Here's my kit's story;
In 1998 my dad came home with a vintage ludwig vistalite drum kit he bought down the street at a garage sale for $25 for me. He had no idea what thier value was, but knew a drumset was worth more than $25. At the time I was playing a cheap CB kit and this was a monster upgrade. Joined a band shortly after and the kit got a lot of use and played out plenty. At some point I gravitated toward guitar and as life changed my drums were stored in my parents basement from 2005-2012. When I moved out of state I took the kit with me, with intention to get them back to "playing" status.
As you can see, I was missing a lug from the bass drum, a couple claws and T-rods, spurs, and most of my hardware was broken. athe kit needed some TLC. I started by purchasing a snare stand and replacing my missing ride. Then I began disassembling everything, polishing and cleaning.