The Tama Fibre Star kits contain fibreglass/wood composite shells. Tama began the line in 1977. It appears that Larry might have bought his in 1980; perhaps with his first record company advance?

 

The black Fibre Star kit was used as a six piece: bass, snare, (2) rack toms, (2) floor toms during the BOY tour in 1980. By 1981 Larry had removed the rack tom to his left, making it a more standard -- almost John Bonham-esque -- five piece kit.

 

One of the characteristics of the Fibre Star shells is their punctuation and projection. And the single headed toms seem to have contributed to the 'tribal-like' sound of some of Larry's earlier work.

 

To the best of my knowledge, this kit was used for the BOY album and throught the OCTOBER album and tour. They may have been used for the 1983 WAR album recordings but were replaced by the Yamaha kit by the time of the WAR tour.

 

 

After the red Premier Olympic kit that Larry started with, he went for the much more subdued black finish for the Tama kit and later the Yamaha kit. The black finish was a mainstay from the Tama kit of 1980 thru his Yamaha Maple Custom kit, used for the 1992-1993 Zoo TV/Zooropa tours.