The kind of wood this snare is made of is luan ~ Asian mahogany. The grain of the wood will run up & down, not side to side like North American drums. Now as for the year, Jonni or other members will probably chime in on that. They will probably need a pic of the interior of the snare.

Nice find!!

Cheers

I'd date it somewhere around '67-'69, possibly very early 70s. It would be hard to pin it down any closer than that, but maybe Ralf, O-bop, or Jonnistix might know more... Very cool drum, by the way.

Thanks for the info guys! Is luan high quality wood, or is it junk? I went into guitar center to see if anyone could tell me some information, none of them had even heard about star drums, i had to explain to them the backstory. I cant wait til i get this baby and see how it sounds, do you guys think the red sparkle is a wrap, or possibly a laminate coating?

Well sir, Welcome to the wonderful world of MIJ drums. The question is one of opinion. Most people here will tell you the drum is junk, I missed that one or it would have been a bloody battle betwixt us!

I like the wood. This looks like a 3 ply shell and would be pre-67 as Star went to 6 ply shells in mid-67. When you get the drum, pull the head and let's see the interior. If it has re-rings, it is a 3 ply. This snare can sound really good, but it takes work. You will have to work the edges a little to get the heads to seat better, and it may take some snare bed work as well.

When you get it in, let me know and we can get together and I will walk you through the work and tuning lesson. It takes a little getting used to to get them tuned, but then they have a very special pop and crack, and many people will ask you what it is and how you got it to sound so great!

Oohh, it has a B/B bat muffler, nice one! That is an earlier one.

Awesome, Jonni. For one, i got it for $105, do you think i payed too much, or did i get a good deal?

I looked it up some more, and i believe it to be from 1966, although i could be wrong.

That would be great, i've never bought an old drum to restore before, i was actually just searching for a nice snare that matches my apple red drum set, and i came across this and couldn't pass it up, if you could teach me what to do to make it sound better, i'd really appreciate that. Because i very much want this to be the snare i use in my set for shows and the like.

oh, by the way, heres a pic of the interior.

[IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/2mfc2u0.png[/IMG]

Its my understanding that Ludwig went after Star in 1966 to stop them from making a copy of the Ludwig B/B muffler like the one on your drum..So i would date your drum 1966 by 1967 that muffler was not used by Star any more..Mikey

Truth? Well, it is a bit steep for an MIJ snare. The one redeeming quality is the muffler, those are hard to come by. This is a 3 ply. Now, getting it tuned high is really going be a challenge as they are super thin and have a lower tonal resonance than you may find acceptable for all your music needs. Having a good metal snare would be the best scenario as you will not get those real high tensions on this snare. The shell is simply too thin to withstand those pressures for a long period of time. That said, it is a great smokey, lower tone that once you get used to playing will make you smile at the way it plays effortlessly. It can be made to be very articulate. I have a few of these thinner shells.

They made a few different thicknesses in these shells and I found a 5 ply that a younger drummer here in OKC traded as part of his offering to me on an Acrolite trade. 2 snares, a handful of cymbals and cash. The 5 ply shell, interestingly enough had re-rings in it. That snare is on my youtube page, entitled "Star Resurrection". You can hear it through my ****-poor playing ability. It is now in the hands of another local drummer and is making music and will be his main snare for his next recording session.

Hi Starsnare- I have paid about that much before for similar ones so don't feel too bad. Probably 65$ plus shipping would have been the most proper price currently- so no big loss. As usual I agree with Jonni- if it`s just for collecting then polish it up and put it on the shelf, but if it's intended to be a player you`ll need to give it some help.

I suggest- lightly sanding top and bottom bearing edges, cutting (filing) in some shallow snare beds, replacing each of the 12 tension lug screw inserts with new ones, replacing the snare wires with thin/light weight models ( I like the simple Pearl snappys).

Around here lately, we have been discussing treatments to the wood of the inner shells like painting, wax coating, or applying oil to increase volume and resonance.

I tune my 6-lug MIJs very high and tight with the muffler engaged- going for that Clyde Stubblefield/ James Brown "crack!"

enjoy it!

Hey guys, just recieved the snare in the mail today. And let me tell you, i was very surprised by the condition it was in, there is hardly any cosmetic flaws on this thing! And it sounds absolutely gorgeous. I will upload a video shortly so you can all hear it!