They don't seem to be going down on the parts I'd like to get. Cooked Egg

Overall, I don't think prices have gone down, they've gone up. I monitor Ludwig, Gretsch, Rogers, Leedy, Slingerland, Zildjian and others. I don't pay as much attention to Slingerland as I do Ludwig and Rogers, but I see people paying higher prices for single drums and sets. There are also some dealers that are just plain out of their minds price wise. Of course there are still deals to be had on eBay and especially Craigslist, but there's a lot of us looking now, so the prices go up. Just my opinion however.

Matt

I've been outbid on every Slingerland and Leedy set I've tried to get.

Clean sets in all brands are generally going up in value, some way up.

Sometimes vintage sets are bringing ridiculously high prices, sometimes they go for less than you'd expect...there are a lot of factors and some luck involved in ebay auctions.

Overall, you'll never lose money on an original, clean vintage set.

Re-covers and sets with mods are another story...

I concur. The one sure thing about vintage drums' ability to hold (and increase) their value is this:

They don't make 'em like that anymore!:Snow Flake:

Without getting TOO much up on my soapbox, I would have to say that vintage American drums represent a time BEFORE we gave up our collective manufacturing to China. I've said it before....You simply cannot buy any American made drums because they don't exist. At best, you can get drums made from Chinese-manufactured parts, ASSEMBLED in America...but most of the raw parts are all Chinese-made....lugs, rims, lug screws, pedals, stands, thrones, etc., etc., etc.

I believe that buying used, American goods (in this case, drums) is still far superior to buying new, Asian-made stuff -quality-wise AND philosophically.

How about the American Kents. There not on the decline but are always fairly cheap and they got nice maple shells. I know some people may disagree on my point but getting a nice kent kit in great condition is easily found on ebay for 500 bucks. Maybe I should retract that its easy but they pop up quite frequently on ebay. Other than that the premier and slingerland value seems to be quite low.

Thank you for the responses. I want to do a restore on my set but the resources I put in verses what I might get out is a major factor. From your experience, what is a professionally repainted Slingerland Duco Black set going to pull?

If you do an advanced ebay search on completed items you can see prices all over the place... but still people are paying 900 bucks for a single 40's vintage Slinglerland floor tom.

It does seem there is a shortage of very nice complete vintage Slingerland kits in great original condition. Just my very undrumeducated and indrumexperienced opinion... it looks like players purchased a ton of Slingerland drums and used the heck out of every one of them. There are a LOT of pieces out there but it sure does look like people rode these drums hard and put them away wet.

Well, I can tell you that the drums in original non-repainted condition will be more appealing to a collector than a repainted kit. It's difficult to guess what repainted sets are worth. Duco paint jobs appeal to a specialized sect of collectors who love them. They are not currently "all the rage", but repainted kits are usually not of interest to hardcore collectors at all.

The question is kind of a gray area to answer. They are your drums and yours to do with what you will. If you love to play them, but can't stand to look at the scratches or chipped paint, then re-painting them (the correct way) might be a reasonable option for you. However, if you are looking to get the most money from them in terms of selling them, then my best advice is to leave them original. Clean them up and polish up the chrome (or nickel) hardware and let the collectors at 'em!Chewie: