Tama Starclassic Birch

[JWG]

Hey Guys,

I know this doesn't quite fit the mold of vintage but I have exhausted all other resources (catalogs, tama forum etc) and was hoping somebody here might know a thing or two about the late 90's Tama starclassic Performer birch shells.

you see, in 98/99 they changed from a birch basswood combo to 100% birch. Now obviously the latter is more desirable, what i'm trying to find out is how do you tell the difference?

tama changed the starclassic perfomers to have wooden hoops etc in 98, so they are indistinguishable by my eye in photos. did the badge change? the only thing I have managed to find out is the number of ply's changed but that is such a risky method to make a call on a kit.

any help/knowledge/input on this is greatly appreciated

- Justin

[jonnistix]

That is a tough one. Have you tried contacting TAMA?

[JWG]

goooooood idea Jonni.

I'll send them an email. someone should really write a book on tama ala Rob Cook. There is clearly a hole in the market, unless it does exist and I just havent found it.

thanks for the idea man!

[JWG]

so turns out Tama as an entity are removed from contact, you can only get hold of them through dealers. it like they are a drug or something :)

The mystery continues

[jonnistix]

That sux. At one time there was a link to contact them on the website. Oh well, Maybe try one of the larger dealersHelp2 and ask them to forward the question to their R&D or Service depts. I would go for both, if you can get someone to do it. Maybe Steve MAxwell, or one those guys, if they are dealers? I don't know of they are or not, but it is a bit of history that could be vital to us and others in the future as a guide to identifying the eras of production. I am sure these guys will work with us if we can make an organized push to get the information in order to place it in our history. And maybe we can get some catalogsJumping2 from them in ordr to keep a more complete history since we are the ones that seem to be charged with doing so, let alone the fact we get off on looking at them.....flowers2

[brody]

Not wanting to plug another forum, but I found out quite a bit about my vintage superstars from the Tama forum. I signed up just to find out about em!