Where does this tom come from?

[Ralf]

Hello,

I have bought a rack tom, which seems to be likely a STAR-tom, but it definitely isn't due to the following aspects:

- The bracket contains a hole, meaning that the tom arm goes into the shell (STAR always made brackets only applied to the outside of the shell and never with drilling holes into the shell body). But the damper knob is Star-like.



- This type of a double tom holder was never used at Star drumsets.



- The wrap appears to be 'in stripes' - but the surface of the wrap indicates it is made of one piece.




The shell is obviously maple and the lugs are nearly/ absolutely STAR-like. The hoops are not stamped with 'Japan' or 'Made in Japan' as sometimes usual for Star, there is nothing stamped in.

Who knows the brand name of this drumset?

Thanks.

Ralf

[big daddy]

The interior of the shell may be maple, but the exterior looks a lot like luan (last pic) with that coarse grain running up and down.

Nice looking wrap/kit. No idea who made it. Oh stencil guru's... where are you???

[Dule]

In Tama 1965 Swingstar catalog you have diferent tom mount system,but doesn't look same...
________
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[Ralf]

Thanks so far.

BTW, Dule: the quoted STAR catalog (from the TAMA page)
canNOT be from 1965 ... That's an error on the TAMA page!
Reason: you can see therein the 'Free'o'matic' double tom holder,
which STAR started to offer in 1972/73 for the first time -
but definitely not in 1965 ...!
(I mentioned this in another thread here some time ago as well.)

I'm still eager to get information from other specialists, too!

Ralf

[jonnistix]

R$alf, that is a cool wrap, but it is not black. And my "new" kit has that hardware. It is a very early Pearl. I know this from the throw off on mine. It has been established from a member that has a 50s Pearl badged kit and the hardware matches mine. At least the tom mounts and brackets. Those are really nice, and my set is almost complete. Will hopefully have it posted by Sunday eve.

[Jaye]

Also cool that they threw a layer of maple inside there too ! Ralf - if you sand the inside down to about a 200 grade sand paper and then put 2 coats of tung oil on it using a cloth (allow 12 hrs between) you can make that drum sound MUCH better than it does right now FYI

[MIKEY777]

Another non-badge set made by pearl..The tom mount pearl used that one on sets inported to the us from 1966-1970 or so..Mikey

[Ralf]

Thanx, guys.
I appreciate greatly your information. So, I have a mix of a Star bass drum and a Pearl rack tom as my third 'drumset' (just standing around as my little backup).

@Jaye: thank you, good advice. But I have a rim system for this rack tom and it's more then sufficient for pimping up the sound of it. I'll never ever be working on it. It is considered to just be a working horse - if ever it will come to the honour of being played.;)

Ralf

[cn679]

Wow, this whole MIJ identification thing has just gotten so frustrating...

Ralf, the wrap on your rack tom looks like it was produced in the exact same way as the Lido Supreme (Star made) bass drum on the other thread. The only difference is that the Lido has black diamond pearl 'strands' or 'stripes' and your tom is blue diamond pearl strands. The Lido is also, definitely, one piece of wrap. This must be how the wrap was made. If you notice, the strands on both of these wraps are different sizes. Looks like the strands on your tom are larger at the top of the photo and get smaller. On the Lido, the strands seem to be set at random.

Anyway, there seem to be a few possibilities regarding your tom. Let's examine the possibilities:

1. Your tom is a Pearl made drum wrapped in a pattern that was available to both companies.

2. Your tom is a Star made drum, judging by the lugs, that was ordered as a 'virgin drum' with no mounting holes drilled, and later fitted with a Pearl mounting system at a shop or a distributor (?). I mean, haven't we time and time again identified those lugs as Star's Slingerland copies? (With the thinner flat spot on the top of the lug as opposed to Pearl's Sling copies that have a wider flat spot.)

3. Pearl made drum that was later fitted with Star lugs. (I think that, although this is certainly possible, this is the least likely scenario as the Star made lugs, in my experience anyway, are more prone to breakage than the Pearl lugs which seem to be more substantial.)

