Time for a story. Davids and his videos are actually my favorite I can find on youtube, and I usually stop what im doing to watch them. David has Inspired me to take up the restoration and modifications of drums as well, and its become my favorite hobby. I never wanted to fuck with drums and screw them over, but it turns out its a lot of fun. Youve opened opportunities for me to find. The drum line that my schools marching band works with has experienced about 8 years of abusive neglect and everything short of the shells themselves are broken. But with the inspiration and knowledge that I get from these video im working on a $3.5k budget with my school to order brand new replacement parts and hold a community event to teach people about restoration. So, thank you to both david and the community here. You guys are very much my favorite to be around, and have inspired change. Good work on the videos
Dude that 10 inch with re-rings is *EXTREMELY* hard to find (ESPECIALLY one with re-rings)! I got an 80's Imperialstar in Midnight Blue wrap with 10x8, 12x8, 13x9 rack toms and 16x16, 18x16 floors though the 18 has re-rings. I got the Copeland kit with the Pearl B4514 snare to go with it!
A few years ago i bought an 82’ imperialstar with an 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 24” kick and a swingstar snare. Plus a bunch of cymbals and hardware for $1000! All of this from a clueless guitarist selling drums on craigslist, the first drum kit i bought myself and my prized possession to this day, i had been watching your channel for a while and got super excited when i saw you got an imperialstar and you loved it too!
it depends on where you sell it, craigslist for me was a rip off almost every time! On the other hand you can find whole kits more than just freaking parts for drums sets on there! One time I sold a 91 tama rockstar DX for about 220, the snare and stand alone was worth probably 150-200. The kid got a deal. oh and it came with double bass pedal and a few cymbals! looking back it was worth 300, because now those snare are rare!
Bought a 10 inch 1980 Swingstar tom and a 14 inch 1980 Swingstar tom for my drum kit. Changed the 16 inch into a bassdrum, and the 14 inch tom into a floortom, so now I have a 1980 Tama Swingstar ‘jungle kit’ 😂
I gig on a Sonor Safari in those exact sizes, and it's killer! I also used to own an 80's ImperialStar that I lost in a fire. Would love to see that little kit!
I've been playing a vintage Swingstar for a few months, and I don't think I'll ever buy anything but Tama after this. It's so easy to tune, I'm in love with the sound, and the Metallic White is a beautiful color
I know you like your floors tuned nice and low, which runs you into problems with the 18” so I wanted to note that putting a head upside-down on top, like you would to get the fat snare sound, will generally take the pitch of a tom down a whole note without being so loose it feels like hitting a trampoline. Coated heads tend to sound the best with this trick for me
I'm obviously too late to be the first to respond, but yes, that definitely sounds like the Root of All Evil intro! Fun fact: that intro was actually three floor toms layered together; which makes the sound of your single 18" tom even more impressive...
Great vid David, thank you. I bought an 80s (I believe) copper Yamaha snare. It was a bit filthy (dust bunnies INSIDE the drum), plus heavy patina on the shell. Stripped the shell's lacquer with acetone, removed most of the patina with a homebrew paste of vinegar, salt and flour (to make it a paste) and it cleaned that up OK. Maybe still needs a light sanding, then polish again and I'll lacquer it (rattle can thin layers and then buff it with some car buffing stuff). But your video is great for ideas on cleaning the hardware, thank you so much!
You're going to have to make a video doing a cover on each Tama kit. PLEASE do The Root of All Evil with this kit, that floor tom sounds practically identical to Mike Portnoy's floor tom!!
one part vinegar twelve parts lugs :D ps i very much appreciated that the soundtest was setup for us to actually deeply hear the drumkit rather than the player so thank you for that !
I have that same kit. I traded a North drum set for my first Imperialstars in Metallic Blue 1978 and am back with 22/24/10/12/13/14/15/16 in Metallic White but use just the 22/10/12/16 as my main kit. I love them.
