80's Tama Imperialstar mastercarft 14 x 6.5 snare

[Thesilverfox]

My uncle has a snare " 80's Tama Imperialstar mastercarft 14 x 6.5 snare aluminium" he wants to give me, all i need is to pay shipping to get it to my house. Am i lucky, did i score a prize or what?

What kind of snare is this?
is it good quality?
Does it sound good?

i e-mailed him some pics i seen on the net, and he told me that was the same snare.

[Class A Drummer]

I truly have no idea of the quality, but it looks freakin sweet. I would love to have an uncle who gave me free drums randomly :)

[gmrakich]

Those are great drums. Loud as hell and sensitive as well. They sound great with a coated ambassador. I used one "back in the day."

[drozzy]

If you dont want it, i'll have it!

It probably settling around the mark of Metal/Rock drum, a deep steel shell.

[Skitch]

Originally Posted by Thesilverfox

My uncle has a snare " 80's Tama Imperialstar mastercarft 14 x 6.5 snare aluminium" he wants to give me, all i need is to pay shipping to get it to my house. Am i lucky, did i score a prize or what?

What kind of snare is this?
is it good quality?
Does it sound good?

i e-mailed him some pics i seen on the net, and he told me that was the same snare.

I don't know for certain that this is an Imperialstar drum; it is a Mastercraft Steel drum by Tama and was the standard snare on some of their drumsets in the 1980s. I would say that this is a mid 1980s drum as the lugs are a less generic design than what was used in the early 80s. I am guessing that the model number is 8056 and this based on a 1980 Tama catalog. The quality is very good to great as this was made during Tama's heyday! It looks as though it came with Die Cast hoops too! I think what you have is a desirable snare drum indeed! I would not have turned it down! Please ask your uncle if he would like to have another nephew! I would like to see more pics though!


Mike

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


http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=drummermikemccraw

[Thesilverfox]

Great guys, I'll post picks when i get it.

lets just says it seems quite supeior to my pearl forum snare LOL.

[Thesilverfox]

Si i finally got it yesterday. Judging by the serial number i'm guessing its from 1982 ?
It's a little pitted and has wear and tear but it will clean up real good. I put a Evans genera dry and man does this snare project. It has some serious crack it and the rim shots heart my ears they are so loud, but it sounds really good in its own way, like nothing i've ever heard before. It has a quality feel to it. I am thrilled about this snare. Its cool to see how snares were made 25 years ago. It's definitely a keeper.

[Tama Player]

You stole my drum! J/K That is an AWESOME snare. I love mine, it can be really "cracky" or really warm sounding. It is very loud and has a really good rebound if you tune it just right. Get a REMO Coated Ambassador Head, i have it sounds pretty dang good. Mine is a little on the rusty side though, i need to fix that....

Peace
AGR

[soundsatdjs1964]

Hey There!

My nameis Ed and I live in New Jersey, USA. I have the Tama Imperialstar drumkit from 1982, and i LOVE my snare drum and the sound it makes.

Enjoy it!

[bruford75]

Is this the Tama 8056 steel snare drum? If so,.....Bill Bruford used it for King Crimson in the 80's. I just bought my first brand new Ludwig supra-phonic LM402 (14 x 6.5). Can you believe I got it for only $305.00 plus tax at Guitar Center???!!!!! hahaha....Damn I'm good!!! LOL
Btw.....I am in a King Crimson tribute band called, The Great Deceivers. We are in California.

[Les Ismore]

Originally Posted by Thesilverfox

Si i finally got it yesterday. Judging by the serial number i'm guessing its from 1982 ?
It's a little pitted and has wear and tear but it will clean up real good. I put a Evans genera dry and man does this snare project. It has some serious crack it and the rim shots heart my ears they are so loud, but it sounds really good in its own way, like nothing i've ever heard before. It has a quality feel to it. I am thrilled about this snare. Its cool to see how snares were made 25 years ago. It's definitely a keeper.

