As far as I remember: Luxor = Hoshino (not Star/ Tama).

In Germany Luxor was quite a cheap selling product line.

Ralf

Wow-there is not ONE BIT of that set that looks familiar to me.Lugs,bass T-rods,tom mount,bass spurs.Not even the root-beerish pearl.A real stumper...Like the recently posted snare with slotted rods.I just love a mystery,Shaggy-

Hoshino Gakki is Star. That was the family's company name before they got into the drum building business. At the end of the run for Star Drums and TAMA was opening up shop, the company still had to have an income, and also had to fulfill certain contract obligations for the stencil business. The new company really had no desire to be involved, or at least publically visible to the stencil business. They reverted back to the companies' original name to finish out the contracts, as Pearl would take them after the Taiwan facilities were completed and up to speed.

This "Hoshino" kit is a Star...look at the tom mounts, they are the beefiest Star type. The lugs are also the very last revision of the Soundking copies.

My information concerning Hoshino' is totally different from yours, jonnistix ...

Hoshino Gakki = Star = Tama, manufacturing company in Nagoya.

Hoshino Kougyou = ANOTHER (!) company, also located in Nagoya, but had nothing to do with Hoshino Gakki - just the 'first' name was the same.

Two families behind with no common interests.

Where is your information from?

I have another point that has a lot to commend it: why should Star use parts of the competition (= Pearl) to complete and sell drums? Many of the 'Hoshino' kits show parts that never have been used at Star kits, as e.g. tom arms going into the tom shell, two separate tom arms out of the bass drum, etc..

Perhaps OsakaBop can assist?

Ralf

At the very end of the Star run, we see the Apollo kits with shared/mixed hardware. Pearl was taking over the St. Louis Music Supply contract to produce the stencils and as Star still had the legal obligation to supply them, Pearl was also building them. I have photographic proof of mixed parts on bass drums. The photo below is a Pearl bass drum, from the lugs, and has a Star tom mount on it.

quote

... and has a Star tom mount on it ...

unquote

You mean: that tom mount looks like the one from Star, called Free'o'matic double tom holder?

Please have a precise look at the attached pic with the genuine Star one.

Hoshino's might look similar - but it's definitely NOT one of Star's!

So I'm still not convinced that Hoshino and Star came anyhow together at that time ...

Ralf

Ralf is very correct here.

Hoshino Kougyou was the factory making kits sold in Europe under names such as Luxor (in Germany), Santana (in Denmark), Aria, Maya - and Hoshino.

Always 6 layers of Luan, nice wraps, nice lugs that didn´t crack, in the beginning banana rails, later ball-and-socket like these, and later on copies of Tama Omni-Sphere mounts. Later Arias can be very well built, and they even tried to make an up-market kit, sold as Trak or Aria - but they didn´t catch on and the company folded shortly thereafter.

Hoshino Gakki is quite another (succes-)story.

Regards

Jon

Oh man, to muddy the waters even more, I think there may have even been some kind of Hoshino (Kougyou) / Pearl connection. I've seen a Crown drum with the large Crown letter badge that I've always associated with Pearl on a drum that had to be Hoshino (Kougyou) - with the tab t-rod inserts and the shark tooth lugs.

I'm glad this discussion has come up again, as the "Hoshino issue" seems to be one of the last MIJ mysteries. Hopefully we have enough insight and examples between us to finally figure it all out!

Geez guys... just when I think I've got it straight, someone throws another wrench in the mix. Maybe it's time we made a concerted effort to get this, Hoshino/Pearl/Hoshino thing sorted out once and for all.