I’ll be honest, nothing beats those vintage 70s Imperialstar drums. I’ve got a kit myself (larger sizes though) and they’re the best kits I’ve ever had the pleasure of recording across genre and style. Never getting rid of mine
That’s funny how they had the reso head. I restored an early 90’s Tama Rockstar kit and to get the 70’s sound I threw some Evans Black Chrome heads on the beater side and I took the old beater heads and put them on the reso side and cut them out like that. Got that concert Tom sound and this way you don’t hear my cheap shells. You just hear my nice Black Chrome heads. I like it a lot. If I remember right my rack Tom is 12x12, floor Tom is 16x16 and the kick is 22x18. Everything sounds phat AF. I love it.
I just bought a metallic white 8x12 Imperialstar. I just bought it for the lugs. My Imperialstars are hairline chrome. 13-14-15-16-18-24. First four were concert toms. I converted the 14 and 16 to double head. Going to use the lugs to convert the 13 as well. My goal was to clean up and flip, but I love it. My Super Maple Superstars and honey amber Starclassics are just sitting right now. I don’t have any Fiberstars… yet!
Maybe a good tip for vintage Tama fans: There is a way to raplicate the Zola coating on the inside of the shells. There is a spraypaint called Rust-Oleum Stone-effect and it almost looks identical to the Zola coating. You only just need to sand the paint with fine sandpaper when it’s dry
Yes... blue the screws to match. Just my preference that screws must match. Ive got a set that's driving me bananas because of the mix matched colored screws that the factory installed. I just went to the hardware store and bought machine screws just because they're all the same color as the rest of whats on it. But now that i did, I want them on all my drums. No more stripped out Philips heads...
That Imperialstar in that same color was my very first kit back around 1990. I've upgraded several times over, but plan on buying another one exactly like it sometime soon.
My drum teacher had a 4 or 6 in, Bird's Eye Maple tom. I just remember it was really tiny. The President hand delivered it because he wanted to meet the drummer who requested such a tiny drum 😅
Congrats on the find and amazing resto job 👍🏻👍🏻 I found an orphan 10” as well in Platina wrap a few yrs ago, but mine doesn’t have re-rings while the 8” tom i found does have thin re-rings
My 3rd kit was an imperialstar. It was a 24x14 double bass set with 6,8,10 concert toms, 12,13,14,15 mounted toms. They had a the fat knobs. Might've skipped 14. Was 30 or so years ago lol. The floors were 16 and 18 squared. Has a 6.5x14 imperialstar "steel?" Snare. Loved my monster! I literally made a practice and gig kit out of it. Was like a damn 12pc kit afterall 😆
The two large floor toms remind me of Indians - Anthrax, one of my all time favorites. Also, for the first time I turned on my surround sound and cranked this video up - OMG sounds amazing! Love your videos!!
I've been collecting 1970s Imperialstar for the last seven or eight years. And it's just perfect sounding druma for studio recordings. I just had two 10" toms and one 8" tom after searching all those years. So I'm very happy that you found a 10" tom for your White Metallic kit.
You have done a great job with that kit, wow. I have a Tama Superstar (natural wood, no wrap) 5 piece kit from back in the day that sounds great and looks like a big piece of furniture. That set and me have been up and down the road and I will never part with it.
This is the first time I've seen you with four toms on your kit. A nice change. I'm a four pc guy myself. Say, when are posting a video featuring that gnarly Zildjian Raw Crash?
Be glad yours is the Metallic White color, David. It's at least somewhat common. I made the mistake of trying to collect the older Metallic Blue color with my Imperialstar set. I've got pretty much everything I want now, but I've had hell trying to find a 12" double sided tom in that color and a 10" and 12" concert tom.
I’m a gear nut, but mainly for guitar. I find electric guitar stuff, especially amps and pedals, to be way more interesting than drum gear. I’ve been playing drums for thirty years and barely know anything about drum brands and their history. That said, this channel gives me horrible GAS for drums! Love the content
The 10 inch looks and sounds great! What tuning tip do you have for tuning the 10 inch tom? I have a 10 inch Tama Starclassic and for the life of me, I can’t get a good sound out of it. Thanks
I enjoy watching your great videos, and also you are a great drummer and you have beautiful sounding drums. And that song on the end is "the root of all evil" by dream Theater
Hey great video I love the tone from the vintage imperial star❤️ I have a full collection in this colour including 12, 13, 14, 15 “ toms 16 & 18” floors 22x 14 kick 24x 14 kick 26x 14 kick (little boy) Only one missing is the 10” really hard to get in the U.K..
