Drilling for that center post tom mount will kill any deal for me. Can be plugged, but would need a re-wrap.

The minute you do something that can`t bring it back to factory specs. Drilling be the #1.

When it comes to drilling, would you pass on a 50's Gretsch 3-ply 18" bass drum with holes for a center post mount? ;-)

So do extra holes mean a complete pass or does it mean priced accordingly?

-Tim

Some drums are so "perfect" and rare that to take them out to grimy dingy bars or sweaty hot concert stages would border on 'criminal'. These I would rank "museum quality" or "collector's pieces".

Drums which are vintage which show quite a bit of wear and tear, yet still play and sound good, are those which I rank as "player's drums". They don't necessarily have to have been altered or drilled, but if altered they are IMHO no longer suitable for the collector perfectionists among us. Some of these may still be "collectible"; even rare, but almost always have lost the greater part of their "vintage value" by virtue of having extra holes or non original parts. For me the best part of owning "player" drums is taking them out and gigging with them without having to be overly concerned that something unfortunate might happen to them.

+1 on that. there is a nervous quotient about some drums that get in the way of playing them and enjoying them. put em on a pedestal and send pictures .drums after all are a musical instrument and some battle scars are expected and in some cases , add character to them.

when it comes to alterations; I accept those only in the case of duress. drilled holes are usually put there by people that are challenged in more ways than one , usually evident by the quality of workmanship and ducttaping , that the drum victims have sustained=====kind of like bullet holes and bandages.

i like originality if possible and if a repair is attempted against great odds, in an attempt to clean up a mess; then whatever has been done, is close to new , to me.

if I can relate this to violins a little; because violins and drums are cousins, albeit, gated residence and trailer park cousins.

because of the nature of the construction of violins and their relative fragility, most violins over the course of their usefull lives(up to 450 years and counting) sustain cracks, usually in the belly( top) or back and sometimes the ribs. cracks in the belly and back , seriously damage the vibration of those key elements in the soundbox and render the value of the instrument , almost useless as a playing instrument.if those cracks are expertly repaired , they affect the value of the instrument very little. additionally, ALL violins, usefull for non baroque music, made prior to approx. 1800 have had serious alterations to the neck and neck bracing area of the instrument and are very different from their origins. this includes for example, all Stradivari . no existing Stradivari remains that has not been seriously altered from it's original construction and they all sound completely different today, than they did when first made, so qualified alterations of a musical instrument, need not be a death-knell to it's value. that said; if an unaltered genuine baroque Stradivari or Guernari or the like were to all of a sudden show up, it might well become the most valuable musical instrument in existence----especially if it had an original bridge,tailpiece, fingerboard and strings( not sure if that is possible).

Ok, let's look at extra/unoriginal holes in a drum shell. How much ($) would it affect the value? Remember, some music stores were actually responsible for installing accessories.

I just picked up a 50's 3-ply 22" Gretsch bass drum. The drum wrap is unscratched, shinny, tight to the shell, the bearing edges are in very good condition and it has the original hoops with original inlay. It was never drilled for a rail consolette, so someone installed a cheap aftermarket tom mount dead center in place of the diamond cymbal mount. How much of a $ mistake did this person make back in the 70's? Personally, I'm not concerned with the holes, but I am going to plug them, patch the wrap and install another diamond cymbal mount.

-Tim

A store installed Rogers mount on a RB Gretsch, Ludwig, or other American drum of the 60s, that is original to the drum, does not necessarily make it a "players" grade drum. Value may or may not be affected by such original, first user modifications. Value would not be affected at all, or even increased, depending on who the original user might have been.

Pulling the original factory mounting system off and installing another makers mount does, in my opinion, equate to "player" status. Grade from "player" to "parts drum," determined by the degree of modification with a respectively significant reduction in value.

Putting a Pearl style tom mounting system on any American vintage drum is criminal and status of such drums are below player grade in both appearance and value. These swiss cheese drums are essentially "parts" drums, justifiable to be cannibalized as necessary. If rarity justifies the effort, a quality restoration may be an option with some loss in value in comparison to higher grade drums.

pretty much nails it but it also depends on individual factors, such as personal preference and the quality of a restoration. with effort, a restoration can be done that is almost imperceptible, bringing a drum back some distance, towards it's peak value, from player status.

ploughman's point about "who the original user might have been" is a really good one because would Ringo's 20" black oyster bass be more valuable with or without the Rogers mount?

Thanks for everyone's opinions, so far. Again, this can be such a subjective question to answer.

I do agree that a Pearl style mount on any American vintage drum pretty much ruins the collector's value, but I feel there is some wiggle room on "player" vs. "parts" drums. At that point, it all depends on the location of any extra holes, how well the person drilled and how well any plugging/patching turned out.

Those darn Pearl double 1" post holes. Ugh! Most shells were probably cut with a cheap door knob hole saw kit, which is why the holes were crooked and splintered.

One person's parts drum can be another persons player drum. :)

-Tim