Hey bro, Star brand, long mount could have been centered, but my son's kit was like this, offset to the right. I'd pay no more than 40-50 for the entire kit as you will find the snare is not original, nor is any hardware that might be included, and there will be some new hoops and heads in the near future. Those are actually not gonna be bad sounding for cheap drums when you get done cleaning them up. More of a Gretsch sound is what you need to tune for, and make sure to smooth the edges with 250 grit sandpaper, without taking them down to bare metal, of course....

They should have a pretty close to round-over edge on them now.

Hi,

The rail consolette was (always?) off-centered at DrumMate drumsets, and even in the old catalogues the second rack tom was mounted at this off-centered rail consolette. So that seems to be original.

Yes, there appears to be a modification at the tom arms: those metal bars, rising up from the bass drum, are too long! Wish mine would be this long (in order to rise the rack tom), but normally they are just approx. half so long ...!

Here someone has apparently welded a longer piece of metal in between.

My DrumMate, too, has a cymbal mount near the reso side. That's an almost impossible position to place a cymbal (unless it's a 22"er ...). I come to think of giving it a new position at my bass drum, quite at the opposite side, close to the batter head.

All resonant side hoops are missing (plus one of the bass drum spures as well?).

Can't tell from the pic what type of snare drum it is.

As there are no additional goodies added, I'd say that even US-$ 40 are still too much. Unless you wonna make some experience in building-up such drums, I would not buy this one. (Well, if the seller wants to get rid of it: take it for 10 bucks or so.)

Ralf

$40??? Jeez, is the economy really that bad?

I mean, if you hated the snare, which you probably would, you could punt it for $20. At least the set comes with one. Double 12s are interesting (I never came across a MIJ with them, though I know they're out there.) The 14" FT is the more desirable size.

I guess it all depends on how much you want a project or a beater set. From what I can tell in the pics it will probably be in decent shape despite the missing parts, but I'd double check the reso bearing edges to be sure.

Man, I can't believe an old 5 piece, even unoriginal with missing parts, can't even warrant $50 these days. I would have thought this set might be worth somewhere in the neighboorhood of $80-100.

@cn679: don't forget that someone has modified the tom brackets. If you can find similar (complete and non-modified) Star/ DrumMate kits for $ 150, then $ 80 - 100 is too much for a rubbish (incomplete and modified) kit like this.

Just add the amount for the supplement of the non-original parts, the missing hoops and heads, and you would be at a level of $ 200 (or even more) - and that's by far too much for a set, which will not be 100 % genuine with it's late spare parts ... It's not a matter of economy, but of being genuine - or not.

Ralf

NB: well, maybe the seller can find a drummer in a punk band, buying this kit at $ 80 - 100. But I'm sure, we'll never meet this guy at this forum, as he will use the kit as a player's kit only and always.

Thanks for the responses guys!

I decided to pass on them. One of the rack toms had some chunks missing out of the reso side bearing edge. The floor tom and bass drum had really bad wrap fading. One side was nice and pure blue, and 180 degrees from there it was so light that it almost looked like Silver Sparkle.

The tom holders looked like they were welded onto longer metal, although nicely done. Also, the bass drum interior was painted gray, but the rack and floor toms had natural interiors.

Considering all of that (and the fact he wouldn't go any lower than $90) I said "Thanks, but no thanks".

The grey interior (also called 'silver sealer') is partly also original for STAR drums.

I have a Carlton drumset (which member Lissy will own soon) and it looks the same: bass drum with silver sealer - rack tom and floor tom: without that painting inside.

And I have no doubts that this is the original (non-modified) look of this Carlton (= Star) drumset from the time back when it was produced once.

Ralf

NB: well done - that you let it pass. I'm sure another opportunity will come up soon (just be patient)!

Ha! I'm excited to have found this post. I took a little roadtrip Tuesday and bought this set. The seller was a great guy and gave me $10 back after I handed him the asking price without haggling.

Kinda neat to find this post. I was searching for "drum mate rail consolette", which is what lead me here. I was wondering if the clamp arm had been modified or if it actually came from star like that. There are 2 clamp arms both have been extended. You can see the welds and where they have been ground down. But it looks like this piece is still nickel plated. Nothing has rusted.

Both toms are in fact 12s. Seller thought this was original but I doubt it. I replaced the missing bottom hoop on the better 12 with the one from the second which had a chunk missing from it's bottom bearing edge, making it a 4 piece. Unfortunately the 1st time I attempted to adjust a floor Tom leg the nut stripped the threads from the casing. That piece is laying up with JB weld, waiting to be redrilled and tapped.

Im waiting to buy new heads, but it has a good set of Evans g2 on it.

More to post later with pics.

Wow, can't believe you guys thought this was a passer at $90. I'm not experienced with vintage stuff. But was looking for a cheap practice set and this seemed to be a great deal. You'd have to get into some pretty junky beginner sets around here for that price.

Anyways, I've already enjoyed researching these things and look forward to the project. Well worth the money to me and I'm sure I could pull 200-300 outta these locally once they're put back together.

If you're happy with it, go for it and make the best out of it.

Finally, you just need that one buyer who is willing to pay your price idea, in case that you ever intend to resell it again.

Best of luck with it!

The drums themselves will sound good, if tuned up properly.

Ralf