Quick question, are the inserts and t-rods on the rack and floor toms original to the drums? (They look like they are.) And if yes, are they metric or standard?

Can't believe I never thought to ask you this before!

I think so, and honestly, I've not checked and don't have a pitch gage so I can't tell.

Hey, did you read Kona's thread about the strainer on that snare? Do you have one you could throw to a brother for shipping and handling? He lives in BC, so getting them there is easy enough and I know the trick to getting them duty free. Just write "used drum parts" and where it asks for value, I put $0.00.

You have those looking good,and the build quality looks good,I like the cymbal mount,the ft brackets look to me like Rogers Sta tites,but boxed in.

The reason I ask about the t-rods/inserts is that I think that Star was the only company that used the smaller, thinner metric t-rods.

I did comment on Kona's Apollo thread. Unfortunately, I dont have any spare Star snare parts right now. I was lucky to find that strainer for the Astro onyx snare in town. In fact, I need to find another one for the red sparkle Johnny Lightning snare. I have four Star snares right now, and the Astro is the only one that has that complete strainer. Anyway, Kona can either try to source the original parts (he only needs two: the throw arm and the corresponding square nut) or he can improvise something from a hardware store.

Thanks! And you should hear them, they are cannons! I will be having a friend over this week and we are going to produce a short video so everyone can hear them. I had a new acquaintance over a couple days ago and he sat down to play. He did a quick turn around the them, you know single, quick rotation and went "Whoa! I wasn't even expecting anything close to that!"

Concerning the metric tension rod question, this is easy to tell. The metrics are a tad thinner than "standard" rods, which are 12-24 threaded. Just take a standard rod and try to insert it into the lug nut. If it won't go, the nut is most likely metric threaded.

If you're desperate to put a drum together that has metric lug inserts, they can be easily tapped to 12-24 without any damage. I've done this countless times with excellent results. Just a little FYI!!

Hi Jonnistix,

Should say that I don't think it's a Star stencil. For me there are too many differences to Star's.

Although you've settled the matter for yourself, I would like to give my 2 cents herein: I see it's roots more in the direction of 'Hoshino', perhaps a 'Pre-Hoshino' drumset?

In any way: it really looks beautiful and WMP is THE great classic look for a vintage drumset, no doubts.

Ralf

Thanks Ralf. I am still on the fence about this whole Hoshino thing. I honestly believe that Star also was selling drums either earlier or later, after the TAMA deal, as Hoshino since that is in fact the family name of the company. The legal name of the company is Hoshino Gakki Group. It encompasses not only TAMA drums, but Ibanez guitars, as seen here: http://www.hoshinogakki.co.jp/

This why I am becoming more and more convinced that the whole Hoshino Drums thing is indeed our beloved Star. Maybe they took some lessons from St. Louis Music Supply and competed with themselves, selling both Star and Hoshino brands and stencils. Maybe this is why we see so many things that just don't add up or make sense, some things that look so similar and yet not quite the same, and then some that are identical and have a different name than we think it should. because they were selling both sets of brands at the same time, to the same people like SLMS did (they owned numerous stencil name brands, Apollo, Stewart, Polaris and many others). I know this sounds off the wall, but it would indeed answer so many questions and put to bed our misunderstanding of the market.

Hi jonnistix,

Sorry, but I will keep my position that Hoshino Kougyou had nothing to do with Hoshino Gakki. For me, the differences are too much (concerning hardware parts).

I guess that 'Hoshino' is such a common Japanese name like 'Miller' in USA or 'Müller' in Germany ;)

So it's all about the similarity in the name, nothing more.

We together found out that parts at any vintage MIJ drum could be related either to Star or Pearl.

But Hoshino Kougyou didn't fit either with Star or Pearl. Their hardware always was in between both, sometimes even a mix out of both, akin to one or to the other.

Ralf