Hi Dave,

Starclassics are well-made drums. $450 sounds more than fair to me, especially if they are in the condition you say. It also comes down to your personal preference. If this is a kit you have been considering, and you feel it's a fair price, then go for it. As I recall, all the toms come with die-cast hoops, correct? Let us know what you do.

Mark

I remember looking at Starclassics when they first came out, at Wurlitzer Music in Nashua N.H. At that time I thought they were the best built and most sophisticated drums, hardware wise. And the shells were incredibly thin, but rigid. They looked like Ethan Allen furniture, the finish was incredible.

I am also interested in Starclassic drums but I really do not understand the line. I see used kits on the market with prices that range from 600-700 up to the mid 2000's. There are birch, maple and bubinga iterations and it appears that birch kits resell cheaper. There are also discrepancies in the isolation mounting systems. Regardless, it seems odd to me that very similar kits in similar condition sell for such disparate ranges. Anyone have additional insight? That would help the OP and myself.

By the way, that sounds like a pretty great deal, but I will be very interested to see if anyone has additional input.

I agree! All this marketing nonsense with exotic woods. This one is hard,this one soft. This one is from Asia,this one from Maine. Hard,

soft,sweet,sour. I will give anyone $100on the spot if they can walk into a venue and identify the type of wood, number of plies and where it was harvested. Make that $1,000. Not to say that these are not fine instruments, but enough is enough. I'm 61 and when we bought kits in the 60's, no one cared about all this stuff. We bought from the top 4 American companies and they all sounded so darn good.

Dave

Hi Dave!

I completely agree with your post! We are separated by only one year and I, too, remember how much easier it was to purchase a kit back in the 60's and early 70's. We basically just decided on which company to purchase from and enjoyed what we got. Too many choices today, making it sometimes difficult to make a good decision.

The "basic" Starclassic kit is well-built. I had a Starclassic Performer, which used thin birch shells and were less expensive than the Maple shells. Could I tell the difference? Probably not! Yes, we worry too much about shell makeup, woods, plies, bearing edges, etc. If the drum sounds good and I can tune it to my liking, I'm pretty happy with it!

I've got a Pearl Export set of drums, from 2006, with 6-ply all poplar shells. The kit sounds fantastic! Yes, it has been customized and bears no resemblance to the original kit, except for poplar shells. If you didn't know the shells were poplar, you'd only know that it's a great sounding set of drums!

My vote is for your Starclassic kit for $450. Let us know what you decided!

Mark

Thanks Mark and everyone else. I am torn between the Tamas and a late 60's Sonor kit for the same price but with smaller drums. The Sonors have SO MUCH vibe!

Dave

A band I play in, mostly originals, I use a Starclassic kit at practice. I am pretty sure it is late 90s early 2000s vintage,not sure as they are not mine.. Again not vintage, but as we are talking about them....It's a 12,13 14 floor, 22. I have Evans EC2s on them,the ones that look like spider webs if you know what I mean and they are loud. With a deep bottom.They have that great "bwwoowwww" if you know what I mean. Great drums,great hardware, will last forever. I don't use a tama snare,it's either Rogers or Ludwig.

Tama has upgraded their iso mounts,from time to time,so there will be some discrepencies.The same with all of their lugs and hardware,and drum pedals.

Birch shelled Starclassic performer kits,sold for less money,which is why they're cheaper that maple or birch /bubinga.There also seems to be a drum company fueled ,higher demand for maple shelled drums,since that's what kind of drum fashion these days.

Also,The Japanese made Starclassic drums,are more desireable,than their later import cousins.Are they better...nope.It's just perception.

Look on other drum forums,and thay hate on the new Ludwig Signet 105's.Other drum forums,love them,with certain pro's giging,and probably recording with them already.

Sorry,I didn't want to get too far afield,but my point is,perception governs a lot of how we see drums made in certain places,from different materials,with a good portion of it......unfounded.

BTW..that's a very good price,they're great drums.

Steve B

If they are in good condition $450 is a great price.

here is a link to the current tama list price for reference.

http://tama.s3.amazonaws.com/Cms/151/14_Tama_Pricelist_Consumer.pdf

I own a green sparkle Starclassic maple set (8-10-12-13-14-15-16-18-24-24 -14s) from 1998 that cost me around $9000. It love them and they will be with me as long as I can play.

tom