Hi Matthias, and welcome to the forum.

First, please post pictures of the kits as soon as you can. If you can't figure out how to do that, private message me and I'll walk you through it. It's easy...

Now, on to the kits: First, yeah, most vintage kits come with missing bits. The good thing is, the bits and pieces are not that expensive. I've never used them, but I've heard 'Attack' heads are fine n dandy on vintage drums, so you may want to check on that.

The pictures will really help us identify your drums. In fact it's nearly impossible to do that without the pictures. Once identified, there are a number of folks that will be able to tell you all about the drums... probably far more than you can imagine.

'Star' drums turned into Tama back in the dark days of the early '70's. I've got a set of 'Royal Star's' which I believe was the last example before they turned into Tama. Those are pretty good drums, actually.

Back to the important thing, post pictures of the inside and outside of your drums. Then we'll be able to let you know what you have.

Welcome!

PM me. I am the guy to get you going. I am one of the vintage Star dudes, and may have some parts and much needed info for you. As far as parts, sometimes, for the younguns, I may even be willing to part with parts for the price of postage, if it gets you going in the right direction.

Learn to play open handed if you like jazz. Learn traditional grip, on both hands. I see you are still in high school and the teachers, I am finding with my son, don't teach traditional grip and actually shun the practice. However, Buddy Rich will tell you if you can't play trad/match, you'll never reach your true potential as a drummer, and he is correct. My son is going against all the rules and playing double traditional, at only 11 years old!!!

Keep these drums until we know what you have and I can get them up and running for you. It's my passion to see young drummer succeed, so you stumbled on the right place, at the right time.

email pix of your drums to me. I need to see some specifics, so follow my instructions to a tee, and do not use steel wool to clean anything. I will teach you how to clean and restore what you have. I need to see the interiors of all shells, the strainer on your snare, and lugs on your snare, tom and bass. Anything else, we can do later, but the interior of the shells is very important in order to find the era they were built. I may even be able to provide some heads as I do this for all the youngsters I can, and many people donate parts for my service to young drummers. As for heads, there are limitations to the inexpensive Attach brand heads and don't really sound great on these drums, depending on shell thickness.

[email]karsten_boy@yahoo.com[/email]

Hello,

Sorry I didn't reply I had one of those crazy busy weekends... (I built a guitar pedal board, had work, and played music...) well thats life I suppose...

Anyways here are some pictures of the drums and the pedal that came with them. I know its a star pedal

The kick drum on this set was really heavy for a kick drum which well I know thats not a good thing usually the lighter the better. Anyways when I took of the hoops they are heavy. So the kick drum isnt that heavy after all.

Well I have never studied drumming from a school teacher I took lessons from at a college from a pretty good drummer in the msp area. I took lessons for 3 years, but as of late I have not able to take lessons. I can play traditional, but well... you guys should probably convince of the need :rolleyes: :-D

I don't play it often... I usually only do it when I want to play softer and with out as much rimshot. I am open to some critique on my technique though. :-)

Here are some pics I will see if I can put more up

Here are some more pics,

By the way thanks for the help :-)

Hello,

the foot plate from the pedal should indicate that it's a Star one. The double tom bracket: Star as well.

But I'm not sure about the outer line on the bass drum lugs. They are slightly different from what I know from Star. mmmmh ... Coffee Break2

Ralf

There! That's what I'm talking about. It's not quite so easy to identify some of these un-badged, (or even badged, as there is definitely some branding overlap) stencil kits. The lugs on the toms, (different from kick drum) look closer to Pearls to me, from what I see in pics, (though differences can be subtle) but how many different styles did each manufacturer use? I have some drums with lugs similar to the kick drum, though they are from toms - would seem to me that, for a matched kit, would they not choose matching lugs for the full kit? Also, as I've raised in the past, seeing as these kits are 40 plus years old, and many of them drilled to accommodate new hardware, and possibly passed on through several drummers, how can you tell what's original to the kit, or what has been replaced? These drums appear to be a matched set from the wrap, (assuming that is original - though, as an example, I have a 'Pearl' Coronet kit, with a matching Beltone snare, and a 18", 'Pixie' kick drum that all match perfectly) and there are certain cues, such as the Star consolette, but this, along with anything else that's attached with a screw or a bolt, can be removed and/or replaced, as most of us on this forum are well aware of. Throughout the production years of any given manufacturer, there seems to be variances in shell construction as well... all I'm saying, is that it's not always cut-and-dry to identify some of these old kits. Extra holes seems to be a good starting point, but even there, who's to say that parts could not be found that line up with the original holes? Oh, my head!

All the lugs match star ones I have found on the tama archives the only thing that is different from what I can tell is the large t-screws for the claws are a different from what pictures I have seen however the other small t-screws (not the ones for the claws) do resemble star ones.

I bought all of this stuff from a guy... mid 50's-early 60's? He didn't even play drums. Not sure if he was given or bought the stuff of an old friend of his who was a drummer. So I think the guy I bought them from probably had them for 10-25 years in storage or something... a while anyways. He kinda knew what stuff was and had a general idea about some drum stuff, but obviously not a drummer.

I am guessing he may have had the stuff around 10 years though because I got some cymbal stands with the stuff which he "thought" were also "vintage"... two them are some newer generic double braced straight stands and the other is a vintage.

From what I can tell the wrap is original as is all the hardware... although the kick drum does have two odd holes and mounted on the holes are the places for the kick spurs which look like star to me.

As far as the claws go they might have been replaced. You can buy identical claws and t-screws as are on both the white hall drumset I got and this one for fairly cheap online.

There is one place the wrap is cracked and warped a bit like an inch or two) By looking at that spot is how i am almost positive that it is the original wrap.

Any more spots in the kit where pictures would be helpful?

And Tama has given a nod to that legacy by naming their drum series with 'star' in the name: Superstar, Granstar, Imperialstar, Starclassic, Fibrestar, etc.

Bermuda

quote

... Any more spots in the kit where pictures would be helpful? ...

unquote

Yes, please: the tom bracket (outside), the bass drum spurs and their bracket.

Can you see a stamping 'Japan' or 'Made in Japan' at any of the tom hoops (normally it's on the outside done)?

Ralf