Your snare has a broken head, and is missing a piece of the throw off. I`d love to see the rest of the kit. This is not the kind of kit you can part out, you can sell off the snare and then the kit as is but no-one is gonna buy a 28 or 30 inch bass or tacked toms individually because no-one really has these kind of kits anymore. You MAY get lucky some day and be able to part them out over many years !i

You aint get`n a down payment for a house with them, the snare as is will fetch $900 to $1,100 with about $300 of restoration you can get $1,400 $1,500 after waiting. It may bid up but not likely today !i

The rest of the kit will fetch what people wanna pay because there is some kind of market (small) to compare it to. If your kit was undamaged and a ..."Survivor".... totally in working order and painted heads snare included, you`re looking $3,000 to $5,000 in todays market.

This is all my opinion gathered from info here and on the market. Don`t quote me on it, just get a ball park out of it !i

The guy to listen to was your first reply to your post, he knows !i

First house, huh? Okay...

Well, first houses are kind of a big deal, especially if you are young (ish). Although I agree with almost everything that's been said, strapped is strapped. However being strapped is normally a temporary condition, especially around house buying time.

First, are you a drummer? If you are, and you're into vintage drums, you'll eventually have sellers remorse. If you're not a drummer, or you're not into vintage drums, sell 'em.

While I've seen drum sets used as a decorative item, it's not common. Kind of unheard of for married guys... Drums, kept by non drummers normally end up living their life out in storage units or closets. This isn't exactly where old drums need to be. Frankly, family heirloom drums are kind of a pain. If you had your great grandfathers 1922 Buick, it might live in the garage for years, but eventually you could restore it and go for a drive. Not so with old drums. Yep, you could spend a ton of time cleaning, repairing and chasing odd parts, but if you're not a drummer, what the heck do you do with them after?

My advice is; if you don't play, or, you do play, but think anyone playing a kit more than a few years old is nuts... sell 'em.

What Jeff said about price is correct. Whatever you decide to do, get the drums out of storage, DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY REPAIRS, heck, don't even clean 'em. Take a ton of good, detailed pictures and the good folks on this site will be able to tell you more than you EVER wanted to know about your drums.

Okay, off my Soap Box

I agree with fish, if you`re not a drummer, sell them !i Put them where they belong !i

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to everyone on here; the rest of the kit was in storage at a different location and it took me a while to find the time to get up there. There were a lot of little, odd pieces of hardware that i don't know anything about. There is a set of hats, i believe, and a couple china-looking crashes, but no stands, except for the snare stand.

and here are a few more...

I doubt Buddy Rich would have loved this drum. He seemed to prefer simpler snare mechanisms and not a complicated Super strainer. His signature Radio King snare drum in the 30's and 40's was one with no snare extension brackets and a simple three point strainer. Plus, I think he would have had some colorful comments concerning the finish on this drum. :-)

Does anyone have any info on these cymbals? I can't see any markings on them and they almost look handmade.

^ This.Like Oddball said,those drums and cymbals are worth a few bucks .but nothing near a down payment on a house.Anybody that tells you that they are, is just smoking in the shower.

Old drums sometimes are worth lots of cash,but they are special and rare.That set,and the Super Ludwig snare,are not in that catagory.

The first forum member to post on this thread is a published expert on vintage drums,especially vintage snare drums..If that drum were worth a lot of money,he'd be the first one to tell you.

Best of luck with the drums,and the house.

Steve B