Looking at the serialnumbers, the hardware and the depth if the toms I can say that they are 1980's, especially the snare and floor tom are 1983. Sometime in the 80's Tama started using the two last digits of the year as the first two digits of the serial number so 83-xxxxx means made in 1983. Another thing I noticed is that the toms don't have rerings, clear indications of later Imps.

I came up with the same info as neorich. Xtra's came out in 1983. All the double headed Imp's were standard dimensions before that.

Thanks for the quick and helpful reply!

So, if I'm guessing correctly, if the serials with 83-xxxxx are from 1983, then the others with 8 digit serials are from an earlier period? For example, shell kit was bought, snare and floor tom replaced/added with later models, and some dimwit at some time added a Swingstar 10" tom.

Yes in the 1980's Tama added the year before the number. Such as 80-xxxxx , 81-xxxxx, etc.... Mine are from '84 and my Superstars from '83 are the same. As far as value I think you did good. You got cymbals,stands, ans drums in good condition. Cymbals may be lower end but at least you have something to play with.

Thanks for the reply!

So without the snare and floor tom, the toms and base drum must've been made before 1980? How can I differentiate the year more precisely? As 74-79 is still quite a big span... Help2

It's a bit harder to place an exact year on the 1970's models. Generally though the higher the number the later it was made. I think the Imperialstars fist came out between '72-'74. I recently bought a kit in a lot that is from the '70's and has the re-rings. Here are the numbers for comparison.

22" - 118741

12" - 118789

13" - 118796

16" - 118893

All mine are 6 digit, yours are 8. I'd say they are likely 78/79 from the higher numbers. In the '80's they added the year since otherwise the numbers would be longer than the badge itself,lol

But the first Imperialstars where under the Star brand, right? With your 6 digit serials in mind, it would be most probable that they are indeed 78/79, depending on when Tama put added 8 digit serials. Thanks for the help!

I don't think they have been labeled as Imperialstars while under Star. I think that name came to be once the name Tama was officially branded. Also not sure if those had the re-rings, or the zola coating inside the shell. I do know that they did not have any serial numbers. The early Tama kit in the other thread has none. I think too that " Tama " actually came to be in '74 was it?

Looking at the Tama / Star kit in the other thread I noticed that the interior of the drums doesn't have the coating or the re-rings. It's basically a Star kit with the Tama badge. So I think a lot of the features on the Imperialstar first came to be once they came out officially with the line.

Tama came out in 1974, yeah. I think the Star brand only had Swing-, Royal- and Superstar, aswell as Starclassic before '74, and the new series were put up when it rebranded at Tama, and that the first Imperials came out then. I think that it was during the rebrand that they added 6 digit serials and expanded to 8 digits, which was then replaced by the year-xxxxx