I sent him a message, I'm driving out that way the end of the week, maybe I can swing by.

I picked up one of the earlier piece of crap verve kits locally for $75. It was that.. a piece of crap. Poorly made Basswood shells with cheap hardware. The bass pedal was pretty good but that was it. I was worth the $75 though

I didn't know they made anything decent. Hope it works out.

Looks like very white maple from the pics??...Be interesting to find out though.

Hey John,

I know what you are talking about with the Verve kits. They were sold exclusivley through The Woodwind and Brasswind in South Bend, IN (their own house brand). My dad (sax player) had been a loyal customer of theirs from Day 1, when the "storefront" was some guys house! I really liked going there as a young adult (we'd make the 2.5 hour trek from the Detroit/Toledo area), saving up my money, and having a great day with my Dad! Ironically enough, we would always go once a year on President's Day when I was off from school. Today is President's Day! Neat huh? They used to have the largest selection of Zildjian in the country, and would even let you try up to 3 Zildjians "on approval" through the mail before you had to pay for them (you paid a small deposit when they shipped). It was a great way to try out models you may not have heard before, or to pick the "cherry" from a batch of three identical cymbals. Sadly, those days are now long gone, and they have been sold a few years ago to the same parent company as Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, Music 123 etc. Now it's nothing but a glorified Guitar Center. No reason to go anymore. VERY SAD!!!!

ANYWAY, to get back on point, I always wanted one of those kits. Cool finishes and very well made........but I never pulled the trigger.

This however is [COLOR="Red"]NOT[/COLOR] one of those nicer kits. It looks like a wrap finish (hard to tell), the floor tom appears to have only 6 lugs (the nice ones had 8 lug floor toms if I remember-correct me if I am wrong) and look at the tom mounts: Pearl style that protrude into the shell. Those nice Verve kits had L-style mounts for sure. I can't remember if they had suspenion mounts or not (you would know), but they certainly had L-arms, not Pearl style arms. Also, it doesn't look a matching wood snare, but a chrome snare (again, hard to tell). It does appear to have wood hoops however. Weird. I don't want to rain on your parade, but from what I can see, it's probably not as good of a deal after all. Are you seeing something that I am not? I am going by memory and you own them, so I'll defer to you if you see something that I don't.

Thanks for bringing those up though.....................I hope you enjoy yours! Want to sell? Ha ha...................

vyacheslav, very cool story. Yeah, I tried to reach somebody about them when I bought it last summer. I got on the phone with some sales rep from the W and B that knew nothing more than that they quit making the kits and now are focused on marching perc.

I can not claim to know exactly what 'nice kit' that you speak of, but I can share about mine. They are at a friend's house being stored....but maybe I can post some pics later this week (too late right now need to go to bed!!!) Anyway, mine, which is indeed a very light maple, does have the Pearl style mounts with the piping (for lack of descriptive word) that go into the shell. No suspension mount on mine, but certainly will be installing them in due time. I do have the matching snare, and my BD hoops are stained the same as the shell. The shells are 9 ply and are quite thick. Can't remember how many lugs my snare or FT has. I will post some pics sometime this week. Mine appeared to be of very good quality.

This one in Fort Wayne - for $100, this surely would be a good deal, even if the snare is metal, 6 lugs here and there, etc. etc.

Goodnight.....

John

Still a good deal at $100. I paid $75 for mine with the cheapo Pearl mounts and 9-ply Basswood shells with re-rings. Yes, re-rings on Basswood! Mine was the burgundy wrap with trashy "child" cymbals for nothing better than bashing. I changed the heads and tuned it up nicely. Basswood shells can tune up quite well and are as warm as vintage Luan. Drummerjohn, when you say very light maple, it could be the same Basswood. Have a close look and post the pics of the shells

I donated the entire kit to our church youth group as it had no vintage or serious player value.

It was a poorly made (except for the bass pedal and throne) Chinese produced kit. The snare was of the "tin can" variety. Most of the plating was seriously pitted and flaking off the cheap pot petal. The kit was purchased new five years ago by the original owner.

The funny thing was that many people had called the seller. They too thought it was the better quality kit you mention. From your photo we can see it is not. The Pearl mounts, cheaper wrap.

Maybe these nice maple kits exist? I checked Verve's website and apparently they do, just not in my world. For now, the youth group is quite happy to bash this kit around. The kit in the photo is worth every $ they are asking but not a penny more. Buyer beware..

Just an FYI,

I also started a thread with this exact same post in the Non-American Drums Forum (though perhaps these were made in Indiana??). There are also replies there which made be of interest to you.

Thanks....pics maybe later tonight of mine.

John

Here are the promised pics.

These are mine, not the ones offered in Fort Wayne for which this thread was created.

IF YOU BUY THE KIT (in Fort Wayne), PLEASE LET US KNOW ON HERE SO WE CAN SATISFY OUR CURIOUSITIES!!

BTW, anybody know how to get those scratches out without a buffing wheel (pic 4)?

(continued below)

These toms are a bit deeper than I would like so I plan on having them trimmed down an inch each.

I have not yet done anything with these since I bought them last summer.......too many other projects and going to grad school....

The guy I bought these from had the very similar Gretsch Catalina Maple sitting there......obvious here why he bought those to replace these.

At the same time, Butt Ugly badge! I have not yet decided what to do about that. Tempted to rip it off of there, not because I am ashamed of the brand, it's just ugly!

In my line-up, this is my modern classy kit. Well, it will be when I am done with it. Sounds like garbage right now, but sure that it will sound great once I get good heads on it and take those blasted felts out of there (to each their own I suppose). BD will surely have good thump and it's nice that the floor is a 16. The snare may turn out to sound really good too???

Pretty good deal for $150 I suppose.

BTW, I used to have the very similar Premier XPK (birch/eucalyptus/birch) I bought that new in 1998, but sold it to a friend last summer....who in turn is selling it on CL (Ann Arbor - Ypsilanti actually) right now (hint hint wink wink!).

John