I would check the remaining original lugs for fracture. The internal lug bracing on these lugs were/is weak. What can you do if there's cracking? Not much really. If just distortion, you can spin them around to take whatever head you tune-up higher. You can also put super glue in any lug-support cracks, it'll help.

I don't know for certain that this is an Imperialstar drum; it is a Mastercraft Steel drum by Tama and was the standard snare on some of their drumsets in the 1980s.


Its an Imperialstar alright, US catalog would have it named King Beat. The lock on the internal muffler should be plastic. 3mm die cast hoops had marginal plating, highly prone to scratching. The roller beds on the strainer were/are self adjusting. You need long snares to fit the works. Tama touted their nylon lug inserts on these drums, but they just hold the nut, worlds apart from Yamaha's nylon insert.

Otherwise solid drum with the lugs being the achilles heel. Pick shows two lugs as replaced.

[drumhammerer]

Exactly! This was one of my first snares, and I quickly broke all of the connector posts on the lugs. Mine had the shorter lugs. I think this was a common problem with Tama snare lugs back in the 80's, like with the freedom lugs. I ended up replacing the lugs with some cheap Pearl style lugs that fit the holes exactly, and I never broke any of those. I see someone did that very same thing in one of the pictures. Personally, I never liked the sound of this snare, particularly after I got different types of snares and compared them.

[MikeM]

Nice drum! I had this one, too. It was my one and only for 12 years until about two years ago when I sold it. Now, 4 snare drums later, I wish I still had that beast... I never had any problems with it, btw.

[ed427vette]

Originally Posted by Les Ismore

I don't know for certain that this is an Imperialstar drum; it is a Mastercraft Steel drum by Tama and was the standard snare on some of their drumsets in the 1980s.


Its an Imperialstar alright, US catalog would have it named King Beat. The lock on the internal muffler should be plastic. 3mm die cast hoops had marginal plating, highly prone to scratching. The roller beds on the strainer were/are self adjusting. You need long snares to fit the works. Tama touted their nylon lug inserts on these drums, but they just hold the nut, worlds apart from Yamaha's nylon insert.

Otherwise solid drum with the lugs being the achilles heel. Pick shows two lugs as replaced.

It is NOT a King Beat snare drum. Its the Mastercraft part #8056. Also Tama never referred to these as Imperialstar snares. But they did badge them all with Imperialstar tags just like they tagged all the other Mastercraft snares with a Superstar badge but they are not Superstar snare drums. If you go on the Tama website and look through there catalogs you can see the snare in there early 80's catalogs. Getting back to this snare drum. The King Beat has a snare strainer that has a round loop on the end and it fits only that strainer which is found on the King Beat. That is not what is on this drum. The Mastercraft and Powerlines use the SS2 strainer which is what this has. It has a snare that is longer than the shell and is square on the ends, no loop. The differences between the Mastercraft and Powerline are the Mastercraft has the roller strainer which I see on this one. Powerline didn't have it. Also the longer lugs are on the Mastercraft. All the snare drums shared the same seamless shell. The Mastercraft was Tama's top of the line chrome snare, then the King Beat then the Powerline.
The longer lugs were high tension and didn't break that often. The shorter ones were a problem. I've had several of the Tama Mastercraft snares that I bought new in the 80's and they are still running strong with no problems ever. Very well made.