The maple wood I dont think is a very helpful indication of the manufacturer here as 95% or more of these drums are luan (both Pearl and Star) and the seemingly random birch or maple plies thrown in here or there haven't signified any maker in any previous examples.

Finally, looking at that last pic of the tom's mounting piece, the smudges in the wrap around the diamond shaped piece seem to indicate that there was possibly another type of mounting system on this drum, which tells us... ?

[jonnistix]

Wow, this whole MIJ identification thing has just gotten so frustrating...
Finally, looking at that last pic of the tom's mounting piece, the smudges in the wrap around the diamond shaped piece seem to indicate that there was possibly another type of mounting system on this drum, which tells us... ?
Actually B--this looks more like damage caused by the mount having been spun around in order to tighten it back up while looking inside the shell, not paying attention and scratching the the wrap. This typ mount fits like that. It is more tight at the small points than the longer ones. I really think this is a Pearl set. I like the Star lines better, but all of those mounts are Pearl. Star never really had a pipe mount that far back. These are early mid 60s shells. As for the maple interior, now that is a head scratcher.

[Ralf]

'...Finally, looking at that last pic of the tom's mounting piece, the smudges in the wrap around the diamond shaped piece seem to indicate that there was possibly another type of mounting system on this drum, which tells us... ?'

'Actually B--this looks more like damage caused by the mount having been spun around in order to tighten it back up while looking inside the shell, not paying attention and scratching the the wrap. ...'

@ cn679:
I also think that jonnistix says is right. The tom bracket has the same shape like the bass drum double tom holder (although the rest of the set is not mine, one picture above seem to show that).

[cn679]

Yes, you guys are right, seems that the diamond shaped bracket scratching the wrap is the most likely cause of the smudges. However, as we have seen Pearl mounts on Star drums and Star mounts on Pearl drums, isn't it possible that this drum was ordered from Star without a mounting system of any kind (no mounting holes) and was drilled for a Pearl mount later?

You see, my hang up is the lugs. Ralf, is there any reason to think that the lugs might not be original to the drum? If it looks like they may not be original, then I would say yes, this is a Pearl made drum. If the lugs do look to be original, then what other way could we account for the Star lugs on a Pearl drum?

[jonnistix]

Those are the exact same lugs on the toms as my "new" kit, and the bass lugs are the exact same as my on son's Majestics. And I am pretty dang sure it is Pearl, just from the pipe tom mount. Oh, and that wrap on those two look extremely cool, I love it! But, as we know, they both used some great wraps.
This is leading back to my theory, that there had to be an independant foundry that made all of the lug casings and other drum hardware. Tom mounts, brackets, rail and consolette parts and as they are from both Pearl and Star, copies of Slingerlands for the most part, I really am beginning to think they took what ever was poured and ready to go at the time they placed the order for more parts, because it seems Pearl has a wider variety of parts on them than the Stars did from the same period. Now, one thing I have NOT seen mixed on the two is the end cap on the rail consolette from my Majestic and the Star. That one part seems to be very consistent with Star drums. What I am saying is that since Pearl was probably outselling Star 3:1, there would have been higher demand and lower expectation. In other words, I think Pearl would take just whatever was available at the moment.
Now, back to Ralf's OP, I really think this to be a matched Pearl set moreso than I would think it to be a Star, purely based on the pipe tom mount. This is something we are all pretty well certain of: Pearl drums always had a pipe mount option, well maybe not ALWAYS, but from a lot of eras. It is getting very muddy here the more we all search and dig. Just think about this: 6 months ago there seemed a definative line in the sand where the differences were pretty easy to delineate. Now that more and more of these old MIJ kits are surfacing in playable, restorable and collectible condition, and we are disecting them, they get closer and closer to each other with the exception of some little, obscure difference that comes to light on one drum that says "I am a _______, not a _______!!!"

[Ralf]

Agreed, jonnistix!

Ralf