What was the best drum (shells, hardware, cymbals, etc.) deal you ever came across?

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aarono2690 said:
Once in a while you hear about people scoring amazing drum deals either due to the owner not knowing what they have, perhaps a business is going out of business sale and needs to liquidate inventory, etc. I'm curious what the best deal you have personally come across is. This can include hardware, shells, cymbals, etc. - anything drum related.

I can't say I personally found any amazing deals to write home about.
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CHKD thrift store find: late 1950s 3-pc pre-serial, Niles badge Slingerland kit in blue sparkle for...$25.00!! 8×12, 14x22, 14 snare, can't recall if it was 5 or 5.5" deep. I tore the tag off quickly and sprinted to the counter to check out!

2nd place, random local thrift store: late 60s Ludwig Acrolite in "UFO" case with stand and practice pad for....$35.00!!

In both cases, the house DEFINITELY lost! LoL
 
Deafmoon said:
Well best deal I ever heard of was my friend Chris found a set next to the trash cans of a home in upstate NY. He just beat the trash pickup that morning, to score a Dayton Era Rogers Red Onyx 20, 13, 16 all complete with no rust collets, Tom arm, cymbal arm and floor Tom legs, original 60’s Rogers heads still on the drums. And the onyx had no cracks in the wrap. It pays to go to work at 5:30am.
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I've heard of several stories over the years on the net and from local players finding "curbside garbage" drums. A buddy of mine found a clear Lud Vistalite kit on the curb. Missing some hardware but the shells were fine. Another local guy found a disassembled Ludwig Black Beauty in an alley at the base of the fire escapes behind an old apartment complex in downtown, Norfolk, VA. It was just sitting there, next to the trash.

I often wonder how many old drums and cymbals are stored away in attics and basements, waiting to be discovered. I likewise wonder how many knuckleheads toss these treasures out to be crushed in a garbage truck.
 
thejohnlec said:
A realtor friend found these in a client’s basement. There was a 1967 Supra with it. The client told him that he didn’t know who owned them and that they’d been in his basement for decades, and told my friend to “please just take them if you can use them.” He kept the snare and gave me the kit.

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Love the kit, and the fact that you brace the floor tom on top of the kick with wood! I do this with my cased kits in my garage; each kit sits on 2'x2' plywood bases with casters. This lets me roll the kits around easily.

I cringe when I see kits stacked up without bracing. I always wonder how much it stretches out all the heads, and how much pressure it being forced onto the kick drum lugs.
 
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I just left the Guitar Center on Niagara Falls Blvd near Buffalo. There is a beautiful '90s WoodFiberglass 8- piece set for only $670. Judging its condition... excellent, I thought that it was an incredible price. I don't need another set, yet I still had a fabulous episode of GAS. Now at four kids, I eventually concluded that I cannot buy it.
 
Drums:
A Lefima 14"x10" marching snare that was used as decoration in the window of a clothes shop - 10 euros. Very good condition - cleaned it up and sold it for 180,-. Still a good price, these things go for 600,- new.
A Pearl Compact Traveller bass drum with a 12"x5,5" Gretsch Catalina Club Maple snare for 50,-. Was a fun little kit but I eventually sold the bass drum for 70,-. Still have the snare. I quite like it.

Cymbals:
Paiste 602 pre-serial 18" Medium - 80,-. This beauty is not going anywhere.

And my favourite deal of them all:
A set of pre-split green label Istanbuls. Local ad was for 14" Heavy Hi Hats and 20" Medium Ride - 120,- for both!
Needless to say, I jumped on it. The owner knew what he had and just wanted to get rid of stuff. After paying he asked me if I wanted a matching, but cracked crash for free. He had a 16" that was trashed beyond hope and a 18" with multiple cracks along the lathing grooves that still seemed to have some life left. I took the 18" home and dang! Despite the cracks, it sounds great - very dry, short sustain, but a nice dark, warm tone. And suprisingly no unpleasant noise from the cracks. A killer set!

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Well.... maybe not in the super-incredible category, but some years ago, I bought a Ludwig Standard wood snare for a $100 and one (with it's psychedelic red swirl) which perfectly matched a '66 Slingerland bop kit that I just got. The snare, though not in great aesthetic shape and needing a $30 replacement strainer really seemed like a great bargain considering how much I enjoy that thing. It's kind of become the standard (no pun intended!) by which I judge all other snare drums.

The Slingerland Bop kit that it matches was a good, if not as quite as good a deal at the something like $6-700 that I paid for it (probably got both give or take 10 years ago). It came without a snare and was in somewhat beat up condition (at least aesthetically), sounded terrible with the old heads that came with it (so buying it was a bit of a gamble), but with new heads it sounds very, very good to me... and not that it matters all that much to me, but it seems that Slingerland bop kits are kind of rare...
 
Ok. Ill take this one as example of one of the many things that I got very very very lucky with (if I only was so lucky on other things lol)

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Found this locally just across the border.

It turned out to be Tony Williams own private used Craviotto 12 lug snare, that was lost with a 14” floor tom after his clinic tour back in the 90’s (he plays it on the Zildjian Day video).

Lets just say I made a few 0’s in profit and the new owner is very happy with this piece of history regardless if the red is to your taste or not.

I used the payment to fund part of the double bass DW kit I have now.
 
TheDrummerFromAmsterdam said:
Ok. Ill take this one as example of one of the many things that I got very very very lucky with (if I only was so lucky on other things lol)

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Found this locally just across the border.