[Les Ismore]

Originally Posted by ed427vette

It is NOT a King Beat snare drum. Its the Mastercraft part #8056. Also Tama never referred to these as Imperialstar snares. But they did badge them all with Imperialstar tags just like they tagged all the other Mastercraft snares with a Superstar badge but they are not Superstar snare drums. If you go on the Tama website and look through there catalogs you can see the snare in there early 80's catalogs. Getting back to this snare drum. The King Beat has a snare strainer that has a round loop on the end and it fits only that strainer which is found on the King Beat. That is not what is on this drum. The Mastercraft and Powerlines use the SS2 strainer which is what this has. It has a snare that is longer than the shell and is square on the ends, no loop. The differences between the Mastercraft and Powerline are the Mastercraft has the roller strainer which I see on this one. Powerline didn't have it. Also the longer lugs are on the Mastercraft. All the snare drums shared the same seamless shell. The Mastercraft was Tama's top of the line chrome snare, then the King Beat then the Powerline.
The longer lugs were high tension and didn't break that often. The shorter ones were a problem. I've had several of the Tama Mastercraft snares that I bought new in the 80's and they are still running strong with no problems ever. Very well made.

Thesilverfox's drum here has the roller-action strainer, if he put up another pic showing the bottom you'd see it clearly. In the third photo the roller casing is visible. The snare wire pictured isn't original. The original would have been oversized and yes the 'King Beat' was cataloged as having a parallel-action strainer.

As far as 'Mastercraft' a few lines- Artwood, Artstar, Bell Brass etc. came out of that shadow name with their own tags and some still live today. Nowhere on the drum itself does it say 'Mastercraft' though. Call them what you want, but despite the catalog listing as Mastercraft, these drums were usually referred to and sold as their badge name.

I've owned Imperialstar with both parallel action and roller action strainer's. The long lug pic'd below is one of many off of those drums which failed.

Note how the mounting hole's and their supports are bent/cracked. This is common with any pot metal lug when high(er) tension is applied over time. If you have one of these 80's Tama drums and you tune high(er), chances are great some of the lugs are distorted.

[ed427vette]

Originally Posted by Les Ismore

Thesilverfox's drum here has the roller-action strainer, if he put up another pic showing the bottom you'd see it clearly. In the third photo the roller casing is visible. The snare wire pictured isn't original. The original would have been oversized and yes the 'King Beat' was cataloged as having a parallel-action strainer.

As far as 'Mastercraft' a few lines- Artwood, Artstar, Bell Brass etc. came out of that shadow name with their own tags and some still live today. Nowhere on the drum itself does it say 'Mastercraft' though. Call them what you want, but despite the catalog listing as Mastercraft, these drums were usually referred to and sold as their badge name.

I've owned Imperialstar with both parallel action and roller action strainer's. The long lug pic'd below is one of many off of those drums which failed.

Note how the mounting hole's and their supports are bent/cracked. This is common with any pot metal lug when high(er) tension is applied over time. If you have one of these 80's Tama drums and you tune high(er), chances are great some of the lugs are distorted.

I am a little confused. Are you agreeing that this snare is not a King Beat?

I can see the strainer in this thread is a roller action. That makes it the SS2, not the Parallel which makes this particular drum a Mastercraft. The King Beat parallel strainer is different. I will post the pic. The strainers are not interchangable. You can see in the picture of the catalog that the parallel strainer has a hoop on the end. The Mastercarft strainers with the double roller do not have this feature.

I know everyone refers to these as Imperialstar but it blurs the differences of the snares. They are all not the same. I beleive the Bell Brass has a Superstar badge but I certainly would not refer to it as such. I have the Rosewood and it has the Superstar badge. My Artstar cordia has an Artstar badge.

I wonder how damaged my lugs are. I never took them apart (never needed to) but I can see where damage would occur. You are correct in that pot metal is not very strong.

[Les Ismore]

Originally Posted by ed427vette

I am a little confused. Are you agreeing that this snare is not a King Beat?

I can see the strainer in this thread is a roller action. That makes it the SS2, not the Parallel which makes this particular drum a Mastercraft. The King Beat parallel strainer is different. I will post the pic. The strainers are not interchangable. You can see in the picture of the catalog that the parallel strainer has a hoop on the end. The Mastercarft strainers with the double roller do not have this feature.


