Who made La Boz Drums, stencil folks?

[Rob G.]

OK, stencil experts, who made La Boz? Reason I'm curious is I've been rooting around here and found a La Boz catalog and, taadaa, my kit I've been trying to place is right there! Well, actually I have the sizes of the top kit and the finish of the bottom. The distinguishing features are the tom mount and the cymbal holder, which has this crazy handle like nothing I've seen elsewhere. The snare is the same too, and the snare that matches that kit is slightly different than the one I'm selling, though they both have a kind of bastard Gretsch/Slingerland offspring look to them.

To add another wrinkle, my kit doesn't have any badges, but it does have residue around the floortom air vent that is clearly an oval shape, indicating there was likely one of those "World's Supreme Quality" badges. Shame it's long gone. I'd love to know what these drums were branded as back in the day.

http://vintagedrumguide.com/images/my_collection/literature/laboz/laboz1.jpg

[Jaye]

My educated guess would be Star/Tama.

[mcjnic]

My uneducated guess would be Bertie Higgins of Key Largo fame.

[Rob G.]

Also, if it helps at all, the shells are the re-ring style of a decent thickness. Not bad edges either, in the Slinglerland/Ludwig style of the time.

Someone over at DrumForum put all those "World's Supreme Quality" drums in the Pearl camp. Not sure why now, but I always assumed these were. Plus, the finish is cataloged in a Pearl 68 catalog (Tiger Eye Pearl.) Could mean nothing though. Hmmmm

[OsakaBop]

I WANT one of those bass drum mufflers!!!!!!!!! Anyone selling?Welcome

[jonnistix]

I would have to agree with Jaye. And I will disagree with the statement about Pearl and "World's Supreme Quality" Most of us are of the mind those would be Star.
On this set, the lugs look like Star, the snare throw looks like Pearl....

[2bsticks]

Wow, my first kit was a La Boz set. 5 piece blue pearl. I remember my parents taking me to Lechmere Sales in Cambridge Ma. to buy them. That was in 1968 OMG!

I can't tell you who made them and I sold them back in 1972 when I got my Slingerland Avanti kit.

Thanks for the pictures and memories

[Rob G.]

Guess I can put a Tama sticker on the bass head, eh? Cool Dude

Man, someone really need to write a definitive history article for these dudes. As much as I love the classic American stuff, the stencils are almost more interesting just because they are so mysterious.

[OsakaBop]

The lugs are more similar to Pearl, the tom holder is definitely not by Pearl.
Also, the bass drum mounted cymbal holder seems not to be a Pearl stencil design. The Star/Hoshino brand stuff I have seen has a thinner profile lug. The vintage La Boz snares, pretty common on Ebay these days, seem to have the Star brand circular snare throw-off of the era.
My vote is also that they`re produced by Star/Hoshino rather than Pearl.

[MastroSnare]

My totally inappropriate, stupid guess would be some dirty, low down French guy named La Boz Scaggs.

Then there's that dude from New Jersey...

[Dan Boucher]

Wow, my first kit was a La Boz set. 5 piece blue pearl. I remember my parents taking me to Lechmere Sales in Cambridge Ma. to buy them. That was in 1968 OMG!

I can't tell you who made them and I sold them back in 1972 when I got my Slingerland Avanti kit.

Thanks for the pictures and memories

I noted with some interest this thread on LaBoz drums. After a long summer job in 1967, my father took me to Lechmere Sales in Cambridge, MA where I used my earnings to buy what I believe was a LaBoz 22,12,13,16,5-1/2x14 with blue sparkle finish. Slingerland looking lugs and hoops along with the round snare strainer shown in one of these photos. The set came with cymbals that were of a quality similar to the drums. I sold the drums to a family friend in 1976. However, I don't recall the LaBoz script. I recall an oval badge at the drum vent hole with the Laboz name on it and was wondering if anyone else had a similar marking. After reading some of the history, I wondered if Lechmere preferred not to have such a bold display of a name that wasn't very well known in the drum world.

[patrick]

Boy, the goofiness of some of the stencil brand names seems to know no bounds.

Crown, Del Ray, Pearl etc, all cool. But a lot of weird drum names, that all sound like Kia sedans:

LaBoz
Bollero with two l's
Crestline???
Emperado (a fav)
Karen
Matador
Toreador

and the wonderful Zimgar.

[salty 1322]

Also, if it helps at all, the shells are the re-ring style of a decent thickness. Not bad edges either, in the Slinglerland/Ludwig style of the time.

Someone over at DrumForum put all those "World's Supreme Quality" drums in the Pearl camp. Not sure why now, but I always assumed these were. Plus, the finish is cataloged in a Pearl 68 catalog (Tiger Eye Pearl.) Could mean nothing though. Hmmmm

Hi, Rob,
I agree with jonni. If a badge reads, "World's Supreme Quality" (or very similar words), it is probably a Star, not Pearl.

[jonnistix]

OK, look very carefully at the two types of lugs. The bottom set is for snares and "Club Date" style toms. This is most definitely a Star kit. My old kit has the same cymbal L-arm mount, with that wonderful "baseball bat" style of tightening device...(not really sure wat to call it, it's not really a nut, not a wingnut, not a screw...)
http://www.tamadrum.co.jp/anniversary/expansion.php?cat_id=6&now=11
And those oval brass badges that look like Slingerland and say something about "World's Supreme Quality" or a similar phrase are certainly Star as well. Pearl mostly has/had rectangular plastic badges, except at a point when they were taking over the contracts when Star switched over to TAMA to begin the arduous task of bringing a new brand to market. There was a very short time span when Pearl used oval sticker type badges.

[mackermanesq]

I don't know which japanese company made them but I know my brother was friend's with the owner's son (and yes, his name was actually La Boz) in Brooklyn--I subsequently became friendly with the middle son (with whom I went to high school). The brothers are now real estate moguls in New York.
I believe La Boz also made Tele Star which was my first drum set (before we knew the La Boz family).