I don't think the set is from the 60s Hoshino[[tama]] nevered made a 18" floor tom in the 60s or anytime that i know of..Most of the floor toms were 14" and 16" also they nevered made a 24" bass drum most were 20' and 22"..Ia'm think with out photos the set is from the 70s on and not made by Hoshino..photos would help out alot with trying the age and maker..Mikey

Brody, first of all, we would all like to see some pics. This helps us out immensely when trying to identify a drum set. It is nearly impossible to tell you what your friend has and what it's worth without being able to see it.

But to answer your question as to whether or not it is worth it to restore the set, I would almost always say yes. Before jumping in, however, an assesment of your friend's interest in the set is important. Does he/she play the set right now? Does he/she want it to sound better?

If you and your friend are interested in fixing it up, but aren't sure how far you want to take it, my first piece of advice would always be to take a look at the heads. If they are old, or if they are worn out, replace them. This is the first step. Get the best deal you can on a set of Remo, Evans, or Acquarian heads online. For resonant (bottom side) heads, you can use the Attack medium clear head packs that you can find very cheaply. They sound fine.

Once you get the new heads on and get the set tuned up, if you like the sound, or it seems to have potential, you may want to play it as is, or work on making the set look better. You have a lot of options there... You could strip the wrap and stain the kit (quite a bit of work,) you could re-wrap the kit (this might be a good idea for this set, but is a little expensive,) or you can try to strip the paint off the gold sparkle wrap. My preference would be to try to strip the paint off the wrap and restore the gold sparkle. However, this takes a lot of TIME and PATIENCE, but it would be the cheapest thing to do. You would just need a safe type of paint stripper or you could do it with water, a sanding sponge and some rags.

Go forth, be careful, and drill no holes! And come back with pics!

Hi, thanks for the replies. I wasn't entirely clear in the post, but the whole kit isn't at rehearsal at the moment, but it was for a long time. I can try and get a pic of some of it. The kit does bear Hoshino badges, however. The years could well be off, and as my friend's not used the floor for a while he may have got the size wrong. I'll double-check. I've stripped the wrap off a kit or two in the past, and to be honest, I think that might be the best option here, because some of the gold has rubbed off too. Annoyingly, the burgundy looks like spray paint, so I'm not sure what the best thing t remove that would be. If it's in fact a standard 22 16 and 13, then I guess it's more likely to be a Hoshino.

Try to first use a simple orange based stripper. Anytime you canb save an original wrap is cool, especially Gold or Orange.

Thanks again. No reply yet from my friend, but I'll keep you posted. I've got to strip some paint of an old MIJ shell I have, so I think I'll try and grab these drums and do that one while I'm at it.

I look forward to seeing to help you solve the mystery- pics are essential. The more detailed the pics the easier it`ll beJumping2

Bit of an update - I'm assured that the bass is 24 and the floor 18. However, this kit has a more script-like Hoshino logo, rather than the one which looks rather like the old tama logo.

I've attached the only pic I have so far - the edge of a live shot. It's tiny and I realise it won't be much help, but my friend has no digital camera to take a pic of the drums he has at home. I'll grab a shot of the drum at storage when I can.

Notice the inside of the tom looks almost chipboard-like - it's not however, it's smooth, but flecked.

Ok, well.......- I strongly recommend that you just love that kit for it AS IT IS and do not drop a cent into it. Believe me, there are mountains of nice vintage MIJ kits in a much more ready condition for you- just awatin'.

And not to contradict your idea- but it was pretty much unheard of for 24" stock MIJ bass drums and 18" floor toms before about 1974/1975 and even then it wasn't found on stencil kits- those were all very, very standard sizes: 20/12/13/16 or 22,12,13,16 -

I would venture to say you possibly have a late 70s Pearl kit there under all that stuff or even later. I only say Pearl because they just made so damn many of them.

Buy a different kit to fix up- I have seen better MIJ kits for 60$

No offense

Hety Eric! He lives in the UK...so his drum finding efforts for MIJ are going to be rather a challenge. That said, I have to agree with you, love them and maybe find some parts to finish them and put some good heads on. Also, Star made an 16 bass, kind of an early "jungle kit" if you will...BRB....

Here is the link, they called it a cocktail kit.

http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/japanese_drums/images/Star/1967-6.jpg

I knew it! 18" bass drum here:

http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/japanese_drums/images/Star/1967-5.jpg