"The Mastercraft and Powerlines use the SS2 strainer which is what this has".- Post #14

Imperialstar (Mastercraft) and Powerline use different strainers. Part #'s aside, the Powerline pic you show is not a Roller Action Strainer. Thesilverfox's drum has a roller Action Strainer (not the same a Powerlines). All the drums under the 'Mastercraft' umbrella use Roller Action strainers.

For all practical purposes Thesilverfoxs drum could be called an Imperialstar, or Mastercraft. If no Tama catalogs existed, it would be called an Imperialstar, which makes perfect sense given that's what badge it wears.


I know everyone refers to these as Imperialstar but it blurs the differences of the snares. They are all not the same. I beleive the Bell Brass has a Superstar badge but I certainly would not refer to it as such. I have the Rosewood and it has the Superstar badge. My Artstar cordia has an Artstar badge.

"Nowhere on the drum itself does it say 'Mastercraft' though."-Post # 15

"... and yes the 'King Beat' was cataloged as having a parallel-action strainer". post #15

[Bill11783]

I have one of these snares (Mastercraft series according to the original catalog). Anyway, never had a problem with it till a few days ago. The internal muffler knob (inner guts) cracked. Knobs are in perfect condition however (I will post pictures of the snare shortly).

Does anyone know where I can get parts (internal muffler assembly)? I would like to keep it original if possible, especially since the drum is in excellent condition.

[rmandelbaum]

that is a great snare, built like a tank. Enjoy

[drumhammerer]

Originally Posted by ed427vette

I am a little confused. Are you agreeing that this snare is not a King Beat?

I can see the strainer in this thread is a roller action. That makes it the SS2, not the Parallel which makes this particular drum a Mastercraft. The King Beat parallel strainer is different. I will post the pic. The strainers are not interchangable. You can see in the picture of the catalog that the parallel strainer has a hoop on the end. The Mastercarft strainers with the double roller do not have this feature.

I know everyone refers to these as Imperialstar but it blurs the differences of the snares. They are all not the same. I beleive the Bell Brass has a Superstar badge but I certainly would not refer to it as such. I have the Rosewood and it has the Superstar badge. My Artstar cordia has an Artstar badge.

I wonder how damaged my lugs are. I never took them apart (never needed to) but I can see where damage would occur. You are correct in that pot metal is not very strong.

That's strange. The version I have has the lugs and strainer of the powerline, but it also has rollers on both sides and die cast hoops. Maybe a retro fit? And I don't see any rollers on the Kingbeats in this picture. Those strainers look like the Japanese supersensitive strainers of the late 70's I've seen on some Pearl snares of that era. I'm sure they must've changed up the hardware through the years. BTW this drum weighs a ton.

[ed427vette]

Originally Posted by drumhammerer

That's strange. The version I have has the lugs and strainer of the powerline, but it also has rollers on both sides and die cast hoops. Maybe a retro fit? And I don't see any rollers on the Kingbeats in this picture. Those strainers look like the Japanese supersensitive strainers of the late 70's I've seen on some Pearl snares of that era. I'm sure they must've changed up the hardware through the years. BTW this drum weighs a ton.

The Kingbeats and Powerlines did not have rollers. The strainer for the Powerline and Mastercraft are most likely the same. Even if they aren't they could be interchanged. The snare wire ends are flat metal strips. The King Beat strainer is unique to that particular system having the snare wires with the little loop on the end. I guess you could even make that work on the other systems if you really had to.

Assuming nobody Frankenstiened your drum and its original, it sounds like you have an older Mastercraft. I'm not sure what year they changed over, I think 81, but earlier in the production years they all had the 'generic' looking lugs like you see on the Powerline. If you go to tama.com and click on the catalog history everything is there to see. What made the Mastercraft or King Beat or Powerline different from each other was the strainer systems. All the shells are the same. And one thing I'm not sure about is the die cast hoops. I think they are standard on the Mastercraft. Most likely also on the King Beats. But I think it was an option on the Powerline or maybe not??? Besides that is easy to change out.