Question for you. Why do you use tin foil instead of a steel wool? Have found it to work better? Trying to restore a 1988 TAMA Rockstar Pro that sat in a garage for 12-15 years. Some slight rust on rims and lugs.
Cyber Month Deal! Go to nordvpn.com/rdavidr to get a 2-year plan plus 1 additional month with a huge discount.
Almost as huge as this 18" floor tom!
The song is Root of all evil!
Yup, (Lars (unironically) nailed it) Root of All Evil by Dream Theater
This is probably the most satisfying drum refurbish you’ve done. That Tom was so nasty and cleaned up so well
Yeah! And I'd also enjoyed *this* one a lot: ua-cam.com/video/4-Eh4bbz7t0/v-deo.html 😄
@@mightyV444 yeah that ones a classic
Time for a story.
Davids and his videos are actually my favorite I can find on youtube, and I usually stop what im doing to watch them. David has Inspired me to take up the restoration and modifications of drums as well, and its become my favorite hobby. I never wanted to fuck with drums and screw them over, but it turns out its a lot of fun. Youve opened opportunities for me to find.
The drum line that my schools marching band works with has experienced about 8 years of abusive neglect and everything short of the shells themselves are broken. But with the inspiration and knowledge that I get from these video im working on a $3.5k budget with my school to order brand new replacement parts and hold a community event to teach people about restoration.
So, thank you to both david and the community here. You guys are very much my favorite to be around, and have inspired change. Good work on the videos
Thats awesome to hear! Appreciate the kind words, Keep on killin it!
@@rdavidr hey man. Thank you
Root of All Evil - nice
One could argue that 18” floor Tom is literally the root of all evil drum parts
Lol, I was thinking... "Are my Dream Theater-trained ears deceiving me..?."
Octavarium is still my favourite DT album. The new one is really good though.
it transforms into bass on occasion too.
Your videos are the always so chill and amazing made! 👏🏻
KRIMH!!!
A wild krimh appears!
Thanks man! I would love to see you DESTROY on this kit haha
Dude that 10 inch with re-rings is *EXTREMELY* hard to find (ESPECIALLY one with re-rings)! I got an 80's Imperialstar in Midnight Blue wrap with 10x8, 12x8, 13x9 rack toms and 16x16, 18x16 floors though the 18 has re-rings. I got the Copeland kit with the Pearl B4514 snare to go with it!
Awesome! 😀👍 I once had a 70's Imperialstar kit in Metallic Blue just like Stewart's first Tama, as seen in the 'Rock Goes To College' gig video 🙂
Have the same in jet black finish but without 18x16
10:39 - The Root of All Evil - Dream Theater with Mr Mike Portnoy on Drums
A few years ago i bought an 82’ imperialstar with an 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 24” kick and a swingstar snare. Plus a bunch of cymbals and hardware for $1000! All of this from a clueless guitarist selling drums on craigslist, the first drum kit i bought myself and my prized possession to this day, i had been watching your channel for a while and got super excited when i saw you got an imperialstar and you loved it too!
All of the shells have re-rings on them, and its a midnight blue, but ive been trying to find and 18” to go with it for 3 years now
it depends on where you sell it, craigslist for me was a rip off almost every time! On the other hand you can find whole kits more than just freaking parts for drums sets on there! One time I sold a 91 tama rockstar DX for about 220, the snare and stand alone was worth probably 150-200. The kid got a deal. oh and it came with double bass pedal and a few cymbals! looking back it was worth 300, because now those snare are rare!
I love these kinds of videos. Adding to existing kits. Restoring old drums. I could watch these all day. And sometimes I do.
Bought a 10 inch 1980 Swingstar tom and a 14 inch 1980 Swingstar tom for my drum kit.
