Star Drums

[Pukeboy]

hey guys,
a friend of mine told me about this old drum he had. he never really checked out what it was, so we searched the web and found this on the Tama website:
http://www.tama.com/history/full_size/2-star.jpg
if I'm not mistaking this is the very first drumline Tama made ( 1965 ) I would like to find out more about these drums: quality, value, shellmaterial, etc.... as I will probably be recording on this drum. I haven't got any pictures of the drum itself but I'll post them as soon as I've got some shots.

cheers, michiel

[DaveB]

I think you'll probably find it was made by Hoshino who is the parent company of Tama. I don't think the Tama name was about that early, but Star was the forerunner of that brand.

If you want more info, you should probably try the Tama forum.

[Deathmetalconga]

Fascinating. Check out some of the features now common on sets, like the hihat brace and ball joints, yet some of the old touches, like bass-mounted cymbal arm. Cool!

[harryconway]

Good place to start your early Japanese drum research is right here: http://georgesdrumshop.com/museum.asp George is a forum member. Both Tama and Pearl sold under "many" names. Shell construction. Cheap wood (Luan, Philippine mahogany, firewood, cheesewood), whatever you want to call it. Early Japanese drums excelled in their psychedelic wraps (and very little else). Hardware design was copied from American design. Fun to have a kit as a "curiosity", that's about it. Fascinating. Check out some of the features now common on sets, like the hihat brace and ball joints, yet some of the old touches, like bass-mounted cymbal arm. Cool!
I think you'll find Rogers and Slingerland both using ball jointed tom mounts before the Japanese.

[Deathmetalconga]

I think you'll find Rogers and Slingerland both using ball jointed tom mounts before the Japanese.

Maybe so. The drumset is an American invention and I'll bet the Japanese just copied a lot of stuff. But it's fun to see those features on old sets and note how they have evolved into modern sets.

Back then, it seems like it was unusual to see a Japanese-made kit in the U.S. Now, I'll bet it's hard to find a U.S.-made kit in the U.S.!

[harryconway]

Let's see, I got my first drum kit around 1964-65. Japanese. I think the name was Gracie, but I'm not sure. The band I was in had a Ludwig kit. At least here in L.A., cheap Japanese kits were what you got as a beginner kit. Gretsch, Ludwig, Rogers and Slingerland kits were 1/2 the price of a new car. I knew 3 other drummers who all had Japanese kits also. Pretty much identical, except in color and badge name. They were probably all made by Pearl.

[Skitch]

Good place to start your early Japanese drum research is right here: http://georgesdrumshop.com/museum.asp George is a forum member. Both Tama and Pearl sold under "many" names. Shell construction. Cheap wood (Luan, Philippine mahogany, firewood, cheesewood), whatever you want to call it. Early Japanese drums excelled in their psychedelic wraps (and very little else). Hardware design was copied from American design. Fun to have a kit as a "curiosity", that's about it.
I think you'll find Rogers and Slingerland both using ball jointed tom mounts before the Japanese.

And the Yamaha tom holder was a "cleaned-up" version of the Rogers Swiv-o-matic.

Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com

http://www.youtube.com/drummermikemccraw
http://www.myspace.com/drummermikemccraw

[Skitch]

hey guys,
a friend of mine told me about this old drum he had. he never really checked out what it was, so we searched the web and found this on the Tama website:
http://www.tama.com/history/full_size/2-star.jpg
if I'm not mistaking this is the very first drumline Tama made ( 1965 ) I would like to find out more about these drums: quality, value, shellmaterial, etc.... as I will probably be recording on this drum. I haven't got any pictures of the drum itself but I'll post them as soon as I've got some shots.

cheers, michiel


This was the first Tama line of drums and, my, aren't there some total rip-offs of American Hardware - like the tom holder!


Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com

http://www.youtube.com/drummermikemccraw
http://www.myspace.com/drummermikemccraw

[Steady Freddy]

I think I had a set of these. The year sounds about right. They were a four piece orange sparkle set. I later added black racing strips to them using 3M tape. I don't remember them very well but the name Star rang a bell.

Ya know what they say about the 60s. If you remember it you weren't really there.

[brennenlesser]

look at those pedals!

[brennenlesser]

Ya know what they say about the 60s. If you remember it you weren't really there.

hahahahahahahaha Guess you stayed out of trouble?