addicting? Absolutely. The addiction began to grow when drums flew out of my house after simply buying, cleaning, reheading and selling for about $400

more. That was 12 years ago. My first year of playing with my passion I made enough money that I got scared and got a tax number and started claiming and paying taxes on what I was selling. I did that because of the job I had and just didn't need any potential aggravation.

The addiction took over and before I knew it I had a 2 car garage and the entire downstairs of my pretty big house full of drums, cymbals, hardware

and so on. Then it seemed the average drum set was being sold by everybody and Musician's Friend was bulk mailed into everybody's house.

But slowly these "vintage" drums started coming through the door on trades and so on and I realized that you don't sell vintage drums through mail order catalogs...so I started leaning that way. I've ended up with lots of vintage drums and not a whole lot of knowledge about them. So here I am.

Mostly for the knowledge. I don't see a whole lot of sales coming through here. It's hard to trade a horse with a horse trader. For someone with a few sets and an interest in checking others out, sure, this site is great for swapping this for that, but for someone with a garage and half a house full of complete drum sets, this site needs to be suplimented for sure with ebay, craigslist, local sales and word of mouth. But the wealth of knowledge available here is just about priceless.

[QUOTE=OldSchoolDrummer101;197778]Are we all here for history, or here to learn how much history is worth?

[COLOR="Red"]Both. Most are here to read about the vintage tubs. The ones who want to know how much history is worth usually have less than ten total posts then poof....gone.[/COLOR]

Are we all here because this is a hobby, or is this a business?

[COLOR="Red"]Both again. Most of this site is probably late 40's and up and dig the vintage drums. With any group like this, there are the support, peripheral factions that will be more than happy to supply these hobbyists with whatever they need, for a price of course.[/COLOR]

I am doing a speech for my Comm 220 course and I want to talk about the Vintage Drummer Culture.

[COLOR="Red"]That is cool![/COLOR]

From what I can gather we collectively

-Answer questions about vintage drums of all brands and models

-Buy and sell parts and whole drums

-dislike ebay, but will occasionally use it to buy and sell

-don't have respect for users (like leecountymusic, ebayer) and if given the opportunity would hit them with a lead pipe.

-show off our restorations

But why do we do this, (see above questions)

For Money?

[COLOR="Red"]For some, yes. Some supplement their incomes with the buy low, sell high philosophy. Others, with probably more stable portfolios, are strictly hobbyists. There are people here who send stuff without remittance, on a whim, and others who will count the packing peanuts to make sure they didn't get stiffed out of 3 cents on shipping. It is the full spectrum.[/COLOR]

For History? [COLOR="Red"]Sure. I believe the original intention of the forum was to help answer questions from the main site and to document the history of the drums. I believe that the older guys genuinely enjoy passing along the life lessons learned from behind the kit while the younger guys, myself included, don't mind reading their yarns. [/COLOR]

For Fun? [COLOR="red"]Absolutely. We all have to have a hobby or habit and shining lugs is as good of one as wood carving or painting Bob Ross happy little trees.[/COLOR]

What drives us to spend hours on craigslist, ebay and the for sale section? Are we here to pay bills?

[COLOR="Red"]Again, yes and no. Some are here to make a profit off of the vintage drum hobby. Period. That doesn't mean that they aren't hobbyists themselves, they are just less likely to embrace the "brotherhood" of a forum like this and feel like they lost out if they didn't glean a profit off of "hooking" up a fellow member.

[/COLOR]Is it addicting? [COLOR="Red"]Yes. I came here to learn about my old man's kit I got when he went to the Happy hunting ground and am slowly amassing a few drums. I can't even play that good and never had a lesson or anything, but I do play daily when I am home.[/COLOR]

Is it greed? [COLOR="red"]Of course for some. This is no different than any other group of many people. There will be greed in all groups.[/COLOR]

Is it our human nature to know and want to know what we don't? [COLOR="Red"]Not sure about that one. I do like to be able to identify more and more vintage drums and stuff though, it is somewhat of a justification for all the hours spent reading this site.

