Vinatge TAMA Superstar Restoration

rmandelbaum

Platinum Member
I thought I would share this here for any that might be interested

I also have posted the same thread on a few other drum forums I hang out in so I apologize if this is a duplicate for you

It really just took on a life of it’s own, it has taken me 2 years of hunting to get to this point.

I know the real question is why? I never intended for it to get to this point. But before I knew it was so close I figure what the heck, I’ll go all the way now.



Here is the story,

About 2 years agoI was surfing eBay as I always do and spotted a 22x14 Superstar bass drum for $75.00. I figured at that price I would buy it and re-sell it. Later that day I spotted a 15”standard depth matching tom for $75.00 so I figured, at that price I could add another tom and have a cool vintage 4 piece kit. I found a 10” tom a few days later and contact the seller of that tom and asked if he had any more of the kit. He sent me this



superstar%20kit.jpg


I ended up making a deal so now I have basically a double basskit with power toms and one 15 standard depth.

Then I started thinking how cool it would be to have a matching set of standard toms. I would then have the option to pick and choose what I wanted to play. I found a 13” tom and grabbed it. Meanwhile I saw a 22x16 shell on eBay for next to nothing, I figured I would use the hardware off of the 22x14 and have both my kicks be deep.

Somewhere along the way I spotted the 6 &8 concert toms on a stand for $150.00

Here is where it gets really interesting. I searched high and low for a 12” standard depth tom, these are very hard to come by I would soon find. In my search I found this kit on Craigslist for 350.00.

superstar3.jpg




Here is a pick after I got it home, I could not believe my eyes, it is a Rosewood snare, worth more then I paid for the entire kit!
superstar4.jpg





I was short the 14" standard tom, I found one on ebay and it turned out to be a a friend from the TAMA forum so I grabbed that.
I realized at this point with the exception of a couple of bass drum hoops and some lugs I had one double bass standard depth kit and one power tom double bass kit. I found a guy selling the lugs for the bass drum and ordered a few hoops form Anderson International.

Here is a link to some close ups so you can see the main reason for the restoration

http://www.robertmdrums.com/images/tama_restoration/before/

Here they are again all stripped and ready for the next phase. I used a chemical stripper call SuperStrip, this stuff is high dangerous, it took a month of evenings to get them to this point. The Polyurethane paint is really tough stuff

stripped1.jpg


Well I was a sanding fool this weekend, I originally tried a pneumatic orbital sander. I was far to aggressive and I was afraid I would end up with flat spots and other unevenness so I started sanding by hand. I got 5 drums in and realized this was a HUGE task. So I took a chance and picked up a cheap electric orbital sander. Wow it works great!
It still took a long time but it was 100 times faster and easier. I got then fairly clean. Of course where the stain was down in the pours I had to let it go, I did not want to sand through the first ply or change the OD to much. I am really please wit the results. Now I have to fix a few places where there is some minor ply separation on a few of the shells. I am going to dowel in the tom mount holes on the bass drums so they will then be virgin as well as dowel in the spur holes. the spurs on these kits did not really hold the drums from moving to well. Other then that and using RIMS to mount the toms it will look like two a brand new 80s TAMA superstar Super Mahogany kits

sanded.jpg
 
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Sizes

Power depth / Extras toms 10,12,13,14
Standard depth toms 12,13,14,15 (and I think I just found a 10)
floor toms 3 - 16x16, 1 - 16 x 18
concert toms , 6 & 8
Kicks 2 - 14x22, 1 - 16x22, 1 16 x 24
 
Wow. Makes my 12 piece Cherry Wine kit look like nothing.

I have the 6 & 8 inch concert toms and a 8 double-headed tom. Did they ever make a 6 inch double headed tom?
 
I would love to see some pics of your Cherry Wine kit.

These were my Cherry Wine kits. I unfortunately no longer have them

This was my Granstar Custom in Cherry Wine

me_granstar_custom.jpg


And this was my Artstar II in Cherry Wine

Artstar_II.jpg
 
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OK ...so just to be official....

I HATE RMANDELBAUM NOW!!! :)

WOW.....great idea to go with the "Super Mahogany" ...that's gonna look sick!!
 
Thank you!

Last night I fixed the few places where there some some very minor ply separation.

Now I am waiting for the shell scraps from Anderson International to strat plugging up the tom mount holes in the bass drums.
 
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I made some progress today. Wednesday I received some base drum shells scraps. Today I spent some time at a friends house cutting plugs to fill in the tom mount holes and original spur holes. I am planning on getting some dowle tomorrow.

I will then plug up any unused holes.

Getting closer to paint time.
 
That is an awesome project............all the hard work and money is going to make for a beutiful, one of a kind set. Very nice..............I am excited to see the stain bring out the wood grain. Are you sticking with FiberSkyn heads?
 
I don't think I am with with this kit. I have a vintage Rogers Holiday kit I am going to re-wrap and set up for Jazz, I will on that kit.


For the bass drums I plan on going with the stock looking mirrored reso with the original TAMA Superstar logo. I had a very cool person on the TAMA forum give me an original style bass drum logo sticker I will reproduce.

On the back I will most likely go with Evans G2 clears with a Remo Flam Slam and a small DW style pillow.

I will go with Evans G1 clear on the reso for all of the toms. On the standard depth toms I will go with Evans G2 coated. I and still up in the air on the power toms, I am torn between going with Remo Pinstripes, these were the head of choice for power toms back in the day. Or the Evans G2 clear, a little more controlled or the G2 coated, much more focused and controlled. I think I will pick a tom and get one of each and try them, I will decide with my ears.
 
Well I got all of the holes parched up. I used a piece of birch drum shell I got from Anderson International to make the large plugs and used dowel for the small holes. They came out as I had hoped. I know there is no way to make it 100% invisible but I plan on covering with stain and these should blend well since they are the same type of wood.



Here is what the spur hole patches look like
spur.jpg


And here is what the tom mount hole patches look like
tom_mount.jpg
 
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Well I got all of the holes parched up. I used a piece of birch drum shell I got from Anderson International to make the large plugs and used dowel for the small holes. They came out as I had hoped. I know there is no way to make it 100% invisible but I plan on covering with stain and these should blend well since they are the same type of wood.

Here is what the spur hole patches look like


And here is what the tom mount hole patches look like

I understand plugging the holes for the toms mounts, especially if you are getting away from direct mount and going to a tom suspension mount.

What are you doing with the kick if you are covering the spur mount holes?
 
The original spurs on these kits did not work well at all. they bass drums tend to walk a lot. I picked up 4 new sets of modern style spurs I am going to install.
 
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