I bought these sight unseen for US$70. The badges are missing so I'm unsure of the brand. it's a 20,12,14 configuration. The wrap was originally a very close copy of Ludwig Blue oyster pearl. Unfortunately it has faded to brown. The snare is a mystery to me. It also came with an old WFL Speed King pedal which I guess is a bonus.
If you have any clues to what the brand might be, do tell.
I'll get on to stripping and cleaning at some point and I'll post finished pics.
...and a couple more pics
Those are import/stencil drums. Except maybe the snare - It has those funky Sonor-like tension rods.
Where are the stencil experts???
I'm no expert, but the toms and bass look like Star.
Yes, i thought Star too. They are poorer quality than my late 60's pearl kits though. No internal mufflers on the toms either.
Sorry to say but $70 is pretty much a break even on those. $100 would be pushing it. The Speed King Pedal is a nice bonus if you can replace the factory clip where someone has jurry-rigged a string.
If you can identify the brand of the cymbals as being "Paiste" or "Zildjian" you may have another bonus...
-kellyj
I realise that selling this kit won't make me rich but I'm in New Zealand and I think with a bit of spit and polish it'll fetch a wee bit more. Vintage stuff is not all that common here, especially quality US stuff, so even this low quality stuff has some demand. And to be fair on the lower quality stuff, it can sound great. I've just finished recording an album using 2 old Pearl toms made of Luan as part of the kit and they have come up sounding great.
I'll probably end up keeping this or donating it to a friend though.
The HH cymbals are Paiste Dixies so nothing too flash and the ride is an awful Camber that I seem to have misplaced already. The speed king pedal is a bonus as I have an old Ludwig SC kit which doesn't have a SK pedal. And they are not very common here. I'll need to get the missing part though.
Here are my 2 old pearl kits. Both of these kits were in also in an awful state when I found them but they are very useable and nice sounding kits now.
Hi, Your set looks to be star[1960s],i see on bass drum were the badge was it looks rounded in shape[Star used a badge like that]]but i have also seem these lugs on Crown drums along with 20 or so other names..shells look to be 9 ply..The snare is the best part of the set,snare looks to be 40s or so Premier or another made in england snare..john gray ete.,shell maybe brass?? the strainer looks to be japan replacement one does look like to came on the drum it looks like someone pounded the drum at the middle to make the strainer fit....Mikey Ps if you need the t-rods for the bass drum i have them..
Nice work on those Pearl kits and really nice wraps, testament of your abilities and love for the vintage stuff!
Have fun restoring the "Star" kit. Vintage Luan does sound very warm and woody when tuned nice, so enjoy! I have an old Star Luan BDP floor tom that sounds amazing...
I have seen the part you are missing for the Speed King pedal on ebay. They come up form time to time there.
-kellyj
This is not a Star drumset.
The lugs are not Star.
The rail consolette is not Star-like.
And as far as I remember Star bass drums never had internal muffler/s (see the hole/s there).
The shadow of the badge (can be seen on both pics of the bass drum) appears to be rectangulat (!) - not round. Can you, please, make a close-up pic of that area around the airvent hole on the bass drum?
Although I'm not an expert on Pearl's: it also doesn't seem to be a Pearl, too ...
The snare is interesting (although there's a broken lug): it seems to have cast rims like I know from early UK-drumsets.
Ralf
