Beyond Two-Four

There’s absolutely no reason buy new drums, with few exceptions. Snares, auxillery products, sticks and so on all fall into the “it’s probably a good idea to buy new” category. Cymbals, on the other hand, are said to be better with age. I agree and tend to scour the used cymbals section of Ebay. I recently added a third crash to my setup, it is an 18-inch Zildjian that’s been sitting my my cymbal case for years and was barely used. It sounds harsh compared with my battered A Zildjians, which sing nicely. Give it a year or two, and it will be up to par with the others. I’ll continue to buy my cymbals used.

Drums, though, are better used simply because of the price. It is much smarter financially to find a less than ideal kit used for nearly half the price than a new kit that may be in your preferred color and/or configuration. Of course, the usual rules apply: Try to inspect the drums beforehand before buying, or if buying online, make sure the seller has excellent feedback and describes the drums well enough, with good quality photos.

I’m constantly amazed at some of the kits I track online and the prices they go for. Just today a brilliant looking custom Spaun kit went for $700!!! And another, which I could not pass up, a three-piece Taye Studiomaple jazz-sized kit. My winning price: $500 plus $75 shipping. I can’t wait for this to show up on my door step. The kit is listed as “like new.” New, it would have easily been three times this amount.

Drum on!