That's nice that you inherited them from your dad. I have my father's Vega tenor banjo and no-name mandolin.

I think Ralston drums were a Japanese stancil brand, but jonnistix could confirm that for you.

Welcome!

Your drums are wonderful. I would love to hear some of the stories behind them. Do you have any recordings of Dad gettin' busy?

Anyway, to the drums~what you have are indeed a Japanese "stencil" brand. These stencils are all identical kits, from the same factory, but have something like 100+ "brand names" owned by various American and European distributors. They would actually compete against themselves in the same town, at every music store by offering "exclusive territories" to each of the stores. Say I am the rep and you own Fred's Drums. I sell you Apollo and give you the territory of 25 miles. I go 3 blocks down the street and offer Joe's Music a territory on Stewart drums, knowing they are the exact same drums, but you and Joe don't really know that. I get paid no matter where the brat decides to buys his drums. Cool way to tie up the market, eh?

These are from Star, the company we know today as TAMA. Your wrap is called Red Agate Pearl. These drums, from Star, were typically modeled after Slingerland, however yours are modeled after Sonors' teardrop lugs on the bass, and Slingerland Sound Kings on the toms and bass. This is the first time I have seen this, a mixed set of lugs from the factory. But it is an 8 lug snare, so maybe that is why they used the teardrop style on the snare.

Many people today, unscrupulous ebay sellers, take these and strip the parts and sell them to unsuspecting buyers as the real deal. The lugs are almost identical and many people who are not really well versed in parts buy them and either never know or end up in a fight with the bad sellers.

I would love to see close up pix of certain parts. The strainer on the snare, the interior of the bass or snare, and close up of the bass lugs and T-rods. This will give us the era, unless your dad remembers when he bought them.

These old drums have a sound all their own, and we have developed some preservation techniques that also help "clean up" the tone and make them actually playable in public venues in today's world where everything is mic'd and tweaked.

Those are some sweet drums. I would like those pix as I am using all of the early MIJ stencils for research and every kit I can get info on makes my life easier, and when they are linear, from one family member to another, it makes the research that much easier because there is no guessing as to provenance.

Another member and I are collaborating on the possibility of writing something on the lines of the books on Ludwig, Slingerland, Rogers and Gretsch.

Anyway, cool drums, you should like playing them and if you would like, I can give you some pointers on how to deep clean and restore/preserve these wonderful old drums.

Please tell me you got all the cymbals and stands as well. The stands are hard to come by, they are the Japanese Star flat base stands. And what are the cymbals? If you know anything at all about vintage cymbals, it is more desirable to leave the patina alone and let the play the way they are cleaning them when you really don't know what you are doing can damage them and change the sound to something wholly different to what they have become with age.

JonniStix - thanks for all the great information!!!

I know he bought the set from my uncle who lives near Worcester, MA. I think my uncle had bought them for one of his sons as a starter or Junior kit.

My guess would be that he bought it at one of the music stores in Worcester like Union Music or Kurlan Music.

I can ask my Dad if he remembers when he bought it.

Yes, most if not all of the original stands (and I think cymbals) are with it. The heads might be original too.

They are in genuine imitation black leather (aka plastic) gig bags. They have been there since he stopped playing the kit back in the late 80s or early 90s. Although he did play them a year or so ago for something like a talent show at a local senior center.

I will see if I can get close up pics soon.

Hi,

Great looking kit!

I remember when I bought my Star drumset at that time, the gig bags seemed to look the same (anyhow one of those types of bags found it's way to me):

does yours have a so called 'piping' in white (I mean a small white riband in the edge) as well?

As jonnistix stated: do you have infos on the cymbals? Are there stamps in?

Ralf

There is a somewhat famous guy here that plays guitar that goes just by the name Ralston......

He would think these drums are a hoot!

Pictures like this one are excellent-it makes the whole VDF thing human.We all love the drums themselves,but the people on the drums make it much deeper-like a Ken Burns documentary.And he's happy.....

jonnistix: I will try to take pics this weekend.

Ralf: I don't remember what brand the cymbals are. I should be able to check this weekend. I will try to take pics.

teverson-sr: how true!

Good news: I got some pics.

Bad news: We don't have the snare anymore. It seems it got sold with my older brother's kit many years ago. He kept a Ludwig snare instead.

I forgot to take pics of the stands but I did get some of his hi-hats and what I believe may be his old hi-hat stand.