Just stole some drums ---sorta

Just got a killer deal on a classic set of '82 Tama Swingstars for 200 bucks. Complete 5-piece kit with 3 crashes, ride, hats, splash, throne, and fully loaded stickbag. Black wrap finish and the interiors are coated like the old Imperialstars used to be. Not sure of the shell composition but they are boomy as hell and the hardware still works like butter. Pretty stoked!

Re: Just stole some drums.......sorta

Basher said:

Just got a killer deal on a classic set of '82 Tama Swingstars for 200 bucks. Complete 5-piece kit with 3 crashes, ride, hats, splash, throne, and fully loaded stickbag. Black wrap finish and the interiors are coated like the old Imperialstars used to be. Not sure of the shell composition but they are boomy as hell and the hardware still works like butter. Pretty stoked!

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Not to rain on your parade,but I remember buying a set of new Swngstars back in the early 80's for $299 at Guitar Center including hardware.
The old zola coat interior finish and all.
I remember the metal BD rims always had something rattling inside them.

I added on a set of matching toms and they were dead sounding.

They were entry level drums that sounded OK.

Re: Just stole some drums.......sorta

Sounds like a good deal to me. How new are the heads?

I don't think thats raining on his parade.. just proves he got a smoking deal.. hell of the cymbals are half way decent then you got more then $200 worth...

I have a set of swingstars a friend let me borrow before i bought my own kit and honestly i love the way they sound.l they have a warmth i have never been able to get with my dw's... so entry level or not if you like them rock on

Yeah, you definitely got a good deal! Those SwingStars can sound good.

A buddy of mine bought some of the first Swingstars available in the 80s (they were still traditional sizes then too), and he still has them today. He takes care of his stuff so they don't look abused at all. He loves them and they sound great. I think he eventually went with coated emperors on top and coated ambassadors on the bottoms and he gets nice wide open sound. I remember when he bought them they came with generic black dots, which (when we were kids) then went to black pinstripes, and he got that old stuffy sound. It's nice to know those drums can open up with the right heads!

Congrats on the find!

They're thick (9 ply I think) luan (a form of Phillipine mahogany) shells, and actually the same shells as were used on the Imperialstar drums of the day. It's only the amount/quality of the hardware that differs.

They were proof that luan can sound good, albeit in a rather '80s way. I suspect the zolacoat was only ever there to cover up the fact that luan isn't all that pleasant to look at and any sonic benefits were secondary.

The steel Swingstar snare drums were spun seamless shells, in the same way that the King Beat drums were and were actually pretty decent.

My first drum set, paid for with the money I earned caddying at the local country club, was a five-piece set of black Swingstars in traditional sizes. I beat the crap out of them for 25 years and they were the only drums I owned until I bought my current set five years ago. They're currently sitting in my garage and would require extensive restoration to sound or look any good.

But I liked them. I bought Tama drums at the time because they had good hardware and were played by all my favorites, like Simon Phillips, Neil Peart, Billy Cobham and Stewart Copeland. I couldn't tune them for sh**, changed the heads about 3 times in their history (I think they still have original resos!) and always wondered why my tom fills didn't sound like Peart on 2112.

As I knew nothing about tuning, I just piled muffling on until the overtones went away. I had a really strong right foot when I was younger and one time I busted a big hole in the bass drum batter head. This was with a felt beater, playing heel-down. Rather than spend money I didn't have on a new batter head, I just put the bass reso on the front and played without a reso head. That also enabled me to stack my drums inside one another inside the bass drum. The way I take care of my gear now, I get shivers just thinking about the way I abused those drums. The exposed bearing edge on that bass drum! Yikes.

I was the exact opposite of a gear head. I was gear-phobic, if anything. Spent all my time practicing but couldn't get a good drum sound to save my life. But those things held up to the abuse.

Enjoy!

mpthomson said:

They're thick (9 ply I think) luan (a form of Phillipine mahogany) shells, and actually the same shells as were used on the Imperialstar drums of the day. It's only the amount/quality of the hardware that differs.

They were proof that luan can sound good, albeit in a rather '80s way. I suspect the zolacoat was only ever there to cover up the fact that luan isn't all that pleasant to look at and any sonic benefits were secondary.

The steel Swingstar snare drums were spun seamless shells, in the same way that the King Beat drums were and were actually pretty decent.

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At one point the only difference between the Imperialstars and Swingstars was the badge.
Everything else was the same except fot the snare drums which came with 10 lugs and an extended snare release.