Bully Drum

25/04/2024

TAMA SUPERSTAR FINISHED

Heads and 14” Tama die cast rim finally arrived so I had a bit of a play around with hardware and cymbals to get it into a comfortable playing position. Really happy with how its come up.
Cost wise? Well the shell pack was cheap, due the condition it was in and the cost of the replacement parts was nearly twice the cost of the shell pack. A new die cast snare hoop being the most expensive, and that was discounted.
Most of the expense was just in the time it takes to strip clean and polish with a bit of know how.
Anyhow, a once nice kit looking nice again.
Worth keeping ? Have to see how it compares to my Starclassic birch Performer which will be very similar I think. Talking of which probably needs some TLC spending on it.😩

WORK DONE
Shells stripped down, new bearing edges on 10, 12, 14 toms and snare.
Inners finish sanded and waxed.
Wrap machine polished.
All lugs, hardware machine polished.
New bass drum claws.
New tension screws on all drums.
New lug mounting screws on all drums
New heads 10 12 14 + kick reso.
New Tama die cast eight hole rim.

15/04/2024

Latest update on Superstar rebuild.

Most of the chrome has polished up ok but it’s an impossible task to get rid of pitting, especially on the alloy hardware.
Once it’s there the best you can do is polish the pitting down until it’s level with its surroundings and try not to take too much good chrome off in the process. Or you can buy new of course if your budget can take it.
Waiting on a new Star cast 14” snare rim, not cheap, the original was totally shot and warped out of shape after being cranked down so tight it was virtually touching the lugs in places. The snare side rim was warped as well, but I was able to level that one up.
A new reso head and a few odds and ends like repainting the Star cast iso mounts in satin black and that should be it, another kit saved for a good few years to come.
Next pics should be of the finished kit set up fingers crossed.

11/04/2024

Shells all finished and have turned out really nice using an antique pine wax finish on all the inners. Having removed the hardware the original candy white finish was underneath. Umm!! I actually preferred the finish the plastic had turned after eighteen years or so to the bright white and have decided to keep it. Therefore, it was a bit tricky trying to avoid cutting back the wrap too hard and exposing the brighter finish underneath, but a reasonable result. Hardware going on so starting to look pretty again, but still waiting for a bit of re-chrome work returning, new lug screws, tension rods and heads. Hope that’s it.🤪🙏

05/04/2024

Well not much has been going on really drum building or refurbing wise until a few days ago.
Picked up a Tama Super star kit locally for £100, 22, 14, 12, 10, 8, plus snare. All with Star cast iso mounts, die cast rims and b/drum claws which Tama’s Star Classics also used, but unfortunately not the same quality lugs and kick drum spurs.
Quite a lot pitting on the long double lugs of the bass drum and all the claws.
On the positive side all the shells look in the round and will only need edges re cutting. The shell is birch and boxwood I believe, so pretty easy to work with.
So what needs doing:-
1. Shells
All need the white plastic cutting back with a polisher. ( I was going to re wrap them in Red Pearl, but really it’s not cost effective) the original white plastic should come up great.
Inside all shells will need a finish sand, seal with wax or lacquer. Recut bearing edges and snare bed.

2. Replace die cast 14” snare/batter rims.
and kick drum claws with some decent Chinese lookalikes as the originals are so badly pitted they can’t be saved. Plus the price of new originals is off the scale.

3. Replace all the tension screws snare, toms, bass drum.

4. Front plate on snare strainer to re-chrome.

5. New heads.

The idea of this refurb is to get the kit back into a good looking, sounding condition without spending a fortune. To bring it back to original factory condition is not financially viable, but may be in some years to come when Superstar like many others is rediscovered again. Job for the next man maybe.

Anyhow it keeps me busy and out of trouble😜

10/01/2024

Chas Tindale Jazzy, Funky, Fiddly drumming.
Backing track into TD 20x, Master out to irig 2,
straight out to video/audio record on smart phone.

06/08/2023

Found this clip on the Tube of Chad Wackerman playing along with the original studio recording of Metal Fatigue (which he played on) and of course the late great Alan Holdsworth. The only guitarist that ever stopped me watching what the drummer was up to when he played with Bill Bruford.
Magic stuff….

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