Good day Ralf! I have one of those "telephone dial" rails that came off of an early Mercury bass drum that had "Fibre Gold" wrap on it. Pearl never used that wrap colour. As for the strainer, it is possible the distributor had these made and sent directly to Star, (in this case I am almost certain it was Brooklyn Music Supply that owned the name LaBoz) or installed them once delivered to their warehouse. Dixie also used this strainer as did only a few other of the oval brass badge name brand stencils. LaBoz always used the plastic badge, which I believe they made, or rather had them made and sent them along to Star or applied them once the drums were delivered to the Brooklyn Music warehouse.

This rail type was only used on a few name brands. The "dial" type parts were not as reliable as the others. There is no question, in my opinion, that these early LaBoz are Star. I see no other parts I can attribute to Pearl, although I do know that LaBoz, Dixie and approx 3-4 more names did use this strainer design, but I am fairly sure these are custom parts supplied by the distributor in order to differentiate themselves from the others.

When I try to identify stencils, the main parts I take into consideration are the lugs, then the strainers, then hoops and sometimes I will have to go as far as to look inside the shells if they are later 9 ply shells to see if they are painted grey. Sometimes the snare lugs are the only clue as to who actually made the drums. These lugs, on the snare and bass are definitely Star "Type A" lugs. Also, see this catalog page for the rail type seen here.

http://www.tamadrum.co.jp/anniversary/expansion.php?cat_id=5&now=7

In this scan, we see the lugs yet again and also the bass drum T-rods. Pearl did not use this type of T-rod.

http://www.tamadrum.co.jp/anniversary/expansion.php?cat_id=5&now=10

This is how arrive at my identification conclusions, taking as many factors into account as I can find

I am nowhere near the level of expertise of John and Ralf but, I have two early stencils of Star. The lugs.....identical. The claws.....identical. The t-rods.....identical. This is what makes this forum special. Exchanging ideas and constant learning! In my opinion, John and Ralf are both wonderful sources of knowledge!

Brian

Thanx, Brian, for your assistance.

quote (jonnistix)

... When I try to identify stencils, the main parts I take into consideration are the lugs, then the strainers, then hoops and sometimes ...

unquote

... and when I look at those vintage drums, my first look goes to the trainer, the rail consolette and the brackets ...

Jonnistix, if it's correct that local dealers could add such important (and 'foreign') parts for the assembling of a drumset, my point of view onto those drums may be incorrect, as these parts would lead me automatically into the wrong direction/ conclusion.

Thanks for your assistance. (And I'm still right with saying that that strainer and that rail consolette are not typical for Star. ;))

Ralf

Ralf, I missed the diamond shaped mounts on this kit, but both Star and Pearl used that shape plate at different times in their history of stencils. It comes down to the little things sometimes! I know you know the European Stars much better than those of us in the US, as there are some differences from US to European Star kits and Pearl kits as well. I bow to your expertise in EU, older anyway, kits. Let's leave this one to the DrumGod....

I'm resurrecting a very old post that has to do with Laboz MIJ drums.

Do any of you have a kit exactly like this one, in the 22,12,13,16 and matching snare configuration? Anyone have it in blue sparkle? If so, and you are interested in selling it, kindly pop me a PM.

This is the first kit I owned. For historical reasons I find it quite interesting and also note that the unusual snare strainer was used on my first wooden snare drum, which was a Howard in black wrap. I don't think the Howard had the Slingerland type lugs and hoops. Someone had mentioned that it would have had metal hoops. Mine had wooden hoops with matching blue sparkle inlay and was purchased in the fall of 1967 at Lechmere Sales in East Cambridge, MA. Seems the US distributor was located in NY.

Even if anyone has one of these and is not interested in selling, I'd be interested to know what you have. The catalog cut is shown here too and mine was nearly identical to the top version except for color, cymbal sizes. The bass pedal was cheaper and the hi-hat pedal did not have the black gripping material on it. Generally any history on these will also be appreciated. Sorry to have missed this thread when it was originally out there.

Thanks,