A vintage kit can be the best-built drum set you'll ever own, and plenty of them cost less than a new mid-range kit. The catch is that a first vintage kit is a different purchase from a collector's kit. You're buying shells that tune up, hardware that holds and a sound you like. Originality matters less, and that's where the good buys are. Here's how to choose one, and what to check before you pay.
Start with the shell
Shell construction shapes the sound more than the badge does, so decide that first. Most American kits from the 1950s to the 1970s used thin shells with reinforcement rings glued inside the edges to keep them round. Ludwig's 3-ply shells were mahogany, poplar and mahogany in 1960, became mahogany, poplar and maple by 1968, and gave way to 6-ply shells in 1976 or 1977. Slingerland's top-line shell was a 3-ply with solid maple rings from 1928 all the way to 1978. In 1979 Slingerland made a 5-ply shell standard, and it dropped reinforcing rings in June 1981.
Other makers went thicker earlier. Rogers built 5-ply maple and birch shells with rings from 1964, then in 1978 added the XP-8, an 8-ply shell with no rings. Wikipedia's Rogers history says those thick shells favored attack and projection over midrange tone, and that holds for thick multi-ply shells generally. Gretsch shells from the late 1950s on were six plies of maple and gum made by the Jasper Wood company, painted silver inside. Sonor went furthest of all, and its 1980s shells were thick beech, about 13 mm, with veneers such as rosewood inside and out.
If you play jazz or small rooms and want a warm, round note, look at thin shells with rings. If you play loud and need the drums to cut, a thick multi-ply kit gets there with less effort.
Where the good-value kits are
Collectors chase the best-known era of each brand, so the years just after it are often where a player does best.
- Ludwig after 1969. The blue and olive badge replaced the keystone around October 1969, but the 3-ply shell carried on until about 1976. An early-1970s Super Classic or Hollywood has the same shell recipe as a late keystone drum.
- Gretsch stop sign. Gretsch moved production from Brooklyn to DeQueen, Arkansas, in mid-1969, and the octagonal stop sign badge replaced the round badge around 1970 or 1971. Stop sign kits still have 6-ply Jasper shells, and wood finishes became far more common in that era.
- Rogers from Fullerton. Rogers moved from Ohio to Fullerton, California, in 1969. Rogers expert TommyP writes that quality slipped there as castings and shells got lighter, but he still calls the drums pretty nice. A Fullerton kit like the Londoner gets less collector attention than a mid-1960s Ohio Holiday.
- Slingerland from Niles. Slingerland's 1960s and 1970s Niles kits, including its bop-sized outfits, use the same 3-ply shell with maple rings that the company built through 1978.
Then there are the makers that never had an American collector boom behind them. Sonor's Teardrop kits, named for their lug shape, turn up from the 1950s and 1960s. Pearl, founded in Tokyo, introduced its first professional kit, the President Series, in 1966, and in the 1970s it made wood shells lined with fiberglass. Its lacquered MLX kits of the 1980s had 6-ply maple shells. These kits get less attention than a Ludwig or Gretsch of the same age, so condition for condition they're usually the easier buy.
The checks that matter on a player kit
On a kit you plan to play, a short list of faults decides whether you'll enjoy it. Ned Ingberman of Vintage Drum Center, who has inspected thousands of vintage drums, starts with roundness. A little out-of-round is common on old wood shells and plays fine as long as a head fits. His test is simple. Pull a snug-fitting head off and put it back on. If it goes on easily, the shell is round enough. If you have to squeeze or push it, the shell is out of round or oversized and needs a looser float-style head, or a trip to a shop if even that won't fit.
Next come the bearing edges, the tops of the shell where the head sits. Rest the shell, heads off, on a flat surface like a sheet of glass with a light inside the drum, and turn it slowly. Light showing under the edge means a low spot. Then look inside every shell for extra holes. Holes from old mounts often show only from the inside, and Ingberman warns that unusually large washers can hide widened or extra holes.
Hardware is the last big check. Tension rods should turn smoothly without binding or slipping, and Ingberman says bent rods are behind many cracked lugs and stripped casings. Tom mounts and leg brackets need to hold when you lean on them. On 1970s Slingerland drums the leg mounts tend to strip after years of tightening, though a drum tech can fix them with thread inserts.
How much re-wrap you can live with
A re-wrapped or refinished drum is a modified drum, and collectors value it below an original one. For a first kit, that's often good news. Ingberman suggests that if vintage sound matters more to you than originality, a modified kit can save you money, as long as the work was done well. A sloppy re-wrap or edges re-cut to the wrong profile can change how the drum sounds.
Re-wraps are common. In Rick Gier's survey of round badge Gretsch drums, 452 of 4,072 were set aside as re-wrapped, refinished or impossible to judge. Ingberman's signs of a replaced wrap are wrap cut to the wrong size, unburnished edges, tacky glue at the seam, a badge that's been taken off and put back, and holes you can see only from the inside. On a player kit, a tidy re-wrap with tight seams is fine. Ask for photos of the inside, because a new wrap can cover old holes and repairs. Then treat the re-wrap as the reason the kit should cost less, and fold it into your offer.
Heads
Plan on new heads. Collectors widely accept non-original heads, so swapping them costs you nothing in value, and old stretched heads make a good drum sound bad. Ingberman's quick test for any drum is to play a few notes with the muffler off. Dull, choked or sour tones can often be cured by tuning or by replacing stretched heads, and they only point to an edge or roundness problem when new heads don't help. Some old kits still wear calfskin heads, which sound lovely but react to temperature changes, so keep them for the shelf or the studio. If a shell turns out slightly oversized, choose a float-style head that fits it before you blame the drum.
What to check in a listing
- Badge and era. Look at the badges in the photos and match them to the era you want. Our badge and date stamp guide shows how to read them.
- Matching set. Ask for a photo inside every drum. The interiors should be the same color and the serial numbers should sit reasonably close together.
- Roundness. Ask the seller whether the heads go on and off easily. A seller who has to force them is describing an out-of-round or oversized shell.
- Bearing edges. Ask for close photos of each edge with the heads off. Even, undamaged edges with no fresh sanding are what you want.
- Holes. Look inside the bass drum and toms for holes with no hardware in them. A filled or empty hole means a mount was moved or added.
- Hardware. Count the lugs, rods, spurs and mounts in the photos. Every one should be there and match the rest of the kit.
- Wrap. Zoom in on the seams in the photos. Tight, flat seams with no glue squeeze-out mean an original wrap or a careful re-wrap.
- Packing. Ask how the kit will ship, or pick it up locally if you can. Our shipping and pickup guide covers what to ask for.
For more on edges and out-of-round shells, read our bearing edge guide. When you're ready, browse the kits we track, or start with Ludwig or Sonor.