Changed the 16 inch into a bassdrum, and the 14 inch tom into a floortom, so now I have a 1980 Tama Swingstar ‘jungle kit’ 😂
I gig on a Sonor Safari in those exact sizes, and it's killer! I also used to own an 80's ImperialStar that I lost in a fire. Would love to see that little kit!
super cool!
Your passion for the drums is amazing. Keep going. Loving those old Tama kits.
I am a Yamaha guy but love the older Tama kits. Always wanted a Super Star.
Nailed The root of all evil 🤘
I've been playing a vintage Swingstar for a few months, and I don't think I'll ever buy anything but Tama after this. It's so easy to tune, I'm in love with the sound, and the Metallic White is a beautiful color
Had a Swingstar in Metallic White since 1983. Still Loving it!
I know you like your floors tuned nice and low, which runs you into problems with the 18” so I wanted to note that putting a head upside-down on top, like you would to get the fat snare sound, will generally take the pitch of a tom down a whole note without being so loose it feels like hitting a trampoline. Coated heads tend to sound the best with this trick for me
I'm obviously too late to be the first to respond, but yes, that definitely sounds like the Root of All Evil intro! Fun fact: that intro was actually three floor toms layered together; which makes the sound of your single 18" tom even more impressive...
Great vid David, thank you. I bought an 80s (I believe) copper Yamaha snare. It was a bit filthy (dust bunnies INSIDE the drum), plus heavy patina on the shell. Stripped the shell's lacquer with acetone, removed most of the patina with a homebrew paste of vinegar, salt and flour (to make it a paste) and it cleaned that up OK. Maybe still needs a light sanding, then polish again and I'll lacquer it (rattle can thin layers and then buff it with some car buffing stuff). But your video is great for ideas on cleaning the hardware, thank you so much!
You're going to have to make a video doing a cover on each Tama kit. PLEASE do The Root of All Evil with this kit, that floor tom sounds practically identical to Mike Portnoy's floor tom!!
The "never enough " intro in the end of the video was amazing dude Cheers!!
one part vinegar twelve parts lugs :D ps i very much appreciated that the soundtest was setup for us to actually deeply hear the drumkit rather than the player so thank you for that !
I can’t believe how David just uses soap with water and everything looks as good as new
Hey David! You should add all your sets together to make the worlds largest drum kit
Yes! That would be a cool video… Dave’s Franken kit!
@@samcook1545 haha yea bro
I barely have the room for them all stacked up, let alone with them all set up 😂
@@rdavidr 😂😂
@@rdavidr build it outside
I have that same kit. I traded a North drum set for my first Imperialstars in Metallic Blue 1978 and am back with 22/24/10/12/13/14/15/16 in Metallic White but use just the 22/10/12/16 as my main kit. I love them.
The attention to detail is impressive! Nice video!
I’ll be honest, nothing beats those vintage 70s Imperialstar drums. I’ve got a kit myself (larger sizes though) and they’re the best kits I’ve ever had the pleasure of recording across genre and style. Never getting rid of mine
For real! Theres something special about these old imperialstars!
That’s funny how they had the reso head. I restored an early 90’s Tama Rockstar kit and to get the 70’s sound I threw some Evans Black Chrome heads on the beater side and I took the old beater heads and put them on the reso side and cut them out like that. Got that concert Tom sound and this way you don’t hear my cheap shells. You just hear my nice Black Chrome heads. I like it a lot. If I remember right my rack Tom is 12x12, floor Tom is 16x16 and the kick is 22x18. Everything sounds phat AF. I love it.
Beautiful kit and the way you explained how to care for it,the easy to go .
I just bought a metallic white 8x12 Imperialstar. I just bought it for the lugs. My Imperialstars are hairline chrome. 13-14-15-16-18-24. First four were concert toms. I converted the 14 and 16 to double head. Going to use the lugs to convert the 13 as well. My goal was to clean up and flip, but I love it. My Super Maple Superstars and honey amber Starclassics are just sitting right now. I don’t have any Fiberstars… yet!
Dude early 2000s birch starclassics are my favorite drum sets ever
Maybe a good tip for vintage Tama fans: There is a way to raplicate the Zola coating on the inside of the shells.
