In early 2004, I purchased a used, five-piece Yamaha Stage Custom Advantage shell pack for $400.00. The bass drum was a standard, 18" x 22", and the four tom-tom drums' respective diameters were 8", 10", 12" and 14" (I am unaware of the drum shells' depths, though they were presumably standard sizes). The previous owner of these drums had taken relatively good care of them and the drums had only minor aesthetic defects, which I easily buffed and polished away. The drums had a deep, forest green lacquer finish. I borrowed a 5" x 14" snare drum from another drum set, a first-generation Gretsch Blackhawk, and mounted the drums by using previously purchased hardware and pedals.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing these drums. They projected well, were easy to position within my preferred configuration, and were visually appealing. They sounded even better with new Remo Emperor coated batter-side and clear resonant heads on the bass and each tom-tom drum. With the money I saved by purchasing this instead of a brand new drum set, I was also able to purchase a new 16" Sabian B8 Pro thin crash cymbal and a used 18" Sabian Signature Carmine Appice Devastation China cymbal.
In 2005, for reasons I now think foolish, I sold my Yamaha Stage Custom Advantage and several cymbals in order to purchase a used, five-piece Tama Rockstar Custom and Iron Cobra "Velo Glide" hi-hat stand. I remember being somehow convinced that Tama was the pinnacle of drum makers and thought the purchase price of $600.00 for that drum set and additional professional hardware was worth the cost of parting with my then-current drums and even several cymbals.
These new drum shells were again standard sized, including a 18" x 22" bass and 10", 12" and 14" tom-tom drums, and also a 5" x 14" snare drum. This drum set was also well-maintained by its previous owner, had a beautiful amber fade finish, and came with mounting hardware. I was initially happy with my purchase of these drums until discovering that the added bulk of the mounting hardware made positioning the drums more difficult and the upward hook of the tom-tom mounts used up even more needed space. The drums themselves also projected well and were aesthetically pleasing, but needed more frequent maintenance, including tuning and readjustment. The Iron Cobra hi-hat pedal was the real selling point of my purchase, but I discovered too late that a bolt that connected the foot plate to the vertical shaft was missing, which caused occasional instability. Regardless of how often I tweaked and maintained my drums, they were never quite to my liking.
I returned to the music store where I had purchased both of the above described drum sets to ask for a refund. The store had a policy that did not allow for refunds, only store credit. That same day, I noticed my old drum set was again assembled and ready for play, but with a "sold" sign taped to the heads (this time, a matching snare drum was available).
In 2006, I needed money to pay bills and, despite the knowledge that everything I was selling was worth well more than the asking price, I sold my Tama Rockstar Custom drum set to a local pastor for $500.00, which included all-new heads and hardware, including two Tama RoadPro boom cymbal stands and a DW 4002 double-bass pedal.
To add insult to injury, not three months after I sold my drum set, my neighbor held a house party that lasted until 3:00 a.m. When I called to ask her to keep the noise down, she complained that if I can play my drums at all hours of the day and night (I only played when no one else in the neighborhood was home; she could only have heard me once, when I crashed a cymbal before ending a practice session), she could be as loud as she pleased. Never mind that other neighbors had called her to complain (and never to me; no one in my neighborhood was even aware I owned a drum set).
I have learned from my mistakes about impulsively buying and selling my equipment and am now looking forward to building a new, hybrid acoustic-electric drum set. This way, I will get exactly what I want in a drum set and no one will have room to complain about noise if I use headphones.
