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Tama Drums

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For the traditional Senegalese drum, see Talking drum.
Tama Drums
Company typePrivate
Industrymusical instruments
Founded1974
HeadquartersSeto, Aichi, Japan
Productsdrums, drum hardware
ParentHoshino Gakki
Websitetama.com

Tama Drums (stylized as TAMA) is a brand of drums and hardware manufactured and marketed by the Japanese musical instrument company, Hoshino Gakki. Tama's research and development of products, along with production of its professional drums, is done in Seto, Japan,[1] while its hardware and more affordable drums are manufactured in Guangzhou, China.[2] Hoshino has several offices around the world for marketing and wholesale distribution. Drums destined for the U.S. market are assembled and stocked at Hoshino (U.S.A.) in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. The U.S. subsidiary also contributes to Tama's market research and development.

History

Hoshino Gakki began manufacturing drums in 1965 under the name "Star Drums". Hoshino, the family name of the founder, translates to "star field," thus the selection of the "Star Drums" brand name. The drums were manufactured at Hoshino's subsidiary, Tama Seisakusho, which had opened in 1962 to manufacture Ibanez guitars and amplifiers. While the production of guitars and amps was moved out of the factory by 1966, the production of drums there continued to grow. 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.

By 1974, Hoshino decided to make a concerted effort to make high-quality drums and hardware and start marketing its drums under the Tama brand. Tama was the name of the owner's wife, and means "jewel" in Japanese. In keeping with its heritage, "star" continues to be used in the names of Tama's drum models to this day.

Tama and Drum Workshop (DW) jointly bought the bankrupt Camco Drum Company. As part of the deal, DW received the Camco tooling and manufacturing equipment while Tama received the Camco name, designs, engineering and patent rights.

At the time, Camco was producing what was thought to be the best drum pedal on the market. DW continued production of the pedal using the original tooling, rebadging it as the DW5000. Tama began production of the same pedal under the Camco name. The Tama version of the Camco pedal is commonly referred to as the Tamco pedal to distinguish it from an original Camco pedal. Tama integrated all the engineering from Camco into their production process and the overall level of quality of their drums increased virtually overnight. 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. 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.

Tama was one of the first companies to offer super heavy-duty hardware, and drum mounting systems that did not intrude into the shell like most brands in the 1970s. They also invented unique tubular drums called Octobans. Octobans are 6" in diameter and are manufactured in eight different lengths (hence the prefix "octo-") up to 600mm (23.5"). They vary in pitch by using different shell lengths, rather than widths.

Drums

Beginner and Semi-professional Lines

  • Swingstar – TAMA's entry-level drum kit made with poplar shells in a wrapped finish. Swingstar drums feature TAMA's unique "Accu-Tone" bass drum hoops, which replaces the claw hooks found on most bass drums for quicker head changes. All Swingstar drums include a full hardware pack and cymbals.
  • Imperialstar – Tama's mid-range entry-level drum kit named after the previous Imperial Star line. Like their less expensive Swingstar counterparts, these drums are made with poplar shells in a wrap finish and feature Accu-Tone bass drum hoops. These drums include Meinl HCS brass cymbals as standard equipment.
  • Silverstar/Silverstar Custom – New for 2011, the Silverstar series replace Tama's Superstar Accel Driver line. Like their Superstar counterparts, these drums are made from 100% birch shells and are available in either lacquer or wrap finishes. Silverstar drums feature a more streamlined version of their Star-Cast tom mounts (now done in chrome to match the hardware), new "Powercraft II" heads with a white resonant head for the bass drum, low-mass lugs, triple-flanged hoops, and a slideable tom holder, which is usually found on the more expensive Starclassic line.
  • Superstar Hyper-Drive — Tama's high-end line of semi-professional drums. These drums are made from 100% Birch shells (originally made from birch and basswood) and feature die-cast hoops in a black nickel finish. As the name implies, these drums are available in TAMA's trademark "Hyper-Drive" configuration, which consists of shorter tom depths and a longer bass drum depth (20 inches, also known as their "Ultra-Deep" depth) for optimum sound quality. These drums come in either a Wrap or Lacquer finish.

