Zippo lighters with a little maintenance outlast by years the plastic throwaways.

I think what happened re: forum activity: Charlie Watts announced wasn't going to touring with the Stones; Steve Jordan was announced as replacement; then Charlie passed away (rip) and all the net attention turned towards this.

2 shows (with Steve Jordan) are in the can (3 if you count the Kraft private party)

tons of decent cellphone video on youtube ; also Steve Maxwell (maxwelldrums.com) showed Steve's Gretsch/ 24/13/14 Craviotto snare/ Paiste/ Ufip / Crosstown hardware/ set up for the tour

All this sucked attention away from the usual topics

And conversation landed mostly over at DFO

It used to be cavemen beating on logs....log drumming went away in favor of the next advancement....and so on. Now, here we are at this point in time. Why shouldn't things continue to change? I think that drums as we know them, will become the future logs. I don't keep my drums for the sake of some future generation. I keep them for me and to satisfy my own interests at this moment in time. I don't know what the future has in store for my collection. I just know that I have what I wanted to collect and I am in the process of enjoying all of it.

There also used to be lots more clavichords, harps, zithers, ocarinas used for the music in their time -when the music at hand, required those instruments. Many of those instruments became antiquated and all but disappeared as did that music.

The electric bass, used to have FOUR strings. Now, they have added extra strings. Same with many guitars. Certain pianos have expanded ranges from earlier versions. My point is, that some things may change more slowly, but even traditional instruments are in a state of constant change.

*crickets chirping*

Was it something I said?

;)

Seriously, though....I just don't want to think of myself as that guy who said something like, "Those new-fangled penny ****hing bicycles will never be replaced!" and then have to spend eternity rolling over in my grave! heh heh Drums, like anything else, will change....eventually...

I’m still around

hopefully I’ll be around for awhile

Just maybe it was, but not the way you may be thinking. It just could be realizing the reality or eventuality of what you said, and the sadness or disappointment that future generations will not have the same degree of enthusiasm and pure excitement we have felt during our lives toward drums as we know them.

But it is not just drums but many of the various alternate joys that we have held during the past number of decades : numismatics, automobiles, stamps, etc. A number of factors are to blame, including that the cost to enter hobbies is unreachable by the younger generations, many of whom have trouble getting full time jobs also with benefits plus some measure of stability.

Computers are a two sided coin. Just thinking of artistry...it takes both talent and training along with imagination to produce works of art what ever form it may be, but not every person can do it. Computers have opened up the door for people who possess the ideas and imagination but don't have the artistic talent or ability to execute their ideas. The computer age has helped them, but may have hurt the true artist. Returning back to the thread's topic, Drum machines fall into that category, and perhaps all musical instruments now have. Opens doors for some people but closes doors for others.

I just hope that as the pendulum swings, it will come back to real drums to be back in vogue once again.

Sorry, and forgive my rambling.

Still here, and maybe too much.

One thing that happened over the last 5-years or so (or at least came to my attention in that period) was a return to vinyl recordings. That may have been driven by a few factors, not the least of which is concern for whether or not we will be able to preserve some of the media used since the late 60's. We had 8-track, then cassette, then CD and so forth to the moment where we have digital files. But a vinyl record in hand with a simple player is a decent guarantee of having the music you want to listen to and it does provide a certain tonal quality that is missing from the more recent media.

I think the vintage drum thing is currently slowing down for the moment, but in the long haul, I don't expect it to disappear and I think it may very well return at some time in the future for similar reasons to the vinyl. An accoustic set is in hand and has an irreplacable sound, look and feel.

Guitar players, or players of all the other instruments, still treasure what they have. However, for every two or three guitar players, there is usually only one drummer. So they are going to have more guitars, no matter what, and their vintage instruments will continue to hold value and interest at a higher rate than ours. They also seem to have kept their instruments better condition in most cases (the Who being a distinct exception). Have you seen many vintage guitars with Xls's? guitar3

Similarly, there are still those of us into older cars, wooden boats and antique houses even though they all present problems that the more modern items don't. Again, sound, look and feel all have a bearing on that choice. Ever hear a marinized Ford 289 fire up in an old inboard boat. Wow!

I did buy some stuff during the high period of Covid last year and earlier this year after having gotten down to a single set. Found a few special ones and some for good prices here and there. I'll fix 'em up a bit in spare time (assuming I have or find time), return them to the market and see what happens. Not enough invested to be too concerned about it and will otherwise just enjoy them unitl I can't.

I for one have not been at the right place or the right time to add to my vintage fix up

I’ve lost all drive to look for that diamonds in the rough , I still look though once in a while ,

It’s all classic kits now and the ones to covet are mostly overseas !!!

I personally believe that ,

As in what’s a downbeat lol

so the well, has dried up so to speak , fellow collectors

keep what you got , it is all you mite end up with

especially if the one dream kit arises out of the ashes as a Phoenix

it will be very pricy and most likely unobtainable.

So the archive of pictures here are worth thousands of words that’s the enjoyment of the site now for me !

it’s just so hard to access though, as there are so many . But I still like to see posts some I get a kick out of

others I just ignore

At 70 years old , there’s not too much fun over drums any more

now I still jam on my pink champagne kit from late 60’s it will be with me till the end then a family member will sell it off fir nicked and dimes ( hope not) just kidding …

Gary aka houndog

so the first kit mite be the last kit

never say never though ….

I'm here too. Just too busy to spend time on the forums.

I’m here, checking in every week or so. Life is busy, and the posts here are less frequent, so I’m checking in less often. I still appreciate reading good threads.

Speaking only for myself, I find that I spend more time on other drum forums. They tend to have more varied and interesting topics / discussions and are not limited to just vintage drums.

This site seems tired and the limited image size is annoying.