I once bought a stereo speaker from an ebay seller who wrapped it in one sheet of newspaper and put it in a cardboard box.

Thankfully, the few I have ordered on ebay have arrived safely. The others I have bought from guys on here, so I knew they would be packed with care!

And then on the other end of the spectrum is the guy listing 8 lugs for $40...with a shipping cost of $48... :/

I'm reluctant to vilify folk on a public forum, regardless of their stupidity but having looked at the seller's 'other items', I can only conclude that they don't routinely sell or send vintage drums. That said, I don't think that it takes a genius to work out the kind of treatment that your average package gets when shipped any distance - national or international. $2 of bubble wrap or even crunched up newspaper would have saved me a $50 replacement and a double Scotch to calm my exasperation! That all aside, she's a lovely drum with the Duco paint in very good order. I've also taken the oportunity to order a reproduction throw extension arm so that it'll be complete when I've finished.

I'm glad you found the part easily enough. Where did you get it? I need a same era muffler or knob, shaft and spring actually (let's see if that line gets auto-censored:D) for the one I just got from Australia (well packed and undamaged fortunately)

Fair enough. And yeah, a bit of common sense really should apply when packing parcels, particularly when it's a musical instrument.

I was advised to try Olympic drums in Portland and they've come up trumps. They've got quite a good range of repro parts so I would give them a try.

Now this is the way it should be done! I just bought these parts from seantdrums and they were expertly packaged with care. And at a great price. I couldn't be more pleased. Check the pic... well done sir!!

-Doug

Looks great. As mentioned previously, on the whole I've been very lucky especially considering that I live on a small island at the bottom of the world where everything has to come a very long way. My observations are that as long as you can stop the item sliding around in its box then you're halfway to getting in one piece. Polystyrene beads don't achieve that, they just fill the spaces. I think that most folk who regularly ship vintage drums etc have a pretty good understanding of the basic requirements.

Thanks Gerard, I'll give them a try

Gerry - I'm sorry to hear about what happened. Let me offer you a solution to ease your worried mind. Look for a local technical college and ask to speak to the instructor in the metal/welding dept. Tell him you're trying to restore a very hard to find part for a rare vintage instrument. Suggest that he make it a project for his best student. They will not only do it, but you'll only have to pay the school for materials used, not their time. I did this with Big Blue and it only cost me $1.75. I donated $25. to the school because I was so grateful to be able to save my drum and because the kid did such a professional job for me. Maybe I just got lucky, but I think it's an alternative you might consider. They will be able to either repair (if possible) or reproduce the part for you. They have everything they need right there and the instructor will be looking over the workers shoulder the entire time.

Trying to be helpful...

John