It turned out to be Tony Williams own private used Craviotto 12 lug snare, that was lost with a 14” floor tom after his clinic tour back in the 90’s (he plays it on the Zildjian Day video)...
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Umm, if that's the exact drum that was lost by Tony back in the early '90s, didn't it technically still belong to his family when you came across it?
 
My old bass player drove a dozer at the landfill for years. He has given me and his brother in law (drummer) 1) An acolyte in a case. 2) Ludwig 32" bass drum 3) '57 Ludwig 36" bass drum. 4) trap case full of hardware, 5" supra, cymbals, etc

Wish he still worked there...
 
Probably best deal for me was a brand new 5x14 black beauty out the door for $400. Jeff Ryder had picked it up from the Ludwig booth first year they did Summer Namm here in Austin. I really wanted one with imperial lugs, this one was the "upgraded" brass on brass, brass tube lugs and diecast hoops. I was a former student of his and he sorta gave us better deals. I also told him it was my birthday present to myself....he asked "how much money do you have?" I said I had "Some" :) he again asked me how much I had which I think I had $500 cash...then he finally said "oh give me $400" I'm sure being a NAMM show special he still made a little but probably not much. He then showed me the new at the time Ludwig bags and either gave one to me or sold it really cheap. I have since swapped all the hardware on it to chrome imperials and triple flange hoops.
 
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Despite the $175 price tag, I got this pair from a pawn shop in 2014 for $45.
Yes, it’s the pawn shop I described in the old thread ‘Drums of a killer’.
 
Hi all,

New member here, just looking around and getting a feel for things.

Ye gawds, that that TW snare is pantwettingly dribbleworthy!

I got very lucky with a couple of Paistes and a Zildjian. Managed to find a Paiste Sound Creation Dark Crash and Bright Ride, both from 1979, for a pittance. Also a Zildjian 18" big bell flat top from (I think) 1970. The latter's seller had no idea what it was and couldn't wait to get rid of it.

The other would be a Sonor Signature HLD588 in my local drum shop almost 25yrs ago for 200 sovs. Couldn't believe it when I saw it and really upset the drum dept head who really wanted it for himself!
 
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aarono2690 said:
Once in a while you hear about people scoring amazing drum deals either due to the owner not knowing what they have, perhaps a business is going out of business sale and needs to liquidate inventory, etc. I'm curious what the best deal you have personally come across is. This can include hardware, shells, cymbals, etc. - anything drum related.

I can't say I personally found any amazing deals to write home about.
Click to expand...
aarono2690 said:
Once in a while you hear about people scoring amazing drum deals either due to the owner not knowing what they have, perhaps a business is going out of business sale and needs to liquidate inventory, etc. I'm curious what the best deal you have personally come across is. This can include hardware, shells, cymbals, etc. - anything drum related.

I can't say I personally found any amazing deals to write home about.
Click to expand...
I'm not great at finding deals, and have a tight budget, so happy that I found d a Remo 22" bass drum for $38. Very light cleaning and is like new. Now going to put together a Remo kit. Looking for toms on the cheap...
 
A few months ago I went to local brick and mortar non-chain music store for some mallets. They had a red sparkle lacquer DW Collectors 4 piece with snare for $1,500. I was a an hour late it was just sold and purchaser was in store paying for it. They said it had been in store for several months unsold so they had just lowered price to get rid of it.

My personal best find was a Canopus snare brand new $299 recently. Also a few years ago a Slingerland 4 piece 60's kit with snare silver sparkle wrap in excellent condition at pawn shop. Price tag was $700 I got it for something like $400.
 
Drum: a Yamaha 7000 tom for $90 (¥600)
Snare: a Trowa for $150 including shipping. You ask me what's a Trowa? It's a 3-ply teardrop Sonor made in East Germany. Less impressive (still good drum) but also even cheaper, a $30 (¥200) Jinbao acrylic snare.
Cymbal: a $60 (¥400) 18" Paiste 505 ride (weighted like a Medium). A $50 ¥350 16" Fangou (Wuhan) crash. And a ¥450 20" Haiping (Dream) pang with a free bag!
Hardware: Yamaha FP7210. Less than $30. Relegated to a backup to my trusty Speed King, though.
Sticks: Rohema hornbeams for $5 a pair. Raw finish, lightweight, clear definition but still so warm on my 602 I could use an air conditioner.
 
Best cymbal deal was about 25 years ago...22" Turkish K with rivets for $100.
Best drum set deal was about 6 years ago.... a three piece, pre-1965 Camco kit for $800. The ad was on Craigslist for less than 24 hours. The owner said he had received over twenty phone calls, but I was the first one there.
 
I got a Roland PD-140DS (the digital snare) off of Craigslist a couple years ago for $50. The seller had said it didn’t work but I figured for that price I could mess around with it, and worse case I’m out $50. Well, after taking it apart I noticed that the seller had replaced the cones, but not aligned them correctly. I moved them just a little bit, and there ya go…works perfectly. I’ve used it on my ekit ever since with no problems.
 
The Istanbul Agop 21" Mel Lewis signature riveted ride I just bought is listed on eBay at $480 plus $144 shipping to here (total $594) but I was able to get a new one from a local shop who had one in their warehouse at $315 including local shipping......I am happy with the cymbal and the price.
 
About 40 years ago I bought a Gretsch round badge set, 20 bass, 12 tom, 14 floor, 14 snare in blue sparkle for $80.
 
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