Hey Kenwood - I see your Red Silk Pearl 60s Olympic kit. I once saw one of those on CL for only $225. 4 piece - had the matching snare and everything. THAT is 'The One That Got Away' for me. I was very broke at the time and in hindsight - should have borrowed the money.

Hellooooo John

Thanks ..yes I like that little red silk pearl Olympic kit

it came my way via a local craig's listing as a three piece (no floor tom)

Later I did have a chance to pick up a decent floor tom

but finances and timing were both working against me

I also have the very same vintage Olympic bass drum and mounted tom in the green silk pearl

They were molested with modern pearl spurs and tama-like tom mounting hardware I took all that non original stuff off and in spite of the extra holes am more fond of them than the completely original red silk pearl and am always looking for those two missing drums ..as I like the green so very much

I gave 120.00 for the three red drums and 40.00 for the two green

The bargain of the week for me, came last night

I had to fill in on a courier route for one of my co-workers

That route took me all through Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth and Bristol Rhode Island

I put a Craigs list search in for those towns

and found these Ludwig accent cs drums in the Newport Middletown area for 100.00

They seem to be only a few years old at the most

They came with all the original hardware and a couple Planet Z starter pies

along with the complete 5 piece kit there was also a second 6 lug Pearl steel snare drum

It is my guess these drums were purchased brand spanking new,

played for a very short time, and then banished to a damp garage,shed, or basement

completely neglected until finding there way to Craig's list

My seller does residential clean outs and he acquired this kit for free

along with the rest of the contents of the above mentioned garage or basement

as a result of all that neglect

the stands were all pretty rusty I worked on them (the hardware) last night

and made them somewhat more presentable although they will never look like new again

The powder coated hardware on the drums (hoops and lugs) have moderate oxidation also but overall the drums themselves should clean up fairly well ( I may touch up some spots here and there with some black rustoleum and an artist'a brush

Had they been a little cleaner I would have been more than fine with the hundred dollar bill

as they were, my seller and I settled very agreeably at $60.00 total

My gripe is that people are asking WAY too much for MIJ sets. They arent worth it, period.

Why would someone pay $450 for a MIJ set when they could get a Slingy for the same or less...a Quality made American set?

I agree Retrosonic ..$450 is a lot of money for the majority of mij drum kits

Maybe for something really mint and complete wrapped in a rare color

one could accept that they are becoming more collectable

with many more sellers being aware of this and setting prices as high as the collectable market might bring

I love finding one of these kits for a fifty dollar bill and I do still see them although more often then not they may be out of reach in terms of their location

Usually the guy unloading some old stencil kit on his local Craig's list

for maybe fifty bucks or so

is not the guy most willing to ship them

I know, as I ask the question each time I find some far away mij kit I would like to have

Most of the time it turns into a big disapointment

You find the drums, they are in nice shape, in a cool color,

you are totally fine with the asking price

Now if only, you could get them here, from way the heck over there. GRRRRR!!!

BARGAINS!!!!???

60's Sonor drops are still sellin for far less than they are worth.

Slingies and premiers also.

The older MIJ kits are indeed being snatched up by collectors / players. Just read this forum for proof. If I find one for a decent price, I still grab it, however, now I look for other stuff.

As an example...

IMHO, 70's and 80's Pearl Exports and Tama Rockstars have seen the inside of more smokey bars than any other kit. Around here there are gobs of 'em. That and CB-700's from the 70's. Great older kits... maybe not 'quite' vintage, but close enough. The build quality of early CB-700's is impressive. The Rockstars and Exports as well. Are these Round Badge Gretsch drums? No way, but if you want to fix up kits for kids to resell and fund your addiction, there you go. They are LOADS better than the Chinese stuff. Also, if you want some kit to practice with, or just like funky old drums, those are the ones, hands down.

I agree with this 100%! Sellers not-in-the-know seem to feel that "old/vintage" = $$$. I'm seeing way too many late-60's early-70's MIJ kits that are priced hundreds more than they are worth...and the seller refuses to acknowledge this and lower prices. Just take a look at "sold" items on eBay to see what really sells.

While bargains are out there, they are becoming harder to find. Yes, blame the internet and out-of-touch sellers trying to cash in!

-Mark

I think it is a two way street on Craiglist and Ebay. I am by no means an avid seller, but I probably buy three to four kits per year and sell one each time I buy one. What I find is that people do not want to pay much at all for used drums. There are exceptions to this of course especially if it is a collectible snare drum (Black Beauty) or rare size kit (jazz sizes with 14x14 floor tom). I recently sold a mint 1979 Tama Superstar drum set for only $600. This kit had the original Tama heads on them and had little to no ware. Someone paid $1200 for this drum set back in 1979. I currently have a Mapex MyDentity kit with matching snare for sale for $299 and have not even had a phone call. Granted, a Mapex Mydentity kit is not collectible, but my god, someone paid $1000 for that kit new two years ago. The only time I get phone calls from serious buyers on Craiglist is when I sell a vintage Ludwig drumset. It is typically one of a handful of local "turn and burners" who low ball the price. Ebay is another story all together. I recently listed a matching four piece Ludwig drum set from 1971 in Black Diamond Pearl. The bass drum was 24x14 with a 18x16 floor tom. I had a guy offer me $1299 for it and I accepted. He never paid. When I tried to leave negative feedback I was informed that I could not leave negative feedback to a buyer. I'm like wtf. I then ran the listing again and had a guy put in an offer of $1000 but wanted free shipping. I passed and sold it locally for $975. That is a **** price for these drums. I also had an all matching Tama Imperialstar kit from 1982 in the rare "Gold Placer" wrap. I had it listed well under $300 on Craigslist and never got a phone call. I am convinced that few if any items sell on Craigslist or ebay. All you have to do is go to the completed listings and you see that less that 10% of the actual auctions end up selling on ebay. I think part of the problem with drums is that actual shipping costs. By the time you buy the packaging materials, boxes and pay for shipping, you are looking upwards of $200 plus. On the flip side, I am sick of seeing the five piece Pearl Export drum set with ZBT cymbals for $1200, or the Tama Rock star kit for $799 etc.

Although I'm speaking from the other side of the pond, my experience is almost the same as vyacheslav's.

In average I've bought 4 - 6 cheap vintage drumsets per year, restored and resold them.

This year, there were only two of them.

Ralf

Sometimes I can understand a MIJ kit priced at $250 or $300 if all the work is done and it's a cool wrap or has teardrop lugs or something similarly special...

I've only acquired a few kits so far, but the pattern seems to be, get a decent deal on a kit in need of TLC, then spend $200+ on missing lugs, rods, rims, strainers, bearing edges and don't forget the price to re-head the entire kit...

Sadly, I've got twice as much money into these kits than I can ever get back.

But if I can ever get myself to part with one, I will try asking $250 - $300 knowing I've done all the hard work in getting them back to their original glory.

$250 - $300 is not a bad price for a minted out MIJ kit. Spend that same amount on a modern, entry level Ludwig and you'll get crap in a wine red wrap. Yuck...