Some recent Pics of my vintage Swingstars

Tom Sawyer

Senior Member
Some recent Pics of my vintage Swingstars (Now featuring Meinl Byzance Extra Dry HH)

Here are some shots of my Setup at a recent gig.

Tama Swingstar 20x14, 12x8, 14x14, 14x5.
Cymbals:
Zildjian K/Z Dyno Beat Hihats 14''
Zildjian K Ride 20''
Zildjian K Dark Crash 14''
Zildjian ZHT Medium Thin Crash 18''
Wuhan China 14''
Meinl Soundcaster Splash 10''

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Enjoy, tell me what you think!
 
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Circa 1982-84? Pretty clean little kit.
 
Soooo beautiful. I love it. The sizes of Ringo Starr's legendary Fab 4 wih a bit similar finish to black oyster too. What's the finish called? And what's the shell material?
 
nice vintage kit! :D

I also have an old swingstar with natural exotic finish..vertical woodgrain...like cocobolo wood... will post the pics soon :)

awesome kit, mate! and love the cymbals too! :D
 
Circa 1982-84? Pretty clean little kit.

That's what I've been told, but I don't know for certain, I only had it since the late 90's. Thanks!

simple kit user said:
Soooo beautiful. I love it. The sizes of Ringo Starr's legendary Fab 4 wih a bit similar finish to black oyster too. What's the finish called? And what's the shell material?
Thank you. Again, I don't know for certain, I was told the wood might be Philippine mahogany. I haven't been able to track down the finish either, I can't find it in any of the old Tama catalogs. Any help would be appreciated. I never saw another Swingstar with that finish.
boomcrashbang said:
nice vintage kit! :D

I also have an old swingstar with natural exotic finish..vertical woodgrain...like cocobolo wood... will post the pics soon :)

awesome kit, mate! and love the cymbals too! :D

Definitely post pics of that one. Thank you for your comment!

cantstandyourfunk said:
that's nostalgic :)

I play a similar, if not exact, set-up.

Good old four piece, eh! :)
 
Nice. Uncluttered but it still has a lot of options and vocabulary. The finish looks vintage but it's probably just 25 years old.

Ah, come on, let me get away with vintage on this one. :)
 
Here are some new pics in my new rehearsal space at home.

Also featuring my new Meinl Byzance Extra Dry Hats!

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Huh. My 80's Swingstars have a plain (piano?) black wrap on them. I keep thinking I should strip the wrap off and put on something else.

Do yours have the weird coating on the inside of the shells?
 
My wrap seems to be quite rare for a swingstar...And yes, I have the coating on the inside too, I was told it's called Zola Coat.
 
...very nice Tom.

I never tire of looking at a nice uncluttred four piece. I also like the picture of Frank. Now that's a moustache.

barry
 
You can see them on both toms in the picture with Frank Zappa. The rack tom has one right above the badge.
 
You can see them on both toms in the picture with Frank Zappa. The rack tom has one right above the badge.

Oh, yes, of course. That's for the internal dampening system, it controls a little felt pad, which you can adjust to dampen the drum from the inside. It seemed to be quite usual for drums to have that at the time, but I never used it. I want all the resonance I can get.
 
I have that on my vintage Superstar snare, but I've never seen it on a tom before. Very cool though.
 
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