I responded to ad add that read old antique drum kit $400

So I called and said sure...however, they were a 5hr round trip aways..

The seller was traveling right by my area the next day...so we meet..

I checked the drums...They were a set of Wmp WFLs from 1959.. With snare..

The Cherry on top was ...when I was leaving, she said...Oh, & here's the cymbals..

A complete set of 40s Turk "K"s....hats,ride,crash...boom boom bang.

After I decided that the drum hobby was going to last, I started to search for a set of vintage American-made drums on Craig's List, because coming from the guitar world, vintage American-made drums are a freakin' steal. A 1974 Stratocaster would probably cost 5X a 1974 Vistalite kit.

I was pretty broke at the time, so the browsing was just to see what I would have to shell out (pun intended) when I had enough to spend on another drum kit.

Then I saw an ad for a Slingerland 4 piece shell set in Berkeley for $300. Holy whatever, suddenly I could afford that, even if it meant borrowing money to be able to eat the rest of the month.

I went up to the guy's place, and sure, the metal on the kit was kind of pitted, as the set had been stored in a carport in Ocean Beach for a couple of years, but the blue agate wrap was in good shape. No bottom hoops, for that ever-popular "concert toms with rerings" sound.

He pointed to the chrome snare and said "just the steel snare that came with it, but it sounds pretty good" and I thought "cool, I don't care so much for steel snares, but it's fun to have the original that came with the kit." Then he mentioned that his parents still had an extra tom tom in their garage in San Diego...which is where my mother lived at the time.

"Oh, and the thing that holds the toms up on the drum might be there, too." Yes yes yes.

So I offered him $300 for everything including the missing tom, which he would deliver to my mother's place in SD, and he accepted!

Got the snare home, and noticed that unlike the steel Slingerland Festival snare I already owned, it had three lines around the center of the shell....(you now know where this is going)....let's go get a magnet....yep, Gene Krupa Super Sound King. I literally started shivering.

One of those deals where you buy a kit and one single snare or cymbal turns out to be worth almost the price of the rest of the kit. You know, I paid a little much for the snare, but they threw in a complete New Rock 50N with it.

P.S. The bass drum was stuffed full with an entire set of high thread count cotton sheets.

Cool stories guys!

I was (still am) happy with just finding out what I thought was a cheap snare actually sounds pretty good but you all struck gold of some kind!

Keep em coming......

A few years back I went to check out a craigslist ad for "some cymbals". Turned out to be Zildjian A trans stamps (1940s-50s) and one Zildjian A "first" stamp (1930s-40s) for $520. Maybe not a steal, but a bargain.

trans stamp 22" 2154grams ($250)

trans stamp 20" china 1224 grams ($150)

trans stamp 16" thin ($75)

first stamp 14" thin ($25)

And an old fiber case thrown in for $20

On another occasion I went to pick up a punching bag and saw the guy was a scrapper. In his trailer was a paper thin 15" trans Zildjian. Got it for $3. Scrap bronze price!

Was browsing Craigslist a couple of years ago. Saw a entry level kit listed for a decent price. After studying the one pic, I spotted clips on the hoop of the snare drum. Inquired and it was an early 20's Ludwig 5x14 8 lug brass heavy shell model. Was honest with the seller as far as what he had. Ended up buying the snare for the listed price of everything and let him keep the rest, which he then sold. A win win for both of us.

Here's my story:

I responded to a Craigslist ad that said "Everything in the picture: $75". The pictures were not clear at all. Looked like a teenagers bedroom. I was able to make out a 3 piece blue drum kit with the generic 80's Pearl Style Lugs, a set of rototoms and a Ludwig 1123-1 "Spur-Lock" Hi-Hat stand. I couldn't make out anything else in the photos. I figured those items alone would be worth it, though.

The 17 year old kid met me at a mall parking lot. The drums turned out to be CB-700 70's Era vertical grain Luan with the Swivo-Copy mounts, 12/16/20. Not great, but a well made kit in good shape, with no missing or broken parts, all original. The rototoms were original Remo "Bee Line" complete with the original stand 6/8/10. The Ludwig Hi-Hat stand was complete with original clutch. It also included some random single braced stands that were in good shape, and a professional line Mapex chain drive double pedal, that could be broken off into two single pedals. All of that would have been more than worth it, but the real gem was the snare, which honestly looked like a generic chrome snare from the grainy photographs. It was the last thing the kid handed to me, and it was so heavy that I almost dropped it! It ended up being a 70's Gretsch Stop Sign Badge COB 5.5" x 14" with the "Fish Tail" strainer and die cast hoops!

