Thanks for the info! Would it be possible to remove the paint and get to the original finish? Or would that just be a fools task? What do you think on pricing it?
Depends on what the original finish is. If the paint is on top of a wrap, and it's the RIGHT wrap (a rare one) then it would be well worth getting the paint off, or at least finding out what is underneath the paint. The drums may have been originally painted rather than wrapped and in that case the original lacquer is not likely to survive any sort of stripping procedure so you might as well leave them alone and let the next owner sort that out. A third possibility is that someone stripped off the original wrap and then painted the bare shells, although since the badges seem to be more or less intact that seems less likely. If that were the case though I'd say just leave them be and the next ownder can rewrap in the finish of his choice.
You certainly did well at $50. The question is how much time and effort do you want to put in to maximize your potential profit? You could probably easily get 5-6 times your investment back selling them as is, possibly even a bit more. Even if you put in a bunch of effort removing the paint you still might not get that much more, unless something spectacular is under that paint. You would definitely get more either way if they were stripped but you'd have to factor in how much your time was worth. If they have some rare wrap under the paint then all bets are off.
So I'd say your best first step is to find out what's under that paint. Let us know. If it's a common wrap then it might make more sense to just flip them as is unless your time isn't that valuable to you (ie: you have nothing better to do than strip paint off the drums). If they are Black Galaxy, or Oyster Pink then you'd have more to think about.
You mentioned selling these to help pay for a drum set of some type like a Gretsch. I own a lot of drums mostly vintage Ludwig and Gretsch. If you want to sell these to help pay towards a Gretsch set then that would be suitable plan. If your hope is to sell these for enough to pay for an entire Gretsch set then I would suggest that the Club Date drums are better than any Gretsch set you could likely buy from the proceeds of that sale, even if you got top dollar. Club Dates are excellent vintage drums using the same shells as the top of the line Ludwigs of the day. The only difference being some of the hardware used which helped Ludwig sell them for slightly less than the Super Classic series. My point is that if you want to sell these to help fund the purchase of a Gretsch USA Customs, or Broadkaster or Brooklyn or even Renown series drum set then that's a good idea...but if you are thinking of getting some Energy, Catalina Clubs, or Catalina Maple, then it could be argued that you already have a better set of drums in your hands, although some in need of some cosmetic repairs and a few odds and ends parts.
Something to consider anyway. Those have the potential to be a great sounding set of drums and also are vintage drums that will hold their value (vs. a new set from any company which will instantly be worth considerably less than you paid for them). If your goal is to have a nice set of drums then you may already be there, after some fix-em-up work. If your goal is to have shiny new drums then these probably won't be it. However, if you can get the paint off and there is a pretty wrap underneath that you can shine up you will have a pro-grade vintage drum set that you can say you refurbished yourself and best of all is when you tell whomever is admiring them, "yeah and I only paid fifty bucks for these".