[/COLOR]Would we still enjoy this if instead of a radioking costing hundreds or thousands it was less then $100 bucks? [COLOR="Red"]I don't know about everyone, but the fact that MIJ kits get some serious play on here says that it isn't all about the value of the kits. There are just as many complimentary postings about someone's "new" 150 dollar MIJ kit as someone's "new" Ringo kit. This would probably affect the pure collectors much more than the guys who still gig and play their stuff regularly.[/COLOR]

I enjoy the history of collecting. I love seeing this drum and knowing that it was here years before me and it may be here years after me. I will admit that I do look up the prices and see how much they are worth. I think that's more of wanting to get a great deal or seeing if I got ripped off. I've really enjoyed getting into the restoration portion of drums. I think it's like people with cars, they find an old junker and they spend time to get it looking brand new. I wouldn't care if the drums cost $10 if they were a piece of history (I think my wife would care because I could buy so many more drums). I haven't sold a single drum I've ever bought but I have sold a few stands. I think maybe I could make a little money buying, restoring, and reselling drums but then that's one drum I wouldn't have the chance to play or enjoy.

I also think that when an old drum is restored completely and when that first drum stroke hits the head it's the past coming out. That drum may have laid silent in a closet or attic after it spoke to someone or crowds of people and now it has a voice again.

I am in it for all the questions you asked! I've played my entire life.I come from a very musical family, played guitar and bass guitar, then on drums in 1965 as about 100 million other kids did, THE BEATLES!!! I love the history of old instruments and their lives and mojo are huge to me.They are a living breathing history class if you know how to read them or listen to them!!

I am a vintage drummer. I play drums that were around when I was drumming back in the day. I've flirted with "new" drums ... enjoyed a few, hated most. There's nothing unusual about continuing to use something that works the best.

I am here because I initially had some questions about a particular drummer and his shell build. I've since latched onto like-minded good-hearted individuals.

The VDF is different from most other drum forums in that we don't attract a lot of the cretins that lurk just below the surface. We have a few nasties, but they are few. Most of the members here are here because they honestly love the hobby. That isn't to infer that we don't play professionally. Quite a few of us do. The hobby is the goofy drums themselves and their history. You either get it or get frustrated at our close scrutiny of the minutia. Some of the joy is in the details. I love the history. There are great discoveries, mad genuises, family fights, heads of companies duking it out, incredible inventors, and some of the most amazing talent displayed ... ever. The history is colorful, too say the least. The VDF is the nucleus of that history today. It is the vault, so to speak. And I believe that is part of the reason we get so bent on here when a cretin does surface. It is such an amazing and unique place to share that love of history.

These are a few of the reasons why I continue my relationship here. We all have our reasons.

Very well said, sir!

Mind BlowiMind BlowiMind Blowi

Holy cow you guys rock! May I use some quotes from your responses as primary sources?

Thanks

-Kev

I'm here in a quest to absorb knowledge. Much as a sponge absorbs water, 'cept I never could find any water until I discovered this place.

I was very interested in drums as a kid. In 1965 (I was 15), my Dad bought me a used WFL kit. I still use it to this day, and it is the only kit I own.

I always thought them to be great drums, but really could not find out much about them over the years.

This site supplied all the information I was unable to access over the 48 odd years I've owned them.

I now know that they are 1948-1952 WFL Super Classics, and are indeed somewhat special.

Learned how to refurbish and care for them properly, and gave me the knowledge, tips, and confidence, to disassemble, clean and bring them back up to snuff. Right down to the Speed King pedal I bought in 1965.

Cymbals too! I learned Brasso and Noxon are NOT my friends, Bar Keepers Friend IS. (Not to stir up the usual controversy...lol)

In the process of learning about my own drums, I learned tons about other drums as well.

My thanks go to all those on this site who so generously provide the history, technical facts, tips, and recommendations, that filled so many blanks!

Still soaking it all in.

Interesting approach for your presentation, and it looks like you've gotten great responses, but one aspect you may want to address or at least touch upon is:

Are vintage drum enthusiasts really different from vintage car restorers, vintage furniture restorers, vintage toy collectors, ect.? What differences are there? I can tell you that vintage car restorers are equally upset by the practice of stripping and parting out perfectly working, restored cars just as we despise this practice with drums.

Good luck with your project.