Sentimental value of gear!

[Santino]

I received my first kit a month before my 5th birthday. 4pc Stewart set in BDP. Worth a couple of hundred on the market. Worth a lot more to me. Still does the occasional jazz gig with me.

 

[kosmic]

I guess my Brady 12" x 7" Sheoak block snare as it's rare and no chance of finding or affording one again and a Bosphorus Turk flat ride that was gifted by a drummer buddy years ago ..... the rest has no emotional value at least

Cymbals are special and often unique. Your Brady Snare i could replace for you with a custom built in WA snare Block Sheoak for about $1k aud. .
Conundrum make superb snares, 0450533535

 

[pwc1141]

Cymbals are special and often unique. Your Brady Snare i could replace for you with a custom built in WA snare Block Sheoak for about $1k aud. .
Conundrum make superb snares, 0450533535

Thanks. I am happy with the Brady .....

 

[BeatMeToIt]

My early 2000’s Pearl Masters Custom in Ocean Blue Sparkle. My grandmother who helped me get into music bought me that before she passed. Never gigged with it only rehearsals and studio work done with it.
It just sits in the original factory boxes.
I’m not selling for obvious reasons, not being played because they are back home.

 

[kosmic]

Thanks. I am happy with the Brady .....

sorry, I miss understood, I thought you regretted the sale!! all good

 

[wflkurt]

I only have one piece of drum memorabilia that I covet. In 1964-65 I was a young drummer and parents bought me a used Ludwig Downbeat set in Champagne, of course. My family lived in Northern California and we flew back to Chicago for my Aunts funeral. While in Chicago, I called the Ludwig Drum Company and asked if the would show me how they made my drums.
They said YES! The next day we ( my mom and my brother joined me,) DROVE to the Plant.
I was 12 or 13 and felt like I just got the Golden Ticket to visit Willy Wonka.
The tour guide was Wm F. Ludwig Jr. and that was unbelievable. The amazing part came when he introduced us to Wm F. Ludwig Sr. and he showed me where they made drum sticks. That’s where he gave me a unfinished drum stick blank. I still have it. That’s it! My most memorable drum item.
After that he asked my mom if he could take me to another part of the plant. She said sure and Senior and I walked down a long hallway, he reached into his pocket for his keys and opened the door to a very dark room. He reached for the light switch, turned on the lights and
there, sitting on a drum riser, lit up, just like on stage, was RINGO’S Drumset. The bass drum head, with the BEATLES. I was in shock! Just an amazing day! Thank you for jogging my 71+ year old memory.

I only have one piece of drum memorabilia that I covet. In 1964-65 I was a young drummer and parents bought me a used Ludwig Downbeat set in Champagne, of course. My family lived in Northern California and we flew back to Chicago for my Aunts funeral. While in Chicago, I called the Ludwig Drum Company and asked if the would show me how they made my drums.
They said YES! The next day we ( my mom and my brother joined me,) DROVE to the Plant.
I was 12 or 13 and felt like I just got the Golden Ticket to visit Willy Wonka.
The tour guide was Wm F. Ludwig Jr. and that was unbelievable. The amazing part came when he introduced us to Wm F. Ludwig Sr. and he showed me where they made drum sticks. That’s where he gave me a unfinished drum stick blank. I still have it. That’s it! My most memorable drum item.
After that he asked my mom if he could take me to another part of the plant. She said sure and Senior and I walked down a long hallway, he reached into his pocket for his keys and opened the door to a very dark room. He reached for the light switch, turned on the lights and
there, sitting on a drum riser, lit up, just like on stage, was RINGO’S Drumset. The bass drum head, with the BEATLES. I was in shock! Just an amazing day! Thank you for jogging my 71+ year old memory.

This is beyond cool. There are so many questions I have about how stuff was done and I would love to hop in the old Delorean for a spin back to late 1967 for a trip to Damen Ave.

