PRESTIGE

In the process of re-wrapping my venerable mid-1970s 12" and 16" Pearl Thunderking toms in purple, I discovered some serious ply-separation. And to make matters worse, the wraps started creasing after attaching the lugs. The 16" still sounded ok but the 12" kinda lost its focus. 

Then last month I saw a 12" x 8" Pearl Prestige Series tom going for real cheap in Cavite. I hesitated for a week before contacting the seller, only to find our he had already sold it. A few days later, it surfaced again, but by another seller, at a slightly higher price, and again somewhere in Cavite. This time I did not wait. I snagged it immediately. 

Upon arrival, I changed the heads to my favorite Ambassador Coated batters and clear resos, and 2.3mm triple flanged hoops. The inside of the drum was beautifully finished, more like a high end snare than any tom I've ever had. And the overtones are more spread out than my 10" Decade Maple, but more focused than my old Thunderking. 

I've been trying to learn more about the Prestige Series, but all I can find are early 1990s used kits in Japan, with no description of the wood used. The word Prestige was also added as prefix to the more known Session lines, the forerunners of today's Session Studio Selects. these were   mid level professional kits with fine finishing and hardware. 

Someone is offering me a 16" floor tom in the same series, in the same color. Who knows, it might be the feature in my next post.