Professional Lines

Starclassic Series

Tama's Starclassic Bubinga logo. Note that the logo is painted onto the shell instead of badged onto it.

The Starclassic series is Tama's high-end line of drums. Originally hand-crafted in Japan, some of the Starclassic lines are now made in TAMA's Chinese factory (a notable difference is that Japan-made Starclassics has their badges and vent holes painted on the drum's shell, while Chinese-made Starclassics feature badges and vent holes drilled onto the shell). All Starclassic series drums come with a more streamlined version of Tama's Star-Cast mounting system made from aluminum, air-cushioned floor tom legs, "Hold Tight" washers which keeps the tension rods in place (Starclassic Maple to Starclassic Bubinga Elite), die-cast hoops, and Evans drumheads as standard equipment. The drums are also available in a Hyper-Drive configuration, with individual snare drums also available.

  • Starclassic Performer B/B – Drums made from a mix of birch and African bubinga shells and come in either a wrap or lacquer finish.
  • Starclassic Maple – Drums made from 100% maple shells and come in a lacquer finish.
  • Starclassic Bubinga - Drums made from 9 plies of African bubinga and come a lacquer finish
  • Starclassic Bubinga Elite (2009-2013) Elite series made of either quilted bubinga or 8-ply bubinga shells with an outer ply of either maple or cordia. Starclassic Bubinga Elite drums come in an exotic lacquer finish. Discontinued in favor in NAMM 2013 presented legendary Tama Star drums which are made of thinner Bubinga and Maple shells. The guessing is that Bubinga Elite might be still available in Japan and very special orders (should be confirmed).
  • Starclassic Bubinga Omni-Tune – Drums made from 100% bubinga shells. As the name implies, these drums feature Omni-Tune lugs, which were invented in the 1930s by drum designer William David Gladstone. These lugs allow the player to tune both drumheads at the same time using a special drum key, and minimizes the time spent on drumhead changes.
  • Starclassic Warlord Exotix Spartan – Drums made from stainless steel shells with "Warlord Collection" lugs & emblems with black diamond Swarovski crystals. It is the most expensive kit in Tama's lineup, with limited worldwide production to 50 kits in a 7-piece Accel Driver configuration.

Discontinued

  • Fibrestar - The "forgotten" series. They were produced for only a short time in the late 70s/early 80s. It appeared in the 1977 General Catalog for the first time and 1980 General Catalog for the last time. The shells of these drums have been made from fibreglass and were covered with one ply plastic-foil, available in various colors. A very famous drummer was Simon Phillips who played a huge silver drumset at that time with prototype drumshells. These were deeper than the standard shells in those days. Nevertheless, it obviously was not a huge success so that it was stopped after three years. They are pretty rare to find nowadays.
  • Royalstar
  • Beatstar
  • Granstar – Drums made from 100% birch 7-ply shells.
  • Starworks – Introduced in 2009, Starworks is Tama's mid-range line of drums aimed for rockers. These drums are made from birch and comes in two different configurations: a rock kit with a 20" deep bass drum, and a fusion kit, both included with black hardware, a unique bass drum head, and four unique finishes. Due to slow sales, however, the Starworks line was discontinued the following year.
  • Rockstar – Drums made from Philippine mahogany shells. Later models made exclusively for Guitar Center had birch/basswood shells.
  • Artstar - Drums made from birch wood sandwiched between two plys of South American Cordia wood. They had 9mm bass drum shell and 6mm snare, floor tom and tom tom shells.
  • Artstar II – Drums made from 100% Canadian maple 9-ply shells.
  • Stagestar - Drums made from Philippine Mahogany.
  • Crestar – Drums made from 100% Japanese birch 8-ply shells.
  • Techstar – Electronic drums.