I tend to be a pretty sentimental guy when it comes to my stuff. I know I can't keep everything and they are just drums but I get attached especially if I gigged them a lot. Though I have always been and still am the biggest Ludwig fan, my first set was this Rosewood Red Gretsch that I got used in 1983 when I was 12. I started gigging it more and more within the last few years or so as I got inspired after seeing all the amazing Gretsch sets John DeChristopher has. I had forgotten just how great they sound and now I rotate them around every so often for gigs.

I still have my 1988 Simmons SDS-1000 that I bought brand new in 1988. I saw VH in 1986 and Alex was using a hybrid Simmons/acoustic set and the sound of his Simmons toms rattled my 15 year old teeth and sounded incredible at the Worcester Centrum. I had to have a set and worked my butt off to pay for them. They don't get used a lot but they were the first pieces of drum equipment I bought with my own money and they were not cheap in 1988.

This 1969 Super Classic in Mod Orange is special because after years and years of looking for a Mod Orange set, these were found around 2006. I was so excited to get them and I still get excited whenever I look at them. I have since completed my bucket list in piecing together the downbeat from the same year so that makes me very happy.

I could go on but lastly I will say this Champagne Sparkle Classic Maple set is special because I custom ordered it in January of 2012. I ended up getting the last canister throne that Ludwig ever made and have done hundreds of gigs with these. They have played everywhere as well as the studio and have been some of the best drums I have ever owned. They still look like the day I got them too and I have been very fortunate to have them. I'm sure they have paid themselves back many times over as I gigged them almost exclusively for close to 10 years. I got the vintage bug for gigging again and have been switching around my stuff more often. These drums logged a lot of miles with me and never once let me down. Those are the kind of things that makes me sentimental.

 

[FreddyBoomBoom81]

Has any piece of gear (drums, cymbals, hardware, etc.) developed sentimental value for you that you feel like you can never sell it or you regret that you sold it? If so, what was/is it?

Do you think it’s a silly thing and all that matters is in your hands and the music you make every time you sit behind any kit?

My first kit. My parents bought it for me 32yrs ago. I still have it and occasionally play it.

 

[TheElectricCompany]

I'm very sentimental. Most of my gear was given to me by my parents as a teenager and I've never gotten rid of a single piece, even if I don't like, need, or use it. The only thing I no longer have that was a gift from my parents is an Iron Cobra that was stolen.

 

[blueshadow]

Most of what I have left I consider keepers and have some sentimental value but the two things that are of most value to me are my 1982 Acro, first drum and my 20" K Crash Ride that Bongo Congo (Santa) gifted me about 10 years ago (has it really been that long?)

 

[little rock]

I need to read through all of this thread, it is interesting all of the stories. I think all the time that I will sell everything I have and keep one set and be done with it. I have 19 pieces of 3ply blue glass Slingerlands that I've been accumulating since the late 80s. Never meant to collect I just happened upon pieces and bought them. I think I am beginning to finally getting to the point where I can sell them. I did sell a 22" Sabian HH Manhattan ride about a year ago and after a few months bought it back. For no other reason than I regretted selling it. I had another one, but wanted that one back also. I don't know. Being sentimental is an odd thing.

 

[Jazzhead]

My 1966 Ludwig Club Date kit (in Sky Blue Pearl) was my Great Uncle's. He taught me to play on them when I was very young:
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After he wasn't able to play them anymore, I ended up inheriting them as I was entering junior high. They were my main kit throughout high school and college (here's them set up in Carnegie Music Hall for my college big band
View attachment 593831

I still have them, and recently did a pretty big restoration project (removing some poorly installed DW tom mounts I had installed, updating the push-button floor tom legs to Inde mounts, replacing the beaten-up original hoops, and an overall clean and polish). Also picked up a matching Pioneer snare. I use this kit for my French Cafe band these days.
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I love this!!! It’s great that you restored it, and it’s great that you didn’t sell it to find a cleaner one or a “better” drum set.
By the way, how is that vintage Pearl bass drum pedal work for you?

