An often-overlooked part of a Vintage MIJ kit is the Bass Drum Pedal. Most Japanese pedals back then had no name or markings and were pretty generic looking, but Pearl had their “SPEED PEDAL”, no doubt inspired by the Ludwig Speed King and Star had their “PRO PEDAL”, and there is even a “TOP PEDAL” out there. Not to be outdone Gracy via Yan Drum had their “FOOT PEDAL”.
For those who haven’t heard of Yan Drum, they were a brand started by Gracy back in 1964. The purpose of the brand was to be an entry-level distribution point for their drums, presumably for exporting to Europe and the USA. Since there are very few examples of the brand, I would surmise that it was a bit of a failed venture as far as the brand name goes, but there a few examples Yan Drum branded drums floating around, mostly in Japan. At the end of the day, the drums and hardware were made by Gracy.
The body or frame is simple design and has no bearings or added bushings of any type, so it’s metal on metal. Of all the colors of the pallet, someone in charge ran with this shade of puke green. This is repainted but I copied the original color as close as possible for historical purposes.
The footplate has the same general styling of the MIJ pedals of the day. After adding the black paint for contrast, I buffed it out and boy it really pops. Also common for the day was the use of a leather strap to drive it, this appears to be the original and I only left it for historical purposes as well.
The hoop clamp on this is solid, it’s a hollow shell so those edges will dig hard into the hoop, (so strong but not hoop friendly).
For tension, it has two adjustable ¼” diameter springs. Both cams are adjustable on the shaft, making it easy to set up. The beater which appears to be original is a very dense felt, so dense that it feels like a solid beater.
Here’s the pedal prior to restoration. Overall, with a new strap it looks like it would be a solid pedal for standard playing, it doesn’t tension enough for fast playing and I think that if used for several years some sort of bushing would have to be put in place. This is the only branded piece of hardware I have ever seen with “Yan Drum” cast into it, so it gets my classification of super-duper-rare. If you ever find another let me know!