With the Starclassic Serial number system, you apply the “subtract 10 system” to the first two digits of the number to get what year they were made in. Only Tama Starclassic Maple Drums have serial numbers that indicate the age of the drums. However, even the professionals were starting to use the Tama drums because the low cost of the Asian made drums with the (now) high quality of hardware was a great combination. The original plan was to market the low end Tama drums to beginners and use the Camco brand to sell high end drums to professional musicians. Tama integrated all the engineering from Camco into their production process and the overall level of quality of their drums increased virtually overnight. The Tama version of the Camco pedal is commonly referred to as the Tamco pedal to distinguish it from an original Camco pedal. Tama began production of the same pedal under the Camco name. DW continued production of the pedal using the original tooling, rebadging it as the DW5000. As part of the deal, DW received the Camco tooling and manufacturing equipment while Tama received the Camco name, designs, engineering and patent rights.Īt the time, Camco was producing what was thought to be the best drum pedal on the market. Tama and Drum Workshop (DW) jointly bought the bankrupt Camco Drum Company. In keeping with its heritage, “star” continues to be used in the names of Tama’s drum models to this day. Tama was the name of the owner’s wife, and means “jewel” in Japanese. The two higher lines of drum models, Imperial Star and Royal Star, were introduced to the American market and were successful lower-cost drums competing against more expensive American-made drums offered by Rogers, Ludwig, and Slingerland at the time.īy 1974, Hoshino decided to make a concerted effort to make high-quality drums and hardware and start marketing its drums under the Tama brand.

While the production of guitars and amps was moved out of the factory by 1966, the production of drums there continued to grow. The drums were manufactured at Hoshino’s subsidiary, Tama Seisakusho, which had opened in 1962 to manufacture Ibanez guitars and amplifiers. Hoshino, the family name of the founder, translates to “star field,” thus the selection of the “Star Drums” brand name.

Tama drums – Hoshino Gakki began manufacturing drums in 1965 under the name “Star Drums”.

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