I recently spotted what appeared to be an original Star 16" bass drum for sale. Star (Pre-Tama 1960's) did make some smaller kits for children, but this drum looked much like their regular line of drums. I messaged forum MIJ guru DrummerJohn333 and he quickly pointed me to some reference material. In the '67 Star General catalog, I found a Starfield Cocktail Outfit. It consisted of a 16x16 bass drum, 5.5 x14 snare drum with cowbell and mount on the snare drum, bass pedal and snare stand. I purchased the bass drum knowing that modern spurs had been added to it. I inquired about an original bass pedal or snare stand. The seller didn't have those but did have the original snare and gave me a nice price on it. The snare had also been modified with a modern strainer. The wrap/hardware on these cleaned up nicely. These are thin shells with re-rings (3ply I think).

I was able to get some needed parts from forum members Tmc333 (DFO) and Floydzking. Both guys really hooked me up. I used dowels and red sparkle material to fill the bass holes and install original spur mounts/ legs. I have not been able to find an original snare strainer yet, so have not done the hole filling on the snare drum. Was able to modify a snare stand center section to fit in the bass drum mount to accept a proper snare basket. John thinks he may have a bass drum pedal for me. Used some older Remo Coated Ambassador heads for the bass drum. Double thick felt strip on the batter side. The drums tuned easily and really sound nice in stock form. Forum member Ralf has a very nice website dedicated to Star Drums. Some great info there and nice eye candy. He was kind enough to post my set there under the cocktail kit setups. I'd recommend checking his site out for some great information on these drums. His site can be found at http://www.star-drums.de/ . Used a logo image that he provides for my reso head. Still looking for a MIJ cowbell from this era, and a correct snare strainer. Really enjoying these and just wanted to share them. Included a catalog pic and a before pic showing the bass drum as I found it. Felt really good bringing these back to their original glory.

Mike