There is a spraypaint called Rust-Oleum Stone-effect and it almost looks identical to the Zola coating. You only just need to sand the paint with fine sandpaper when it’s dry
Oh yeah, I recognize that song. It's a lick on the floor tom, but main is it recognizable. The fact that it's the first song on the album also helps.
Happy to throw you the Alley Oop on the 18”! I’m on a quest to find a 8” and a 6” now 😂😂😂😂
I would faint if you found those! 😂
Wow ! That kit sounds fantastic. Well done.
Yes... blue the screws to match. Just my preference that screws must match.
Ive got a set that's driving me bananas because of the mix matched colored screws that the factory installed.
I just went to the hardware store and bought machine screws just because they're all the same color as the rest of whats on it.
But now that i did, I want them on all my drums. No more stripped out Philips heads...
Thank you for starting my tama obsession.
Great demonstration! I always enjoy your jams after the refurb!
Nicely done.
That Imperialstar in that same color was my very first kit back around 1990. I've upgraded several times over, but plan on buying another one exactly like it sometime soon.
I like the way you auto clean drums.....its real nice..removing every detail of dirt...its exqusite!
It's almost criminal how good that kit sounds
Great video, the build of those is incredible, superstars when they first came out were oiled outside and had rerings ,very scarce also.
it's always a good day when david uploads something
I second that.
Awesome vid! My first kit was a Tama rockstar in 1988 and I remember seeing Imperials and other Tama's around in the catalogues and stores back then.
My drum teacher had a 4 or 6 in, Bird's Eye Maple tom. I just remember it was really tiny. The President hand delivered it because he wanted to meet the drummer who requested such a tiny drum 😅
Ah yes the root of all evil. My favorite drummer of all time. Great vids man keep it up. Been watching since the $20 drum set 🤙🤙
Congrats on the find and amazing resto job 👍🏻👍🏻 I found an orphan 10” as well in Platina wrap a few yrs ago, but mine doesn’t have re-rings while the 8” tom i found does have thin re-rings
My 3rd kit was an imperialstar. It was a 24x14 double bass set with 6,8,10 concert toms, 12,13,14,15 mounted toms. They had a the fat knobs. Might've skipped 14. Was 30 or so years ago lol. The floors were 16 and 18 squared. Has a 6.5x14 imperialstar "steel?" Snare. Loved my monster! I literally made a practice and gig kit out of it. Was like a damn 12pc kit afterall 😆
Great ! Impressed with the repair and demonstration. Never forget getting my tama swingstar drum set in 82 ish . I’m a Ludwig guy now though
Good drums, good drummer that knows how to tune it.
The kit sounds fantastic, especially that 18” floor tom.
You know why??..it’s the black dot
head on the drum!!
@@sticktrik I’m a long time fan of the black dot heads for my Tama drums
The two large floor toms remind me of Indians - Anthrax, one of my all time favorites. Also, for the first time I turned on my surround sound and cranked this video up - OMG sounds amazing! Love your videos!!
Vintage TAMA drums sound Amazing.👊🏽
Love the video. Amazing drums. This is rdavidr playing at its finest.
Your videos are the most relaxing thing man
That wrap is so classy!
Root of all evil! One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands, Mike portnoy is someone I look up to a lot when it comes to drumming
Man, that really did sound like Portnoy's gong drum lol, it's great
That kit sunds super badass. You're an excellent drummer too.
I've been collecting 1970s Imperialstar for the last seven or eight years. And it's just perfect sounding druma for studio recordings. I just had two 10" toms and one 8" tom after searching all those years. So I'm very happy that you found a 10" tom for your White Metallic kit.
SOUNDS Amazing! It sounds like it was DW Shell-matched and fits perfectly with your kit.
Best part is these kits cost $700 on average vs $5500 for a new DW 😂
10:40 THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL! DAMN I WAS WONDERING WHAT DRUM PORTNOY USED FOR THAT! NOW I HAVE TO GET ONE!
Very cool! I had an old Tama Imperialstar 9-piece single kick way back in the day :)
I enjoyed the fragment of The root of all evil hahahahaha
That kit sounds amazing!
