I'm 57 and have chosen the other route, I'm not a fan of the vintage sound, I simply don't like that sound. I play Yamahas and DW drumsets and almost exclusively modern-day snare drums (wood and metal)...I collect vintage snare drums and own a lot of them...I enjoy the collecting aspect as it preserves the heritage of the great American drum builders of yesteryear....all my snare drums are set up as they would have been 70-100 yrs. ago, i.e. all original parts, calf heads and silk-wound/gut/Snappi wires.

Mike Curotto

Mike,

You are obviously a well-known collector. When did you start your collection and what piqued your interest in restoring vintage gear?

I agree for the most part about snare drums not sounding as good as todays offerings,but those toms and kicks from the late 50,s -the late 60,s imo cant be compared to todays stuff.Having said that,i do use new heads on my old drums,so i ...DOH ......................I made my shells to the same specs as the old RK,S,exactly.When i compared my drum to the original i thought mine was much nicer,but when i put the RK hardware on my shell,my drum sounded more like the original,so perhaps with snare drums like Mike says,if you want to play an old snare drum put some new wires and heads on it??...I dont knowHurting

Mike - It was a pleasure meeting you at the Chicago drum show! Thanks for being so cool and taking time to talk to me, my brother and my father. You seemed like a humble, kick-ass guy. The Blue Strata set should show up on our doorstep within the next few days. I can't wait!

Isaac

I've been playing for 48 yrs. so I've always been around all types of snare drums...I got started collecting in March of 1995, I had been reading about vintage drums and always liked antiques. My first trade was with Sam Adato in SF, I got a 1930s WFL WMP twin strainer and the bug bit then...the rest is history....

Mike Curotto

Isaac,

Who do you tour/record with? I'd love to hear the end product of vintage drums through modern recording technique. I so rarely get to know exactly what instruments have been used to make tracks.

Hi Isaac,

It was equallly nice to meet you, your brother and dad...enjoy all those very cool drums and use them in good health...fun stuff!

Mike Curotto

I like them all!

Except the stupid ones... :)

New Yammies and some DW I've heard, as well as the really small very good custom builders (Ayotte, Brady, etc) are excellent, but my old drums have a cooler 'vibe' IMO.

I have no need for little trends like half a dozen 4" vent holes or 20 ply shells and 26" deep bassdrums with silly stripes and offset lugs. But those are mainly for looks anyway. Except the massive vents and uber-ply snares. Those are for people who apparantly want to kill any tone their drums have...

I guess my tastes lean more to the classics (and Super Classics. ;) )

And I'm all of 24.

i'm 24 years old. i've been playing drums all my life. i own a pearl masters custom maple blah blah blah. the other day while i was practicing with my band (rock/metal/who knows?) i broke a head on my $500 pearl snare drum. instead of putting a new head on, i took out my dad's '63 Rogers... I WILL MAY NEVER GO BACK (in fact my newer pearl snare has been sitting next to my set, still with its broken head for the past 2 months.) My Rogers has the utmost sweetest sound ever.

Is your dads drum wood or metal??...just curious.