Thank you! I wish I had video of his response when he opened it... he was a kid again (and he's a few years older than I am! ;) So fun!

Thanks so much, Justin! I am actually making videos again with the goal of releasing one per week, so hopefully you'll find them helpful (or at least interesting ;)

Thanks so much! I loved the way it played and sounded.... my wife was concerned I was going to keep it! I didn't, of course, but I am gonna build myself an 8x14 version (I already have the early 80's Imperialstar tom I'm using for it! ;) Thanks again for the kind words, James!

@@recordingdotpizzawould love to see a video of that one!! Currently building a 7.25x14 swingstar version myself. Found your video when I was already started on the project and was assured that the end result is going to sound fantastic.

I just picked up a 13-14-15-16-18-24 hairline chrome Imperialstar kit a couple of months ago. I had the same idea although I only have a 24 not a 26, close enough for me. The first 4 toms were concert toms, so I converted the 14 and 16 to dual heads. Running the 14 as the rack tom and the 16 and 18 as floors. Thinking about converting the 15 to double heads and running that as the rack. Before anyone has a problem with me converting the concert toms, the wrap wasn't in very good shape and I paid $50 for the whole kit.

Thanks so much for your kind words! Regarding the tom mounting bracket the very bottom of the bottom hole for mounting that bracket to the shell was right at about 5.25" from the bottom, so I had plenty of depth to cut everything from that hole up and use just the 'virgin' bottom portion of the shell to make this drum As for the Zola coat I needed to mimic that, because Tama coated the bearing edges of Imperialstar drums with Zola coat (it was applied after the edges were cut), so, since we had cut the shell we needed to cut edges as well (and this was a concert tom, so the bottom edge, which didn't have a head, had no bearing edge, but was simply squared off. So we cut both edges, which left exposed wood (the wrong look), so I mimicked the Zola coat appearance with grey primer and the stone-look paint, but had to sand that stone paint down, because it actually had a really strong texture. I cut it down (smooth) with mild sandpaper, and the final look was exactly like something that would have come from the Tama factory in the 80s. I recommend you do this! I think tinkering with building drums is something every drummer should do at some point for the better understanding of the instrument you gain from doing it (and you can build some pretty cool drums for not too much money too!). BTW, I have another KZfaq channel now, dedicated solely to drums, called DrumDotPizza. If you like these kinds of videos (and lots of other things all drum related) I think you'd like it and would love to see you over there! Thanks so much for reaching out. Best!

@@recordingdotpizza Thanks for your reply. I''ve owned a Swingstar since 1980, and Imperialstar (to make it double bass) since '82, all in metallic white. I have a 5.5 x 14" Swingstar as well as a 6.5" Imperialstar snare, and at 56, absolutely love the idea of an Imperialstar snare! I'm legally, but not totally blind, so I don't trust myself with projects like this for obvious reasons. I do own a 14" Imperialstar, but it's a '82 double head and I'm not willing to sacrifice it for a project I'm uncertain of, so I'd have to do like you and find a concert tom, if I were to do this. Metallic white is becoming more and more difficult to find on eBay, especially in 14". In any case, I normally hate to see these drums cut up, but you did a fantastic job, and it sounds great! Thanks so much for sharing - you did a fantastic job.

All Tama snares from the early 80s (and up to today, as far as I know) had snare beds. I own several Mastercraft and Powerline models, steel and wood, and all have snare beds. The only drums I have seen that lack snare beds (or have VERY minute beds) are Rogers Dyna-Sonics (most of which had beds, just super minute) and a Ludwig classic wood snare that had the P87/P34 strainer/butt combo that had no perceivable beds (but that might have been a mistake in production?). The beds on Tama's steel shell drums (same exact shell, same exact beds for both Mastercraft and Powerline models) are wide and shallow. The beds on their wood drums of the same time are narrower and just a touch deeper. All had beds though. Hope that helps!

I do, in fact! Had originally intended to repopulate it with compatible hardware (they're great shells, and there's an identical strainer (without the 'TAMA' logo embossed) that you can get from Jammin Sam (.com)), but I don't really have the time or need. I'm gonna list it along with a bunch of other drums and bits on Reverb in the next couple of days, so if you're interested keep checking there, and you'll see it. Thanks!