Steve,

Thanks for staying with me on this. My legs measure about 14" from center to center, but I suppose the bracket could be bent a little to accommodate the half inch difference. I'd still go $25 total if that's alright with you. How would you like the payment sent?

You did good to get 375. Most go for 200-250, unless they actual Star, not stencils. Then they MIGHT go 300ish. I'm tired of people thinking these old kits are worth more than they are. Do you realize that more than this is getting into Slingerland and now Rogers territory? Who, in their right mind, would pay anything like 500 for a MIJ kit, unless it were a truly top line, very early Yamaha, or very early TAMA? Not many Star drums out there that are worth that. Ask around. I only know one person trying to sell them in the stratosphere, and he still has the kits, sitting there. And he has a few snares that are ABSURDLY priced. I don't care how much time, money and energy you put into one of these, they still don't get that kind of money. And I am one of the few people that get how these drums work. Not may people here know what or even how to make them sing, yet everyone that picks one up accidentally wants to get American money for them. Come on, they are not worth more than they are. And if someone was gracious enough to give you that much, they REALLY have no idea what they bought.

Soap Box

Hey, Osaka, did you get up on the wrong side of the bed or something? You’ve been friendly before, now you seem hostile. Why the rebuke? Didn’t you see the at the end of the sentence? Besides, I’ve seen a lot of locally advertised cheap beat-up drum sets with flawed wrap for around $200, and I’ve sold several drum sets in the $150 to $200 range, but none of those were anything like the Star drum set. So when you consider that my Star drum set was clean with tight and unusual wrap, included solid hardware, and were vintage drums with the original Star heads, I think the $375 price was very fair. By the way, the person who bought them was a knowledgeable drummer and did know what he was getting, and he was pleased to get them. Don't take me wrong, Osaka, I still appreciate all the info that you've posted for me in the past, and I hope you are still my friend.

Oops, sorry about that Osaka, I somehow hit the wrong reply button or something. I still can't get the hang of how these forums work. My last message was intended for jonnistix. Anyway, I hope you didn't get insulted by my defensive comments. I still consider you a friend.

Luckily, I got up on the right side of the bed and no problem. However, Jonni is a cool, A #1 dude and I am sure he got up on the right side of the bed as well. Let`s keep it all relaxed here. We are all on the same crazy teamSumo Dude

Osaka,

I'm with you on that, I've seen some threads where they get downright mean. We may not be a band of brothers, most drummers I've met are kind hearted and helpful, and we all have something in common and that is we love drums. Osaka. I have a question for you. How do you get the top head and the bottom head to resonate differently? I have trouble getting the top head to sound a little open, while at the same time having the bottom head dampened. I think it was you that suggested using crumpled light weight plastic dry-cleaner bags, and that helps, but I haven't gotten it quite right yet. Any suggestions?

When playing a cocktail kit with a separate snare drum I tune the bottom and top heads quite low and loose ( a thin plastic dry cleaner bag is inside the drum) I then use REMO O-ring mufflers- sometimes three or even four of them like 14", 13", 12", 10" on top -I take them off and put them on as I hear and need my sound. I then keep the bottom head loose and tune the top to my needs for the sound. For a big 16"x 16" ft I use as a cocktail drum- upright- I do the same ( cleaners bag inside ) and I cut my own "O-ring" out of an old 20" head 16" in diameter but 6" wide- this mega O-ring is great for controlling the 16"x16"- because O-rings lower the pitch and focus the attack- it's a nice effect.

[IMG]http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/Osakabop/BlueOnyxkit.jpg[/IMG]

Is this the shot you were mentioning? I sometimes use a thin felt strip on the bottom head of the cocktail drum and sometimes not. In general, any drum smaller than 16" will give you a terrible sound when using a felt strip as a muffle- 16" is big enough if the felt strip is very thin -but just. I seem to have slunk away from using felt strips on drums under 18" without even noticing I did it. So as I said before- the muffling is mostly a cleaners bag and the o-rings on top. If you tune the cocktail drum to the same low and muffled pitch you can get a nice double bass drum illusion going playing alternating notes with right hand and foot- fun stuff live... I have even thrown a small piece of light weight cloth, the size of a hand towel, over the top head and played it that way - good muffling on the bottom and a thump bass drum like effect on the top (hence the double bass drum feel).

14x14 cocktail bass drums are trickier to tune and sound good. In general- always mic them when playing live- like with a cajon, you can let the mic and PA effects give you a very big sound without have to bring the big drum. I suspect you've heard cajons mic'd that sound like thunder- it's the same idea.

You asked about positioning my drum - I sit quite high and like the snare almost waist level (I play trad grip)- so everything is up pretty high and positioned flat/level and I play down on them- nothing, no cymbal or drum is above my stomach level. You'll have a different feel for your set up I'm sure- good luck with your shows!

Thanks again, Osaka. You certainly have your act down. Everyone seems to have there own unique ways of doing things, but yours appears to be better than most. My cocktail kit is set-up against a wall, so I'll have to move it to get some decent photos -- which I'll do a little later. For a while, I did try a variation with a 16" tom on its side and used as a bass drum. It worked very well with a "lowered" bass beater. I mounted a modified two tom holder on one of the leg brackets with a cymbal on the same bracket behind. The idea was, again, to get a very portable kit that sounded good. But after a while I missed having the extra "head" of the upright floor tom, so I switched back. Anyway, I'll keep "playing around" with different formats just for the fun of it.

Don

SRT80 (Steve) Thanks. Your bracket works very well even though it isn't adjustable. I put it on my 16" tom and it is a perfect fit -- and solid. Whoever made the bracket did a professional job, it looks good as well as works good. I found that I had to put some "air" between the bottom of the pedal and the floor -- about 1/8" -- to keep the drum from rocking back and forth on my carpet floor. Putting that extra "fourth" leg on the drum makes it harder to steady especially on a carpet. In this case, less is better than more -- three legs better than four.