dkerwood
Silver Member
So back when I was ten, I started playing the drums. My original gear was a 196x Ludwig snare in a blue suitcase-looking drum case. When I was twelve, my grandparents pieced together a 60's Japanese kit from bits and pieces they found at garage sales and I had my first kit (and the only time I've ever seen a "metal strip" driven kick pedal).
When I was thirteen, however, I decided that I wanted to sing in a rock band. I couldn't do that from the drums (or so I thought- I had never heard of Phil Collins), so I picked up my dad's acoustic guitar. Within a few months, the grandparents came through again with a Teisco electric (terrible, TERRIBLE axe... I still have it in my closet) and a little Peavey solid state amp. I still played drums, but I was the number 3 set player in my school and quickly became the number 2 guitar player...
So... let's keep a tally here- at fourteen, I bought a set of Paiste 400 cymbals. Also at fourteen, I bought a Squier II Fender Stratocaster and a bigger Peavey solid state amp. Later that year, I bought a Fender amp and started my collection of guitar effects.
At sixteen, a bunch of my gear got stolen (my Paiste cymbals, acoustic and electric guitars, Fender amp, and some effects), so I bought an Alvarez Artist acoustic-electric, a Cort Strat copy. A little later this year, I also bought a Marshall Valvestate 8080 amp, and my collection of pedals continued to grow. Without cymbals, my kit tended to sit unplayed unless I could borrow cymbals from the high school. A few months later, I bought a Hohner jazz bass for use in jazz band.
When I was eighteen, I picked up a Samick Strat clone (another garage sale find), and traded that, my Marshall, and another SS Peavey amp for a 2x12 Fender combo. By now, the drumming bug was starting to pop up again, but so was the "keyboard bug" and the "bass bug".
My sophomore year of college, the need to drum finally took over again, and I bought my buddy's old Ludwig Rocker 7-piece kit with Avedis cymbals. I supplemented that with a Gibraltar rack, DW 5000 hi hat stand, a new snare, 2 A Customs, and a AAX china. Of course, at the same time, I picked up an Epiphone Les Paul and Epiphone SG, and CONTINUED to expand my collection of guitar effects. I think around the same time, I bought a Yamaha keyboard.
By my fourth year of college, I picked up a Washburn Taurus 5 string bass to supplement the jazz bass, and I started playing drums regularly at a church. I pulled my old Japanese kit out of mothballs, made it work again, and started using it for those smaller gigs. Ah, but I also picked up a Dean SS One Strat-style guitar AND a good ole Fender Strat (couldn't pass on the great deal).
It stayed this way until about last year. I started teaching in a new school which didn't have any percussionists, so I worked the band into a rhythm-and-blues-style band, with me on the set. I really got the kick to upgrade my drums, which I wasn't able to do until a few months ago- sold the Japanese kit and bought my beautiful GMS kit. Over the next few months I added a couple of cymbals to my bag, bought a new DW 5000 kick pedal and some cases for the kit... and even had some gear money left over.
That takes us up to about two weeks ago.
Last weekend I went to my closest decent drum shop (an hour away) looking for another cymbal or two to dry up my gear account. They had nothing I was interested in (at least nothing that wasn't terribly overpriced... why would I pay more for a USED cymbal than I could brand new from GC?), so I came home feeling dejected. I'm sure many of you know that feeling.
Next morning I went out to the local "school music" store, wanting to buy SOMETHING that could help me. I ended up trying out a new compressor pedal. $150 later, it's sitting on my guitar pedal board which had not been out of its case since last summer.
Then yesterday, my wife and I were killing time waiting for a concert to start, and ended up visiting one of the town's three pawn shops. Up on the wall was a beautiful Ibanez Artcore archtop jazz guitar. I had seen it before, but always assumed it was too expensive. Well, my wife commented how much she liked it, so I pulled it down. Long story short, thanks to a couple of finish cracks, I was able to pick it up with only the money left over in my gear account.
