Starclassics are high end drums. But since the market is soft some people let there older drums go low. 450 is a great price

Here's a picture of my Starclassic Performer EFX kit from 2001. A beautiful kit with all birch shells and wrapped in White Silk. 8x10, 9x12, 14x14 FT, 16x20 BD. They sounded great!

Mark

Thank you all for the advice and insight. I'm buying them tomorrow. If I could ever figure out how to post pics on this web site I would. Might be easier for me to launch the Space Shuttle.

Dave

I would jump on that at $450. Starclassics are some of the nicest and most well built drums I have ever owned. I just sold my Starclassic in white silk (just like above only Bubinga Birch) for over $1000.

And..... I'll take that $1000 bet on knowing what kind of wood a drummer is playing. I can definitely tell if a set is birch. It's night and day to maple. And, my Starclassic solid Bubinga set gets more compliments on the way it sounds than any of the over 50 vintage drum sets I own(ed). Even the guitar players consistently tell me how my drum set "sounds better than other drummer's drums". They don't know why but...... it's the wood.

Harder woods like Bubinga or Oak (or the old world mahogany of the vintage kits) sounds totally different than softer woods like maple, birch or poplar.

I am surprised how few drummers even know what kind of wood their drums are made from.

I am a novice drummer compared to most and I can tell a hardwood set the moment I hear it. I'm surprised that so many drummers don't know more about the different shells. Maybe it like you said... back in the day you didn't have all these choices so you didn't make a point of learning about it.

Just a point of information,Tama Starclassic Performers,vintage Tama Superstars and Yamaha Recording Customs....are all 100% Japanese birch,which is considered a hardwood,by the Janka hardness scale,and according to it's species characteristics.

Steve B

That's the same kit I have at the practice house. It isn't mine so I figured it was maple. Maybe its birch? I can't really tell by looking at the wood. Birch and maple are so similar. Although birch has more "configurations" in it's makeup. Anyway same color and config it looks like. How do one know if it's a performer? does it say it anywhere? or is it in the wood or configuration? They are LOUD though. It is a 22"bass drum though.

Ed

Hey Ed!

By "the same kit", do you mean a wrapped kit? If so, then, yes, it's a Starclassic Performer EFX. The Performer series were birch shells, with the EFX line having birch shells and a wrapped finish.

Sometimes, it difficult to tell maple from birch, as the grain can sometimes look the same. If your drums are a natural finish, you might be able to tell what wood it is by the color. Birch series came in finishes that the maple series didn't. Still, you never know!

Mark

I happen to own a Starclassic EFX birch-bubinga set in white silk, made in Japan in the late 2000s, and I can tell you it's a kick-a$$ kit. Great sound, excellent craftsmanship, it is after all a top-of-the-line series of drums in the same league as Pearl Masters Custom, Sonor SQ2, DW Collectors etc. If that kit of yours is in good shape, $450 is nothing - in my country, you need about $3000 for a brand new set (shells only).

Alex

Not all Starclassic Performers were birch. The first four years of that line they were basswood initially then phillipine mahogany with outer birch plies.

In 1994 there was a Starclassic Birch model (separate line from Performer), which was the 100% birch line. It was discontinued and the Performer line 'upgraded' to 100% birch in 1999.

Its easy to tell a birch Performer from a Maple - the Performer has metal badges, metal air vent grommets and 8 lug bass drums. The maple (unless a wrap) has tranfers, wood air vent grommets and 10 lug bass drums.