Snare drums

  • Warlord Collection – Tama's top-of-the-line series of snares. Warlord snares feature gothic-styled lugs with Swarovski crystals embedded into them (jet black on wood drums, clear black on metal drums), and feature Tama's "Resonant Sound Edge" on its metal-shelled drums, which adds resonance and increases tone and projection. Warlord drums are made from either titanum (Titan), brass (Athenian), stainless steel (Spartan), bell brass (Praetorian), bubinga (Masai), and maple (Valkyrie) shells, all in a 6"x14" size. All drums come with a hardshell carrying case and a certificate of authenticity from Tama's Japan factory.
  • Starphonic – Drums made from either maple, bubinga, brass, or aluminum. Starphonic drums feature Tama's patented "Groove Hoops" and "Freedom Lugs" for quick head changes and increased sound quality. These drums also feature a Linear Drive strainer system which allow for quieter snare deployments. All drums are available in a 6"x14" size.
  • Artwood Custom – Snares made from a 7-ply maple shell. The snares are outfitted with an Evans Power Center Reverse Dot batter head and black nickel-plated hardware. Available in 6.5"x13", 4"x14", 5.5"x14", and 6.5"x14" sizes, each in a different color.
  • Metalworks – Snares made with a 1.2mm steel shell. Like the Artwood Custom, they come with Evans heads and black nickel-plated hadware, and are available 6.5"x13", 4"x13", 5.5"x14", and 6.5"x14", with the addition of a 4"x12" snare.
  • Starclassic – In addition to their bubinga, maple, and birch/bubinga snares, this line also includes a 5.5"x14" copper snare made with a 1.5mm copper shell and a 5.5"x14" nickel-plated brass snare made with a 1.5mm brass shell.

Hardware

In addition to manufacturing drums, Tama also offers a variety of stands, pedals, thrones and multi-clamps as well as a rack system.

RoadPro
Tama's top-of-the-line series of stands aimed at traveling musicians, as RoadPro stands for "Road-Proven". It features double-braced legs, die-cast joints, a reversible cymbal sleeve, and Tama's patented Cymbal Mate. RoadPro cymbal stands also feature TAMA's Quick-Set Tilter for adjusting the cymbal to any angle.
Stage Master
Tama's bottom-line series of hardware with single and double-braced versions available.
PowerTower Rack
Tama's rack system featuring a variety of pipes, clamps, and accessories for a custom drum rack.
1st Chair Throne systems
Tama's top-of-the-line thrones with possible options of a hydraulic lift and back rest.
  • Round Rider - round-type throne
  • Ergo-Rider - hybrid round and saddle-type throne
  • Wide Rider - saddle-type throne

Pedals

Speed Cobra
Introduced in 2010, the Speed Cobra line features double and single pedal versions that are designed to be lighter, more responsive and have more power than the Iron Cobra series. The Speed Cobra pedals include new features as well as many similar features to the Iron Cobra series.
  • Speed Cobra Hi-hat
Iron Cobra
The Iron Cobra line features a selection of Tama's top-of-the-line pedals and hi-hat stands.
  • Bass drum pedals:
    • Power Glide - Features an offset cam for increased power and speed
    • Rolling Glide - Features a rounded cam for uniform response
    • Flexi Glide - Features a traditional strap (made of Kevlar) drive cam
  • Hi-hat stands:
    • Lever-Glide Hi-hat stand - Features a lever pull system
    • Velo-Glide Hi-hat stand - Features a traditional pull-action chain
  • Other:
    • Cobra Clutch - Attaches to the side of a hi-hat stand to allow the cymbals to be closed or open; a foot-controlled version of the drop-clutch

Other

  • Rhythm Watch - Metronome and practice tool.
    • RW100
    • RW105
  • Tension Watch - Drum head tuning tool.
    • TW100

Notable Artists

Past endorsers

References

  1. ^ Hoshino Gakki Mfg. Co., Ltd. profile
  2. ^ Guangzhou Hoshino Gakki Mfg. Co., Ltd. profile

"Tama's commitment to brand integrity" Music Trades magazine, Nov. 2007 [1]

"The Tama Drum Guide", blurb published, 2010.

  1. ^ http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/print/171538854.html

See also

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