So, I happen to see a Gold Sparkle bass drum in a "Drum Stuff" ad (Photo Below). Seller listed it as a Stewart bass drum and that it was an 18".

As we all know, it is extremely rare to find an 18" MIJ bass drum. The very few I have seen all had club date style, center mounted lugs, as this one did, so that was encouraging.

I asked the seller for more pictures, and also asked him to verify that it was, in fact, an 18". He sent several more pictures, and he did confirm again, that it was an 18". He was located nearly 60 miles away, a solid one hour drive each way. We arranged to meet the following morning (which was today).

Before I left this morning, I asked him to please verify, one more time, that the drum was an 18". He said that it was an 18" and that he was 100% certain. Can you see where this is going?

So, I drive the 60 miles ONE WAY to his house. I see the drum in his garage, and I can tell from the driveway (a good 50 feet away) that the drum is too big to be an 18". I asked him again if he was sure that was an 18". He said "Oh yeah, it's an 18", because I have an 18" in the house and the same heads fit this drum exactly". I asked for the tape measure I saw lying on his workbench. Lo and behold, I measure the shell diameter and what do you think I came up with? It was a 20"!

I told him "This is a 20". He emphatically said, "No it's not, it's an 18". I told him to look at my measurement as I held the tape measure. He then looked at me with a puzzled look on his face and said "But the heads on my 18" downstairs fit this drum exactly. It HAS to be an 18". I told him to measure his 18" in the house with the tape measure. Well by golly it turns out his 18" in the house was also a 20". I asked three different times for the guy to verify the measurements, and he never did. He only based his information off of heads that fit another drum he owned, that he thought was an 18" but never bothered to check.

So I drove 60 miles EACH way, an hour EACH way for nothing!!

What is wrong with people? All he had to do was verify with a tape measure he had lying 3 feet away from the drum. It would have taken him 5 seconds. Needless to say, I was plenty ticked off on that drive home.