Fer shur! And how about those bass drums that have been painted black on the inside? Super cool?!

Actually, something that bothers me just as much, that is not decade-specific, is the phenomenon of "tom rash." I can understand accidentally pushing the snare hoop against the tom shell once or twice at gigs...but why do so many toms look like they've been continually rubbed against the snare?! Weren't these drummers paying attention?!

I've also recently noticed - on ebay and reverb - "bass drum rash" where the bottom hoop of the tom banged against the wrap of the bass drum. Surely, a drummer who is paying attention would notice this?!

I would be embarrassed if my carelessness damaged a kit. But maybe, if I had been born rich instead of good-looking, I wouldn't care if I damaged my drum kit. :-)

Regards, mb

The things you talk about are, indeed, offenses against great older drums. Now, here's the crime of all crimes... Pearl-type plumbing pipes installed on the vintage bass drums and toms. We can't hold Pearl solely at fault because Pearl once again copied Rogers. The Memriloc hardware was, in my opinion, an insult to drum sets that were perfectly fine with Swivomatic (that Pearl also copied). Pearl must have figured that they should one-up Rogers by making their plumbing pipes much heavier than the aluminum Rogers parts.

The Pearl mounts are definitely the worst thing. Removing and losing the bottom rims and rods is easy enough to rectify with replacement parts. Repairing the often very poorly cut holes for the Pearl mounts is quite a task to do properly and forever devalues the drum.

You are preaching to the choir here.

The worst thing that happened to vintage drums? How about parts strippers whose only motive is to maximize profit!! In my mind, that's the worst thing to happen to our beloved vintage drums!

-Mark

I'm with you, Mark.

There is also a a few reverse-engineered vintage drum marketers that sell drums they sometimes refer to as "Custom", which is a modern shell that is fitted with period parts and badge.

The trouble is, after the initial sale, the next buyer will likely not know their drum isn't original.

The worst thing(s) to happen to vintage drums, happened before they became vintage drums. And yes, in the 1970's, the music scene of the time, took on an entirely new persona from what it had been in the 50's and 60's. For one thing, music got LOUD! In the 70's, sound reinforcement systems became part of the show. One reason for this is that outdoor concerts started happening....outdoor rock music festivals....huge crowds that could no longer be contained within a dance hall or auditorium. The requirements of ALL kinds of instruments changed. As rock drummers began to physically assault their drum kits for the sake of the show, drum kits started to suffer the collateral damage. About the only thing that drum manufacturers could do to answer the needs of those drummers, was to sacrifice the subtle resonant qualities of the acoustic drum sound, in favor of stability and ease of set up and tear down.

Love them or hate them, Rogers MemriLoc answered the call (arguably) better than any other product of its time. Yes, the natural acoustic qualities were severely injured, but, since everything was being mic'ed (bottom heads taken off and mics shoved up inside the shell) and processed, anyway, the sounds could be "fixed" on the mixing board. The bigger problem was feedback...but I digress.

The worst thing...? I don't know...plastic lugs? Evans hydraulic heads? :)

Maybe my biggest pet peeve of drum sins took place when a Japanese drum company repurposed a wonderfully descriptive term for drum covering that had been in use for several decades. For all of those many years, the acetate/plastic decorative drum wrap had been referred to as "pearl" covering. There are now a couple of generations of drummers who think that, when we say that we play White Marine Pearl drums, they automatically think that we play that brand of Asian-made drums with the plumbing pipe tom hardware.

It's astonishing to me - a few years ago I let another drummer use my Signia and they adjusted the rack tom so that it rested on top of the bass - I didn't notice until I went to pick up the kit. Their reaction was compete oblivion, as though that was just what happened.