Yeah, they look very much like the 'no badge' Japanese drums I just picked up too. Same lugs, consolette tom mount (which is pretty weak - mine's broken), tom hardware, bass drum cymbal arm mount, etc. I was told mine were probably U.S. Mercury brand, but I'm sure lots of these were churned out from the same assembly line. BTW, mine have gray painted interiors.
Scott
PS - I'm looking for a replacement for the missing cymbal arm, in case anyone has one laying around...
Hi Scott,
No, not Mercury - your's is definitely either a late STAR or a BOLLERO.
Made around 1973/74. The wrap is called 'Fantasia' and could be found
with both badges.
In any case: it's from the factory which is the predecessor
of TAMA!
Look here:
http://www.drumarchive.com/Star/
I have one of these rail consolettes, exactly matching.
If you're interested: PM me. (Shipment from Germany,
maybe a littly costy.)
Ralf
So which company was responsible for Zim Gar drums?
... These look identical to Slingerland. Maybe I could add a Sling floor tom down the road as I doubt I'll ever find one of these...Bill
Lots of Japanese drum companies made drums with Slinger looking lugs like that. I had a set of Stewarts that did, and they even had reversed Slinger stick saver hoops. You can buy new lugs like that too.
So it wouldn't probably be that hard to find something like that for pretty, actually dirt cheap.
As far as the grain going one way or another, the only drums I ever saw that on the inside of shell the grain ran at right angles to the heads were (and this was very common) very cheap drums, a set of Star's I bought for $40 comes to mind. The shells on those drums would be easy to snap in half if the rims were off, they were really soft wood, and thumpy sounding.
Sometimes though, cheap drums are fun and I'd rather have a well-prepared cheap drumset than a new out of the box expensive set that no one had tweaked.
Those blue drums look just like my MAxitone set. Mine didn't come with a floor tom either (I found a Ludwig Standard that matched pretty well). The bass drum sounds good but the 12" rack tom sounds weak and the sanre is pretty much unusable. I got it for $100 and sold it for $120 (I kept the floor tom).
http://www.fenderforum.com/userphotos/index.html?recid=64311
Got the kit today. Really pleased. Not bad for $71. Had to buy a front head and had heads for the others. Had to add snares which I had already too. Here are the shots you asked for. When at Guitar Center I looked at the vintage kit lugs. These look identical to Slingerland. Maybe I could add a Sling floor tom down the road as I doubt I'll ever find one of these. Any additional info appreciated.Here is the photos link.http://artist2.homestead.com/index.htmlBill
Heh. I have a twin for your kit, minus the snare and cymbal arm but plus an additional 12" tom (with re-rings and center mounted lugs, go fig!) Mine had no badge and yours look to be in better shape. (Mine hadn't survived the 70s with the bottom heads so the resonant batters are a little chunky.) If you want to know a secret, that bass drum records really well. Put a Power Stroke 3 on the batter and one of those Aquarian resonant with the hole and the small ring on them and it will sing into a mic. The tom I just don't like. I'm sure the chewed up bearing edge doesn't help, but I just find it to sound crummy no matter what heads or tuning. Still, I got mine for $20 so I'm not complaining. :D
