Very nice! And clean as a pin! STAR Drums. The T-rods are the key. The color is an Oyster Pearl, not root beer. Ralf may pop in with the name, he is good about that. He has catalogs not on here.

Did you get the snare? Is it a woodie or a COS? If COS, grab a Fyberskin 3a for it, and it will mellow it out and bring the fire. Opens it to a huge, clean tuning range. It is much nicer than the Amb everone uses.

OK, here is What I do with these. They are mahogany lauan, 3 ply shells. First, sand them down. Nothing heavy, just close the grain up. Yes, it's a pain. But, in the end, you will be happy. They will have a deep tone, and there is no getting away from that, but it is more like Slingerland when you get done. After the sanding, either 100 or 220, or if you are patient and willing both. Lacquer the interiors, NOT poly. I use Deft from Lowe's, about 10.00 bucks for a quart, 2 coats minimum. If it takes 2 qts, use it. I also add in a small amount of stain by mixing it into the lacquer to help "age" the color of the wood. If you have a dark color, such as Shaker Pine, use no more than about 20-30 ml/qt. I use one of those kids medicine cups to measure. Tape the exterior of the holes after the hardware is off. It keeps the outside clean. If you really want to make them sing, you can go to www.theveneerstore.com and order some maple veneer and apply it to the interior of the shells before lacquering. This is a BIG JOB. It worked on my old WMP, and they sound like Slingerlands. It is hard work.

If the edges are round over, leave them with a smooth finish of 220, but DO NOT change the contour, just smooth them and then wax them with beeswax, lightly. It helps the heads slide over better. If they are really shrp, just knock the edge down a little, if you are comfortable.

Now the heads, are going to be subjective, but one thing to save about 25 is to take some Krylon spray paint in Ivory Satin and lightly spray the old thin res in 4 directions, alll the way round until smooth and even. It makes the old head come back to life, feeling almost like a calf.

And port it, with a 4"-6" hole, nicely done. As for heads, these thin shells take well to Ambassador or Diplomats. You can use Attack pack for reso and you get the whole kit for around 40 buck shipped to you. Go to zZounds, call the 800, and ask them to match American Musical. They will beat them on shipping and that makes them around 35-. You get the entire 5 head pack, 22-12-13-16 and snare batter. I don't suggest using the snare unless it makes the snare go up in tone, if a woodie. You have to have American Musical site open to help the guy find it, but get all your heads at the same time. Look at all the heads, you can get bargains if you look carefully at the bass heads.

This should get you going!

Looks like you got it all, original pedal and throne. These are very early, like 64, 65 drums. Very cool. I would like to be in line for the sale. This looks like a museum peice. Very clean, and not much used. So the snare is a woodie, it will be a handful to tame. Let's get the rest done first, then you can call me and we can work out the snare. PM for phone #.

Thanks a bunch for helping me out! I have the original HH stand too but it needs a bit of TLC. I will post more pics as I go and if I become a pain in the @%# for asking to many questions let me know. I will PM for your # and send mine.

I would like to see some pics of the snare drum throw and butt end, if possible, as well as the Made in Japan stickers. I sort of see characteristics of both Pearl and Star, so more pics would help determine who made the set.

Also, if you dont want to go the whole 9 yards on this set, being that it's in such good shape, try just throwing some new heads on, lightly oil the t-rods (I use 3-in-1 oil) and give them a go as is. You might be surprised with the improved sound with just new heads. I've used coated Emperors on my MIJ drums and they sound good to my ear. Worth a try if you find the Ambassadors too bright/open sounding.

I'd clean them up and play 'em! Really classy set! Love the Rootbeer color! Sizes?

sizes are 14x5 snare, 22x16 bass, 13x8 tom and 16x14 floor tom.