mcbike
Silver Member
I ordered this kit at the end of December and six months later it is finally here. Everybody will tell you that SJC's customer service is the best, and it really is. George at SJC emailed me back at 11pm on Christmas EVE! I had almost 20 emails back and forth discussing my drums and I even talked on the phone to the guy who does the layouts for the drum finishes twice. It seemed like six months was a long time to wait, but I always say you don't go eat at a restaurant with no cars in the parking lot.
The kit has FULLY exceeded my expectations, the level of detail is simply amazing.
The finish is ghost black satin stain w/ flat ivory inlay. The hardware is weathered brass tube lugs.
12x8 6ply maple g2 coated/genera
16x14 6ply maple g2 coated/genera
22x14 8 ply maple emad/emad
I was extremely impressed with the inlays, I thought it was going to be just a wrap over the wood, but they actually cut into the veneer and inlaid the flat ivory. It looks incredible and the finishing is flawless. There is no excess glue anywhere.
This is a picture of the kick drum, you can see the inlay as well as the tube lugs. They use a riser under the tube lug to make the tuning screw level with the hoops. I also have the batter side hoop stained and the resonant side hoop wrapped in flat ivory. Again this is flawless and they actually radiused the flat ivory wrap and it looks and feels very smooth.
Here is a closeup of the tom and the weathered brass hardware. They used MINI tube lugs on the tom, and regular tube lugs on the floor and kick. I really like how they did that because it give proportion to the kit and it looks very balanced. I like how they also have the metal and nylon washers on every lug. They really don't miss one detail.
as far as the sound it is incredible. I have really nice kits (70's gretsch, 3ply ludwigs etc.) and this kit sounds as good if not better. The main thing I get from the kit is that it is LOUD. It projects really well, even in the smaller sizes I got. The toms are 6ply maple and they bark. They have a great range of dynamics too but the resonance jumps out even at quiet playing. The floor tom is 16x14 is perfect. I have only ever really played 16x16 or 18x16 floor toms and this size is great. It still has the low pitch of a 16 but it brings more resonance in so it sounds like a tom not a kick drum. I think the projection and volume from the toms has to do with the bearing edges. They are cut perfectly they used a 45/45 double cut edge, and the edges are sealed. I tried to get a picture but the light wasn't good enough.
The kick drum is 8 ply maple 22x14, this used to be the most common size of kick drum but it's hard to find an off the shelf quality kit in this size. My other kits all have 24x14" kicks and I was afraid I was going to loose some of the deep pitch and thunder of a 24, but this 22 from sjc makes up for it. The other great thing is I moved my beater length down to get closer to center of the drum and I can play much faster with a shorter stroke. I was having trouble before getting defined doubles on the 24, but this 22 JUMP out and my doubles sound very distinct and clear.
anyways we had practice tonight and I tried it out and sounded great, everybody in the band is excited. My bass player wants to get a bass to match my drums. I have two gigs this weekend so we will see how it goes in a live setting. I felt really sad loading this up in the van because I know they are going to go through hell this weekend. Saturday I'm playing outside in austin and it will be 110 degrees, but thats what drums are for right?