Tama at the time was making many changes to their equipment. The Bell Brass snare changed thickness and finish. The Rosewood snares went from 12 ply to 10 ply. Lugs changed. They kept trying to improve.

Here is a picture of the Mastercraft from the 1980 catalog with the small lugs

[Les Ismore]

Originally Posted by drumhammerer

I don't see any rollers on the Kingbeats in this picture. Those strainers look like the Japanese supersensitive strainers of the late 70's I've seen on some Pearl snares of that era. I'm sure they must've changed up the hardware through the years. BTW this drum weighs a ton.

The roller bed casing is pic'd on Thesilverfox's snare pic below. His snare fits the catalog description of Mastercraft/Imperialstar minus the wire-set and replaced lugs. Its clearly a Roller-Action strainer.

[mono-plane]

I have recently purchased a Tama Imperialstar Chrome 6.5 x 14 steel snare drum, serial number 15405557 (Made in Japan). It has several problems and I'm wondering if anyone can help me finding out about the drum and help me locate some parts that I need for it?

I has a missing tension knob which slides onto a splined shaft which is located inside the muffler exterior large knob with two blades on the outside perimeter. The larger knob is a quick off/on for the muffler. The missing knob appears to adjust the tension of the muffler as mentioned. I have noticed on an earlier message on this thread a picture of the muffler knobs, and my snare looks the same, but missing the inside chrome knob. As well my lugs look like the original lugs shown on this thread, although they don't appear to have any damage.

The other issue is one of the two brackets which have two rollers on them is badly bent out of shape. The snare retaining strips go thru the rollers and then attach at the butt end and the strainer end. Both of the roller brackets look identical. I need a new or good used one.

The drum has cast hoops, and does have a nice loud sound. I bought it to replace my 1979 Ludwig Black Beauty that I bought new and I'm considering selling. This is my first attempt to get this Tama snare in good working order. Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
Barry

[drumhammerer]

Originally Posted by ed427vette

The Kingbeats and Powerlines did not have rollers. The strainer for the Powerline and Mastercraft are most likely the same. Even if they aren't they could be interchanged. The snare wire ends are flat metal strips. The King Beat strainer is unique to that particular system having the snare wires with the little loop on the end. I guess you could even make that work on the other systems if you really had to.

Assuming nobody Frankenstiened your drum and its original, it sounds like you have an older Mastercraft. I'm not sure what year they changed over, I think 81, but earlier in the production years they all had the 'generic' looking lugs like you see on the Powerline. If you go to tama.com and click on the catalog history everything is there to see. What made the Mastercraft or King Beat or Powerline different from each other was the strainer systems. All the shells are the same. And one thing I'm not sure about is the die cast hoops. I think they are standard on the Mastercraft. Most likely also on the King Beats. But I think it was an option on the Powerline or maybe not??? Besides that is easy to change out.

Tama at the time was making many changes to their equipment. The Bell Brass snare changed thickness and finish. The Rosewood snares went from 12 ply to 10 ply. Lugs changed. They kept trying to improve.

Here is a picture of the Mastercraft from the 1980 catalog with the small lugs

Yep, that's the model I have to a T. I'd love to try that Rosewood version. I wonder if that's the one Alex Van Halen used on the later VH recordings. I see the steel version of this drum all the time on ebay, but the wood ones are extremely rare.

[timmdrum]

Resurrecting this thread 'cause I've scored one of these, a 5x14, for 80 bucks. Looks like it's in great condition. Solid and heavy! It has the identical roller things underneath the strainer and butt plate, and lugs from that 1980 catalog photo above- same as the steel snare on the right, except the depth. It sounds pretty good even though the heads and snare wires are pretty ragged, which leads me to my reason for resurrecting the thread- what size snare wires do I need to buy? 16"? (i know the wires won't be 16", but I mean, wires for a 16" drum?) The worn-out ones on mine do extend past the bearing edge, but the end plates seem to be nearly touching the bottom of those roller-assembly things, which is making me think that these are a little TOO long. Also, there seems to be no snare beds on this drum. Is that why it requires snares that extend past the bearing edge? If I were to put normal wires for a 14" drum on it, would they not perform correctly?

