Personally, I wouldn't settle for 2 sets of Slingerlands in place of a primo '71 Ludwig set that I was lusting after, but that's just me.

In my experience, overpaying only stings briefly LOL. If this is a kit that you'll be keeping for a while, go for it. Your pride in ownership will far outweigh the slight additional cost. Plus, inquire if there is any room to negotiate.

Maybe the seller will have some cases to throw in, or maybe even a snare.

You'll never know unless you ask. Good luck.

I missed buying a 26", 13", 16" 18" kit of the same vintage in red sparkle the first year of ebay before I fully understood how the site worked. I curse the miss often. I think the price then was about $1200.

I missed an opportunity to own a pointy badge Black Cortex Jazzette shellpack back in the day. I think it went for a little over a thousand...Might even be a picture of it around here somewhere...

IMO, if this set brings you back to good times, I say contact the seller and ask if you can negotiate a price. It is a high price for a common finish set. I'm thinking $1500, and see if he'll throw in a Supra 400 or free shipping with the deal. Tell him you're a member here. I did notice a little funny business on a bearing edge on one of the toms. It looks like it was filled in with wood filler. I would ask about that first.

Finally, just the fact that your ex made you sell them is a good enough reason to get the same type of set you had back then. No woman should make a drummer sell his drums! That's totally unreasonable, but it happens, because some musicians make the wrong choice...a BIG wrong choice, when they say, "I do."

Those are similar in price and condition to the last set I bought. If they are as clean as they look and they are what you want I would go for it. Maybe I am wrong but really clean vintage sets are hard to find. Every now and then someone stumbles on to a killer deal on the set of their dreams. I spent years not doing that.

One of the selling points to my set was they are also 1971 vintage, which is the year I graduated high school.

I was playing some old used Pearl stencils in high school and really envied the guy with the new Ludwigs. Now I have that set and they are as pretty as the day they were made. I don't regret the deal.

IMHO You should always get what you want instead of settling for less.

Thank you everybody! The seller and I are in contact :) .

That's great. Please keep us posted (we're all enablers you know).

If this is the set you want, in the right color, and seemingly in excellent condition consider how often you will see this set in this condition, and how much cheaper would it be. Even though it maybe be over priced, if this is the exact kit you want, don't let it slip away. However, I would make sure that if its not in the condition as pictured you can return it. It is certainly potentially collectible, but if you want to sell it in the next few years you might not get what you paid for it. You only live once.

Thank you everybody for your kind thoughts and support!

The seller actually had a couple of other Ludwig items from the same period (Atlas stand and a Speed King pedal.) We put together a deal that was fair to both of us, so I bought all three and they shipped out today!

I also want to give a special "thank you" to Grantro from this forum. He has previously made some deals with the seller, and he "introduced" the seller to me. Grantro told the seller that I was not a flake, and helped us to negotiate a good deal, one that was good for both the seller and me. Thank you!!!

I'll post photos when the set arrives. One big question for me: should I try to exclusively buy additional Ludwig hardware from the same period? It would take time, but would make it more collectible.

On the other hand, I want to play it not just stare at its beauty! My Slingerland set is a "players grade" kit, and I use DW hardware and Gauger RIMS mounts on it. My Precision Drum set also uses DW hardware. I guess to play it I can temporarily swap around stands and stuff :) .

Hollywood hardware would be relatively easy to find although 1400 cymbal stands can get pretty pricey (Ringo). If you want to go the Big Beat route then the Atlas cymbal stands from that era can be a bit harder to find and equally expensive (Bonham).

The new Classic series cymbal stands from Tama actually are similar to the 1400 model that would have come with a Hollywood set.

I wouldn't sweat it too much unless you're one of those guys who feels the need to recreate the catalog photo and if so you should have held out for a champagne sparkle or Psych Red set. :)