You have done a great job with that kit, wow. I have a Tama Superstar (natural wood, no wrap) 5 piece kit from back in the day that sounds great and looks like a big piece of furniture. That set and me have been up and down the road and I will never part with it.
Never disappointed! Beautiful job!
Great great sounds from that classic kit!
This is the first time I've seen you with four toms on your kit. A nice change. I'm a four pc guy myself.
Say, when are posting a video featuring that gnarly Zildjian Raw Crash?
I have nothing creative to say but I clicked on the fast! I love your channel
Be glad yours is the Metallic White color, David. It's at least somewhat common.
I made the mistake of trying to collect the older Metallic Blue color with my Imperialstar set. I've got pretty much everything I want now, but I've had hell trying to find a 12" double sided tom in that color and a 10" and 12" concert tom.
I love when you said “ maze of drums “ I can relate I’ve got 16 drum kits in my living room
oof, and I thought I was bad!
Pretty slick kit! And it sounds amazing as well. 🤘🏻
What cymbal is being played at around 10:57? Love it!!!
You grease your elbows? Man I am missing out. This thing cleaned up nicely. " An orphan lost in the wild," David is a poet.
Loved this Video!!! Great job on the restoration!!! Great job on the playing.:)
your work is inspirational....boy am i lazy...lol...i wanna drill out a 14" scimitar china....for tone...not cracks...any thoughts?
thx
I think its the theme music , I don't know!
But keep restoring parts and pieces and playing them. Fine gig.
Awesome video Dave! And amazing drumming :)
You should totally make one giant kit with all of your gear
I’ve got a huge Imperialstar concert Tom kit I’m rewrapping in a mahogany veneer. ❤️
David is just drum Santa
That snare sounds so good
Sounds great, 18 ft is kinda like having a second bass drum. There is an early nineties made in Taiwan steel 14 by6 snare for sale I think I will buy.
2:14 - Yeees, _Mr. Kubrick,_ I see you there.
Nice Mike Portnoy thing at the end! "The Root Of All Evil" intro.
I’m a gear nut, but mainly for guitar. I find electric guitar stuff, especially amps and pedals, to be way more interesting than drum gear. I’ve been playing drums for thirty years and barely know anything about drum brands and their history.
That said, this channel gives me horrible GAS for drums! Love the content
The Root Of All Evil by Dream Theater, awesome, you should cover that song because its relatively easy compared to, yknow, almost every other DT song
It's the snare that stole the show for me.
Root of all Evil, DT, Octavarium, 2005.
Cool vid. 18" toms are awesome.
That 10" tom sounds fantastic!
That one head on the kit the Remo logo upside down and it’s killing me lol
The 10 inch looks and sounds great! What tuning tip do you have for tuning the 10 inch tom? I have a 10 inch Tama Starclassic and for the life of me, I can’t get a good sound out of it. Thanks
This kit sounds amazing! I want a 3 velocity sample pack with the cymbals and some little snare rolls in it 🙌🏼
I enjoy watching your great videos, and also you are a great drummer and you have beautiful sounding drums. And that song on the end is "the root of all evil" by dream Theater
Amazing work dude 👏🏻👏🏻 sounds brilliant.
I'm restoring an old Yamaha kit and I'm wondering what kind of brush you use on that machine you use to scrape off the rust?:)
Hey great video
I love the tone from the vintage imperial star❤️
I have a full collection in this colour including
12, 13, 14, 15 “ toms
16 & 18” floors
22x 14 kick
24x 14 kick
26x 14 kick (little boy)
Only one missing is the 10” really hard to get in the U.K..
Question for you. Why do you use tin foil instead of a steel wool? Have found it to work better? Trying to restore a 1988 TAMA Rockstar Pro that sat in a garage for 12-15 years. Some slight rust on rims and lugs.
Oh yeah! Definitely The Root of All Evil! Nice!
Thanks for another awesome video Dave! I love to watch you bring a drum back to life. Your playing is awesome too!🥁❤
oh yes.. 10x8 Imperial with rerings IS just about one of the most rare drums out there!