Well, the name is nothing more than a distributors name. In the 60s and even today, a few drum builders make the vast majority of drums available to the market, b ut they sell them under many names. In the early days, the big makers of import drums were Pearl and Star (later to become TAMA). Between them they made about 95% of all the 60s and 70s import "stencil" drums. These were almost iderntical, with each having characteristics that were common. For instance, Star lugs are easy to tell, if you know what you are looking at, they used 2 bass lugs and 2 tom and snare lugs, design-wise. The American distrubutors had many "brand names" they used for certain markets, often competing against themselves on the same shelf.

For instance, Stewart and Apollo, both names owned by St. Louis Music Supply, were often seen on the same shelf, or in music stores "next door" to each other, and they were vitually identical, but since the names were different, they could sell the same drums to Joe's Music Store and George's Music Depot without getting the retailers mad at the wholesaler. I could give each store in the same market, say I have 10 music stores in Oklahoma City that I, as a Regional sales rep, can go to each one and sell them the same exact drums, all with a different name, and give each one an "exclusive distribution agreement" and they are literally all identical, with the same exact parts. The "brand name" of one line is garranteed to Joe, George gets "B", Ed's gets "C"....so on down the line.

So this kit, although badged as "Beltone" is infact built by Pearl, as evidenced by the bass lugs. Both Pearl and Star used a very similar tom lug design, a copy of the Slingerland Sound King. knowing one from the other is a bit tricky, because unless you hold them sideXside, it is difficult to tell them apart. One has a more sloped back end than the other. Hope you kind of understand how it works. Same goes for GP, SP, Apollo, many names today, and some are made by Pearl, some by TAMA, some by Mapex and a few Chinese companies as well. Actually, many Chinese companies, and Koreans and Taiawanese as well. Those are really, for the most part, real junk and will not make the 40 year haul your kit has.

Now, to give you an idea, this kit was likely from the very end of the 3 ply era, mid-67. I say this because of the lug design on the bass.

If possible, I would like to see a pic of each drum. You may have some non-matching shells, or at least lugs. The floor tom looks like it may have two different types of lugs on it. The Sling copy lugs dont match the 'battleship' lugs found on the bass drum. It isn't a big deal if this is the case, as many of the old MIJ shells are essentially the same (assuming the ply counts are the same) but it would be nice to know for sure.

The floor tom leg mounts and re-rings suggest that the drums are from the mid 60s, but the tom mounts seem like more of a 70s design.

Did this set come with a snare?

I concur with J/S on the age.Open floor tom leg mounts are 60's.I think the tom mount reciever is a Ludwig part.

My thought as well, Tom. The first post in the other thread is where I assumed the Ludwig parts. I totally did not look at the tom lugs, B~ just looked at the bass, and this is where he is, looks like a mixed kit. Still, the 3 ply shells will boom, just hope he likes this sound. He is a youngun, only 16, so we can get him going in the right direction early. Learn from our mistakes, hopefully.

I think this 16" floor is a early 60`s STAR. The leg brackets look the same to me.

Hey, sorry I have not posted more pictures up but I am in the process of applying clear coats to the shells, the pictures should be up tomorrow if not tonight.:D

Alright I have taken pictures of each individual drum, I have taken all of the hardware off due to the clear coats.

And here are the rest.

Welcome to the world of deep cleaning...now, don't forget to lacquer the interior. I hope you chose lacquer over poly. Poly changes the warm characteristics of these shells and makes them sound rather plastic.