Drums, guitar, drums, guitar... After about 2-3 months of being a pure drum nut, I can feel myself switching back over to the stringed persuasion... Ahgh!!!
When I was thirteen, however, I decided that I wanted to sing in a rock band. I couldn't do that from the drums (or so I thought- I had never heard of Phil Collins), so I picked up my dad's acoustic guitar. Within a few months, the grandparents came through again with a Teisco electric (terrible, TERRIBLE axe... I still have it in my closet) and a little Peavey solid state amp. I still played drums, but I was the number 3 set player in my school and quickly became the number 2 guitar player...
So... let's keep a tally here- at fourteen, I bought a set of Paiste 400 cymbals. Also at fourteen, I bought a Squier II Fender Stratocaster and a bigger Peavey solid state amp. Later that year, I bought a Fender amp and started my collection of guitar effects.
At sixteen, a bunch of my gear got stolen (my Paiste cymbals, acoustic and electric guitars, Fender amp, and some effects), so I bought an Alvarez Artist acoustic-electric, a Cort Strat copy. A little later this year, I also bought a Marshall Valvestate 8080 amp, and my collection of pedals continued to grow. Without cymbals, my kit tended to sit unplayed unless I could borrow cymbals from the high school. A few months later, I bought a Hohner jazz bass for use in jazz band.
When I was eighteen, I picked up a Samick Strat clone (another garage sale find), and traded that, my Marshall, and another SS Peavey amp for a 2x12 Fender combo. By now, the drumming bug was starting to pop up again, but so was the "keyboard bug" and the "bass bug".
My sophomore year of college, the need to drum finally took over again, and I bought my buddy's old Ludwig Rocker 7-piece kit with Avedis cymbals. I supplemented that with a Gibraltar rack, DW 5000 hi hat stand, a new snare, 2 A Customs, and a AAX china. Of course, at the same time, I picked up an Epiphone Les Paul and Epiphone SG, and CONTINUED to expand my collection of guitar effects. I think around the same time, I bought a Yamaha keyboard.
By my fourth year of college, I picked up a Washburn Taurus 5 string bass to supplement the jazz bass, and I started playing drums regularly at a church. I pulled my old Japanese kit out of mothballs, made it work again, and started using it for those smaller gigs. Ah, but I also picked up a Dean SS One Strat-style guitar AND a good ole Fender Strat (couldn't pass on the great deal).
It stayed this way until about last year. I started teaching in a new school which didn't have any percussionists, so I worked the band into a rhythm-and-blues-style band, with me on the set. I really got the kick to upgrade my drums, which I wasn't able to do until a few months ago- sold the Japanese kit and bought my beautiful GMS kit. Over the next few months I added a couple of cymbals to my bag, bought a new DW 5000 kick pedal and some cases for the kit... and even had some gear money left over.
That takes us up to about two weeks ago.
Last weekend I went to my closest decent drum shop (an hour away) looking for another cymbal or two to dry up my gear account. They had nothing I was interested in (at least nothing that wasn't terribly overpriced... why would I pay more for a USED cymbal than I could brand new from GC?), so I came home feeling dejected. I'm sure many of you know that feeling.
Next morning I went out to the local "school music" store, wanting to buy SOMETHING that could help me. I ended up trying out a new compressor pedal. $150 later, it's sitting on my guitar pedal board which had not been out of its case since last summer.
Then yesterday, my wife and I were killing time waiting for a concert to start, and ended up visiting one of the town's three pawn shops. Up on the wall was a beautiful Ibanez Artcore archtop jazz guitar. I had seen it before, but always assumed it was too expensive. Well, my wife commented how much she liked it, so I pulled it down. Long story short, thanks to a couple of finish cracks, I was able to pick it up with only the money left over in my gear account.
Drums, guitar, drums, guitar... After about 2-3 months of being a pure drum nut, I can feel myself switching back over to the stringed persuasion... Ahgh!!!
