Hi!
I'm about to buy a star kit from the early 60's. 22" bass that lost its badge (all parts point to Star) 16" floor with the first version of the black badge and then a 13" tom. The 13" has lost its badge, has lugs that look like star, stick chopper hoops( may, or may not be original) and a weird tom fitting.
The shell is three ply luan with re-rings. Anybody recognize this?
Cheer/
Jonas
Those are probably closer to the '50s than '60s honestly. I've seen those ratchet mounts, but usually on older drums. No doubt it's likely a Star made drum. They also had a cymbal mount with that same type of ratcheting.
Hello,
I know this ratchet mount only from the tom holder arm on the bass drum, on top of the rail consolette.
But I've never seen a bracket directly at the tom shell. Can you make a pic of the completely mounted tom arm, please?
Cheers, Ralf
I'd guess Star as well but, let Ralf investigate further. He's the best!
Brian
Nope - that is American. I posted a pic of that piece before as mystery piece - was told it was Ludwig or something....by Mike Layton. I will try to get him to chime in.
Not sure I can find my old thread.
-John
I've got a White Oval badge Ludwig & Ludwig 9x13 (early 40's maybe) tom that has that mount on the shell itself. I also have the remainder of the mount. Let me see if I have a pic or two.
Also here is a link to Ebay that shows the rest of a mount like this..
Mike
I just saw that mount on a Gretsch drum as well. So, it may be a Walberg & Auge piece. They made lots of stuff for various manufacturers for a long time.
Mike
Wish we could see the interior of the tom, but I still think it's a MIJ, despite the mount. One of the reasons I say this is I also have early '30s Ludwig Toms with that mount. However as on the photo posted by Mike, mine is directly over the wrap seam. The tom from the OP Isn't, and that grommet also just looks Japan made.
Thanks for all the replies! Love this forumYes Sir
The kit I'm buying is actually comprised of orphans... Hence I don't have the rest of the tom mount, wish I had... The 16" has a star badge and I've been able to find the kick in the star catalogs from -61 (ensemble nr 8) and -63 (ensemble nr 5000), so it's a virgin shell with only a cymbal mount. The only one that eludes me is this 13"... I've contacted the seller for more pics, showing the inside of the 13", will post as soon as I get them.
ARCHxANGEL, you say you think it's from the 50's? I've only found catalogs as far back as -61, and Ralf's excellent site says production began in -65! I don't get it, can someone shed more light on this?
Cheers/
Jonas
Well we know that these companies were making drums at least in '61. So I'm willing to bet they were years before as well. At least Star or Pearl was. We do know of other Japanese drum companies making drums in the 1950's, so they were being produced. I think though they didn't start to become imported in the United States and elsewhere until the '60s. Sadly there is still a lot of gaps in the MIJ drum time lines, and who exactly made what as we've encountered some overlaps with badges,hardware,etc... Heck for all we know that mount isn't original. Also worthy to note that the floor tom is very early Star. That looks like it's from '61. But again, just because that's the first noted catalog doesn't mean they or someone wasn't making them earlier.