 

[bpaluzzi]

I love this!!! It’s great that you restored it, and it’s great that you didn’t sell it to find a cleaner one or a “better” drum set.
By the way, how is that vintage Pearl bass drum pedal work for you?

I _love_ that Pearl pedal. It's what I had on my high school's kit (a gorgeous mid 80s Pearl MLX that was way too good of a kit for the way we treated it), and just love the feeling of that huge round cam. It's noisy, it doesn't have a baseplate, and it's got jaws that chew the heck out a bass drum hoop, but it feels SO smooth

 

[Jazzhead]

Oh, I had a sentimental attachment to my first 60s Ludwig set, but when it came time to sell it off, I realized that the only original piece was the 12" tom. I had myself replaced all the other pieces at one time or another. I saved the original 12" tom for sentimental reasons, only to have some jerk steal it. Whatever, it wasn't that important. I still have a 10" on the shelf that wasn't part of the original set, but that I played for years. That's enough.

I do find that I become attached to some equipment, especially cymbals, but I'm not sure how sentimental that attachment is. Most of it is practical. I just get used to how something sounds and plays and don't want to go without it. At some point, practical attachment probably becomes a little sentimental too.

So you originally had a complete 60’s Ludwig set and you sold and replaced the pieces except the 12”?

 

[Jazzhead]

All of them. I've never sold a piece of gear. Still have my first Pearl kit from 50 years ago out in the garage.

Is that the Red Pearl kit we talked about at some point? I recall you were saying it’s not playable or something.

 

[Quai34]

My 90's mapex maple deluxe snare. It came with a mapex orion classic kit. I regret selling the kit but kept the snare. Not sure if it was made for an endorsed drummer or ? I've never seen one like it with interior ply's this nice. I know mapex doesn't get the respect like other drum makers but they sound as good and are built as well as most. The majority of my 14 snares are mapex. Won't part with this, my precious metals bronze or my deep forest cherry.

Wooohhaa, the color and the lugs are awesome, congrats!!!

 

[michaelocalypse]

My Mapex Meridian maple kit. Won it on another forum. I've added to it a bit, and almost had to sell it a couple times, but I've managed to hold on to it. Really means a lot that those guys did that for me.

 

[Drumbandit]

I've got a bit of a story about my Grandad's Hayman snare which I'll never get rid of.

My grandad started playing drums during WW2. While in occupied Europe someone asked if he played drums and for some unknown reason he lied and said yes.

That night he improvised his way through a gig for the other soldiers and he luckily survived the war. I've got no idea what he played that night but he continued drumming for the next 60 years playing jazz, blues and swing in the clubs across South Wales.

I inherited his drums and that's how the drumming / collecting started!

I used this snare for absolutely everything growing up but had to get a replacement through fear of losing it and that's how i ended up with the Bradys.

 

[Old Drummer]

So you originally had a complete 60’s Ludwig set and you sold and replaced the pieces except the 12”?

Yes, but the "sold and replaced" didn't happen at the same time, and I actually probably traded rather than sold as I went. First, I replaced the snare. Then, after adding a second bass drum (as was the fashion in those days) and later deciding to return to only one bass drum, I kept the newer one because it was in better condition and unloaded the older one. Sometime later, I decided to switch to a 16" floor tom from my 14", and either traded or sold the 14". Ergo, some 20 years later, the only original drum from my 60s set was a 12" tom. I wasn't thinking then of future value as collectible drums, just regarding my drums as tools, and my tool kit evolved.

 

[DavedrumsTX]

Absolutely!
I still have my 1964 Ludwig Super Classic kit in galaxy pearl,
my parents bought me new in 64. I was 14. I love it as much today as I did then. Added a few pieces to it
in the last 58 years.

That’s awesome

 

[Houndog]

This amazing snare built my dear friend Latzanimal