Hi, I'm Dan from Wales, UK. I'm not a drummer, but recently purchased Hoshino Professional kit from a charity shop for the princely sum of £50. I've tried to research the kit and found lots on the Hoshino Gakki company itself, (owners of Tama and Ibanez and all that) but nothing to determine where Hoshino kits fit into a time line. Does anyone know how I could date my Japanese, tobacco burst kit?
Any nudges in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]Interesting Question. Hmmm....
The lugs are Rogers beavertails. The small eyelet is also a signature Rogers feature. But the finish is NOT. Whether it is a lacquer over the wood of the shell, or a plastic laminate in a woodgrain pattern...Rogers did not make that shade or pattern stock.
The guy to ask is George Lawrence, he is the go-to guy for vintage Japanese stuff:
http://www.vintagedrummuseum.com/forum/index.php
It could be a "remodel"...perhaps the drums are Japanese, but someone switched the lugs out to the very sturdy Rogers type. If it's a lacquer finish, could also be that someone refinished the drum.
Wow...a mystery. can you post more pics...maybe one of inside the shell, maybe one of the whole kit w/ a closeup of some hardware ?[/COLOR]
Interesting drum for sure and you should PM one of our members here. canoraboy. He is the most knowledgeable person that I have met in regards to this topic. He does not check in a lot, so you should try and contact him directly.
We also have a very nice Japanese drum section on the main web site and a photo of that badge would be great.
George Lawrence is also a member here and I work with him on NSMD magazine. Try and send him a direct email [email]george@notsomoderndrummer.com[/email] since his forum is in the starting stages, there is not much action on it. He does check into the NSMD forum which I Admin for.
David
Hi guys, thanks for the tips. No pics of the whole kit yet, I'm polishing the bugger up, but I shall when I'm done. But heres one of the inside of the bass. It's not too clear from my camera-phone, but the grain runs along the drum and not from inside to out. I've read that this matters?
Dan.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]Hi Dan....impossible pic to view ; thanks for tyring, though
You mean the grain runs horizontally with the shell and not vertically from top edge to bottom edge ?
yes, that matters in that it is not likely luan wood from the '60's-70's...which is what most budget Japanese kits were made from back then....
[/COLOR]
Impossible to see, I know. I will post better pictures. Yes I mean the grain runs continuously, full circle, around the inside of the drum, and not from head/skin to head/skin (I am struggling to find clear words to describe such a simple thing!). I'm not sure what wood it is, but I'll find out.
Thank you for your previous posts, I contacted Mr George Lawrence on your advice and he kindly gave me permission to post his reply here (In the interest of full disclosure I will post my original mail to him, he also said that his advice was strictly an educated guess):
(Me):
Mr Lawrence,
I was advised by David, an administrator for the Vintage drum forum, to contact you about a Hoshino Professional kit that I recently purchased. I have tried to find out about the kit and have not really found out alot. I know that the Hoshino Gakki company produced kits under the 'Star' name before they changed it to 'Tama' (about 1974?), but I can find no mention of kits with the Hoshino name. I think this may be because they were just entry level kits, but I would much like to find out the approximate year my kit was made.
I have attached a few pictures, and if you get a spare minute, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share some of your knowledge of vintage (not that I'm saying this particular kit IS vintage) Japanese drums with me.
(Mr Lawrence):
I’ve seen the Hoshino badge before. It looks like that kit has all of the TAMA tooling on the metal parts. That’s not an entry level kit. It’s a pro level kit because of the finish grade wood on the outer ply (maple?). The entry level kits were made of luan and were usually painted on the inside. I imagine this was made just prior to the switch to the TAMA name and my guess at the year would be about 1973 to 1974. The word vintage simply means “year of manufacture”. It’s a collectable kit in my opinion. I would think the value for a whole five piece kit would be between $500 -$800 on Ebay.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]George is the dude. I would say that $800 would be a fairer market value for it, though. I think if someone took a 4-pc. for $500, they would be getting a damn good deal.
It seems to only have been produced under that badge for a few years....[/COLOR]
I did get the whole 5 pieces. It looks like I had an absolute bargain then for £50, I think thats about $75. It didn't come with a tom mount (that might not be the correct term?), so any suggestions on how I would go about getting a suitable one for it? I'm not going to sell the kit, it's strictly for home recording, but it would be nice to get some relatively accurate metal work (timeline wise) for it.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]Well....before you get the tom mount...get a camera...and post more pics hereFalling Do
;)
We can see what sorta mounts it has on it, thus you could choose a period-correct one. there are tons of old Japanese parts flying around eBay...it shouldn't be hard.
yes...I would say you scored a deal....
Nice that you are gonna keep and use it, too....[/COLOR]
Rear as hens teeth mate...good score.
Mate I owned a Hoshino kit in the early 80s it was my first kit I did'nt know a thing about them back then, I traded them in on a new Tama Swingstar set which came out with the power toms. I have since been trying to hunt the old Hoshino kit down, here's apic of my old Hoshino's.
Cheers
Dno
