Hi guys, I'm looking at buying this kit, but I'm trying to figure out the make and year. According to the seller there are no badges on it. From what I can tell judging by the catalogs it might be a Star? kit. The square muffler on the floor tom is throwing me off as I have never seen a solid rectangular design. Overall, judging from the pictures it looks pretty clean except for the front bass head and rear bass hoop.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
"MIJ firewood" as some people call them.
that would be my vote. Probably with a wood grained contact paper re-wrap.
That looks more like veneer to me.Maybe from Home Depot.
MIJ with an Acrolite.Nice little kit if it can be had under 200.
Steve B
Yes, thats a Star kit.
It is a Star kit. Never mind the negatives about it being firewood, these are awesome kits for practice, taking to gigs where you would not be comfortable taking your irreplaceable American vintage drums, or for a beginner to learn on. They are, IMHO, much better for any of these activities than today's Chinese entry level crap. Ebay prices have them on the rise, and as such, makes them more than "MIJ firewood" in far more peoples opinion.
Those of us that truly know these drums giggle at those who shun them. Many of these same folk started on these very kits 20-40 years ago. Part of the reason they don't like them is because when they were 10 years old, they knew nothing of what they know today as far as tuning and edge work. Give any of these same guys one of these re-worked kits today, and with the knowledge we have stored on this forum in regards as to how to work them over and replace the heads with the right type and they would gladly pick up a kit or two for gigging or practicing because you can still find them everywhere for less than 100 bucks, and this one as the added bonus of a good looking maple veneer and an Acrolite. And many of them are far too cool to let them go to the dumpster merely based on the coolest wraps of the era alone.
Not likely you will get this kit for less than 200, but I could be wrong. That is a lot of work represented in the veneer job. The maple itself is not all that expensive, but the labor is intensive. Anytime you get an Acrolite with an MIJ kit, and it is reasonably priced, I say go for it. This is an excellent example of a kit saved and will probably sound warm and smoky. If it is a 3 ply w/re-rings, thin shelled kit, it will have likely a thunderous tone for what it is, but projection becomes a problem. With the new layer, or added ply of the maple, that will help a bit. If they are the thicker 6, 7 or 9 ply shells, they should be a bit higher in the tone range and projection is less of an issue. The added maple will have little effect on the sonic quality as they heavier shells are much denser than the thinner ones.
Another suggestion, the wood hoop on the front and metal on batter will cause it to ring a bit in overtone, but if you switch them, it will be reduced. I say for the 30ish bucks it would cost, replace the metal hoop and it will round out the tone and eliminate the ring altogether, if head selection is right. If that is a 22, I would suggest an EQ1. If that res head is the original, I highly recommend a good spray with Rustoleum Ivory paint. It give it a nice response, similar to calf. You need to paint it well though, not being shy. I repaint all of the MIJ original plain, non-logo res heads in this manner it gives a great warm and controlled response, dampening just a little.
For the wood hoop, go here:
Also, this looks like a church sale, so a little education may be in the future, unless it is an individual that just took pix from a set up. If it is a church, the seller likely will have no real idea as to what the drums really are, and since there is a Ludwig Acrolite included, you may have a tough time convincing them the rest of the drums are not Luddies. Looks like the floor tom is a 3 ply. Good luck, I'd like to see you grab them for decent price.
Right on, John! Your response was succinct yet, delivered in the manner of a gentleman. As always, you make your point with precision and aplomb!
Brian
Jonnistix, thank you for the reply / education on these drums. Sadly, I may be too late to get them as they are no longer on Craigslist, but I will contact the seller again to see if maybe he pulled them after I gave him a rundown of what they actually were. Another little ***el with this kit was a 40's Gene Krupa hi hat stand. The guy was asking $420 for them which I thought was a high.
Junk wrapped in a pretty veneer is still junk. What is the point of taking a $100 drumset, wasting money on veneer, wasting time cleaning it up and wasting time fixing edges to end up with a $100 drum kit? There are ONE redeeming quality to luan. As a dust sheet nicely protecting the real wood.
