eBay's vintage drum section says it's "pre-1980", but there's no rules about any of this - it's a work in progress.

People will be different depending on when they were born. I was born in '56 so no way a 1970 drumset seems vintage to me. A late 60's set is, to me, barely vintage. When I grew up and started getting into drums, all the drummers in the small world I knew used Ludwigs, Rogers and Gretsch. All the Pearl drums we saw back then were horrible, and we used to use "Pearl" as the example of the worst quality made, like Peavey is used today.

But like Peavey, Pearl did get their act together, and have made (hard for me to admit because I haven't fully gotten over their 1st impression) great drums.

That set you're looking at looks like a good deal. Ask the guy what he'll take for them and it might even be a better deal. Most people state a higher price than they expect to get. They look fine... an 18" floor tom is not the norm but who cares. Pearl hardware is well designed and I like the larger kick.

Really, with drums you can change heads and tweak and get almost any drum to sound good.

Cymbals... you can't do much so they are harder to find.

Here's some info:

"Vintage" actually means "of a certain time period". A drum set that just came out could be considered "of a 2009 vintage".

The word "vintage" is over-used to mean things that are older than a certain number of years. I think that vintage should never be used to refer to a drum set after the 70s. Even 40 years from now, kits from the 80s just won't have the same appeal as kits from the 50s/60s/70s. Then again, I can't believe they are starting to play 90s music on the classic rock radio stations...

As for the name of this drum forum, I wonder what the founders had in mind when they decided to call it Vintage Drum Forum. What's the cut-off date for a drum qualifying as vintage or not? Does it change with the passing years? Will my 2004 DW set ever be "vintage"?

I'm 34 years old so vintage anything such as clothes, cars, drums etc. always made me think of 60's and 70's

Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition, Copyright 1986 (my dictionary appears to be vintage, too): (abbreviated to better fit the post - it had mostly to do with wine and grapes) "3. The type or model of a particular year or period [a car of prewar vintage] - adj. 1. b)representative of the best. 2. representative of or dating from a period long past. [vintage clothes]".Hmmmm

But of course it all becomes vintage at some point..

http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2010.php

I always enjoyed the Beloit list. Hmmm.. check #74, Ringo made the list.

These are NICE drums.Vintage or not.Excellent build quality and finish,no stretch lugs,practical and common hardware.The tall toms are not my favorites,for mostly mounting reasons.To replace those new, triple the money.I could see that set as the start of a nice rock set,maybe looking for a 16 to replace the hanging 14.

I agree, I was thinking of hanging the 14" off a stand and finding a 16" Ft just like you said.

Well, I like my Camco's better. That being said, a good quality Pearl kit, like those, can't be beat (pun!). You sure won't find Camco's for $300 unless you fall into 'em. Especially in that condition! I'd get 'em if I needed a rock kit.