors,like Aria,who also sold guitars.

Steve B
 
So these kits are probably on par with the early low end Tama kits available at that time, as they were Japanese also?

-Ali.
 
Yes what Tamadm said. To sort of explain what these are. Sort of like what Keller is to USA drum companies. A distributor could order a said number of a generic mass produced drum set. They could get the name and Logo attached to it and they in turn would distribute in what ever market they could get a sale. Aria was fairly common in Canada for one place. Other, many other, distributors were ordering the exact same kits with their own logo, so people would obviously think the kit was made by......Westbury, Maxwin, Aria, and even Pearl, and I am guess more than 20 others.

This still happens today. I have a bronze Ludwig, it was a shell from overseas. Worldmax, TRS, and many many others buy these same shells and place their own logo on and sell as their own. I can buy these shells and do the same.

The model that you have, I think was one of the most widely used in the industry. That wood hardware combination shows up all the time and is labeled and recognized as the standard MIJ ( made in japan) kit. they had no appeal to me as a drummer when they were new and have no appeal now. But because they are old, people continually "discover" these relics and fantasize they have found a hidden collectible gem. I am glad for you they sound good, enjoy them, but in reality, they are what they are. it is kind of like some one finding an old Lada or a Yugo in a barn and painstakingly restore it. The car will never be nor ever was a classic Corvette or Mustang.
 
That's really cool to know, thanks!

I know its not a hidden gem etc, I just wanted to know more due to the unusual aspects of this kit.

One mans trash right?

Exactly, looks and quality sometimes mean nothing when you find the sound you love. I know a few signed artists that use endorsed drums live, and cheap personal drum kits for the studio. Just one of those things I guess!

I can't make a Squier guitar into a custom shop Fender. But I can make it so you can't tell the difference between the two, sound and looks, and that's what matters.

Any more information would be great, this has been very interesting so far!

-Ali.
 
So these kits are probably on par with the early low end Tama kits available at that time, as they were Japanese also?

-Ali.

No.The drums being produced by Tama,even their lower end drums,still have the Tama name on them.as as such,were of a higher quality,in terms of sound, finish and build quality.The same for Pearl and Yamaha,who also mass produced drums,and sold them to distributors,import/export companies and music stores/chains.

They used generic hardware,cheap wood,wraps and affixed what ever badge/label,requested by the customer,who just ordered 200 drum sets.There was a big difference in cost associated in their build quality,and raw materials cost.

Think General Motors.They build Chevrolet and Caddilac.Your kit is a Chevy Nova,the Tama badged kit is a Caddilac.BIG difference between the both,but the're still cars.

Also ,there's really not that much to know about them.

Steve B
 
Slightly confused at your logic.. You seem to be saying that one is better than the other purely because of a name badge.

-Ali.
 
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