*Edit*- looked mine up in the Tama catalogs. My exact drum is a 1980 Tama Mastercraft Steel 5/14, pictured here with the same roller-things on the strainer: http://www.tamadrum.co.jp/anniversar...at_id=42&now=9

[gconyers]

I have the same drum. I got it with my 1982 Superstar kit. It was my main snare drum for 28 years. Heavy as hell and super sensitive. I'm never gonna get rid of it.

[Les Ismore]

Despite the catalog listing as seamless, my KING BEAT had a seam... although well hidden it is there.

You have to look really close, TAMA finished these shells very well, apparently well enough to call them seamless, but not one piece.

When I found the seam is when I lost interest in TAMA as a whole and haven't owned/supported them since, this was back in the 80's.

Catalog descriptions were/are not immune to (we'll call it) error, especially back in the day.

[timmdrum]

Bump! (Ba-dum Bump, haha) Can anyone help with my question about the snare wires, 3 posts up? :)

[Les Ismore]

If I were to put normal wires for a 14" drum on it, would they not perform correctly?


Yes.

The TAMA RB strainer was a bomb, its no longer being used as a result.

[timmdrum]

Originally Posted by Les Ismore

If I were to put normal wires for a 14" drum on it, would they not perform correctly?


Yes.

The TAMA RB strainer was a bomb, its no longer being used as a result.

Well, it does seem cumbersome (and possibly heavy), and maybe unnecessary, but there's nothing *wrong* with it, so I don't mind using it as it is... So more specifically, if I put on wires for a 14" drum but still utilize the RB system, will that still work or do I need to have the longer ones? If I use the shorter ones, should I remove both sides of the RB assembly and just use the strainer/butt plate as on most other drums? Again, there's no snare bed on the bottom bearing edge.

[Les Ismore]

Originally Posted by timmdrum

Well, it does seem cumbersome (and possibly heavy), and maybe unnecessary, but there's nothing *wrong* with it, so I don't mind using it as it is... So more specifically, if I put on wires for a 14" drum but still utilize the RB system, will that still work or do I need to have the longer ones? If I use the shorter ones, should I remove both sides of the RB assembly and just use the strainer/butt plate as on most other drums? Again, there's no snare bed on the bottom bearing edge.

It'll work/function with shorter snares.

Look closely inside the lip/channel (the folded over metal that forms the bearing edges) you'll find the seam.

These drums are not seamless, they were well finished, the seam is hidden, hidden well enough to marketed as 'seamless'. Drawn metal shells have a reinforcing bead around their center and for good reason.

TAMA deception in marketing... these shells are plain steel, welded and finished. Well, maybe not deception, you don't see a seam, so I guess they feel OK about calling it 'seamless'. Most welded metal shells of that era were not finished well, the seams were pretty obvious.

A cast drum (bell brass etc.) is solid enough to not require a reinforcing bead.

[Tanco]

Wires that work well with the Tama RB system are the Pearl freefloating models. pretty easy to find and extend across the shell like the original Tama wires did.
BTW i have a Tama Artstar cordia wood snare im selling on Ebay shameless plug :-)

[tamadrm]

Tama Kingbeat and Powerline steel snares were in fact,seamless one piece molded shells.The Tama Swingstar steel snare(MS-14),and the Royalstar steel snare(7588)had welded shells.These drums also have a thinner shell than the Kingbeat,and powerline.I have had an early 80's Kingbeat for about 25 years,and the strainer still works perfectly,and there is NO weld in the shell.:

Steve B