I kept all the stands, used the CB 700 kit for about a year at my practice space before selling it, and sold off the pedals, rototoms and snare. I got a great return on my $75 investment! Cool story note: The guy I ended up selling the snare to on ebay was Frankie Banali, the drummer for Quiet Riot!

As an aside, the kid gave me the absolute best reason I've heard yet about why he was selling off drum gear. He voluntarily said to me: "Yeah, I have to stop playing the drums because I keep getting the cops called on me!"

1994 I tracked down a kit that had may have not sold at a 4 family Garage sale that a coworker had seen,all he could remember was Rogers and when I asked he thought the badge was script.I knew that Rogers had made some vertical grain luan shells at some point because I had seen a kit before at an open mic,later I found out those were early Brooks Mays.

Called the number and they told me it was another family but gave me their number,seller was out of town but the wife sounded motivated and said I could come over saturday at 12.Said he wanted 250.00 for them.At the time I had about 300.00

to my name.

I got there and there was 4 drums in old cases sitting on the garage floor,along with a pile of hardware,among it was a supreme hi hat,and old Luddy flat base stand and a Tama King Beat bd pedal.He took one of the toms out of a case and it was a wmp script

12" beavertail lug cleveland tom,the rest was a cleveland 20,flat grey dayton 14 ft and a Big R dyna complete except for wires.At the time I knew very little about vintage drums except that rogers 60;s era drums were desirable,I agreed to the asking price and told him I would go to an and be right back .I thought they were worth at least twice that.In the interim we got to chatting about drums,he still was active and had a nice Luddy kit he used in a variety band,but he was actually starting to book bands on the side more.

When I got back he said here I found these,and he threw in a and older set of new beats,and two sky blue pearl Luddy B/O badge 8 and 10 inch concert toms with a Luddy stand.

I ended up selling the Luddy toms and stand for 150.00 the king Beat for 35.00 and some of the other hardware for 75.00 so basically got the 4 piece for free.

To this day,the best deal and extra I have ever had.

I bought a late 50s George Way kit and had to shell out. It was, for the most part, a "time capsule" kit, although the descriptions of the component parts were a bit scant. I took a chance, and received the shells, the original Rogers hardware (including a single tom mount arm and cymbal L-arm). The drums had been kept in cases, so the hardware and shells were pretty clean, although it appeared the previous 2nd owner may have made a few modifications. I was after the kit, but I had to consider the price of everything else in the purchase. Here are some highlights of what was delivered to me in addition to the kit. Keep in mind that there was a trap case included that had all the odds an ends you would expect from a kit of that era:

Cymbals (all in excellent condition):

- 22in 50s Block Stamp ride, approx 2600g

- 18in pre-serial Paiste (approx 1600g)

- 18in trans-stamp sizzle ride (6 rivets), thin (approx 1350g)

- pair of 50s 15in hi-hat cymbals, approx 1000g each

Plus (in a vintage rolling trap case):

- 2 x flat-based cymbal stands (with cymbal snaps; L-arm also had cymbal snap)

- "Squeak" King Ludwig pedal

- About 5 drum keys (A GW, but also Premier, etc)

- Vintage sticks, a wood block, brushes, mallets

- etc.

I love all of the pieces related to this kit, but I have to figure that the cymbals would be $750 on the cheap side, and maybe $1000 on the high side. Figuring this, along with the other hardware items, make this seem a reasonable deal.

By the way, the 22in block stamp is a nice ride, as is the 602 pre-serial. Saying this, I have made the 15in hi-hats part of my main kit, and the trans-stamp sizzle is used mostly as a quick crash when playing jazz. It is a great cymbal.

I bought a vintage 3pc Dixie kit with a couple of "cymbals", bass pedal and hi hat stand for $25. The key in the attached pouch turned out to be a pristine Premier slotted key.

I sold the key for more than what I paid for the kit.

Bought a set of Club Dates & they arrived with a near-new set of zebra-striped queen-size sheets stuffed in the bass drum. I've still got the kit & the sheets...........marko