Picked up the DrumCrafts today!

Bo Eder

Platinum Member
Not sure if I need THREE kits, but I got the DrumCraft drums today. I haven't gotten to clean them or do a good tuning yet, but they sure are pretty (not sure if the pictures will do them justice. But set up in my drum room they sound great. Each drum is stamped what date they were made - I may want to apply some tung oil to the insides though.

But it's basically a DrumCraft 22" Progressive maple kit in the Cardiac Burst finish. Online price from DrumCraftdirect.au is $2,039.00 for the shell pack. This finish isn't available from anyone on eBay, either, and their snare drums are asking a pretty price too (I've seen between $300-450). The name of the finish is appropriate.

It has:

8x10, 9x12 rack toms
14x16 floor tom
18x22 virgin bass drum
5.5x14 snare drum
Comes standard with two clamps and tom mounts.

The actual drum hardware looks good and feels very sturdy - the clamps and tom mounts feel like chrome covered plastic, but function well, and are pretty heavy - which makes me think they're not actually plastic. If I keep the kit I may just install a full-on Yamaha double tom mount and also use Yamaha tom mounts on the toms - just eliminate the DrumCraft stuff altogether.

But I guess my big debate is to keep them or not. They are truly top-flight drums, but I have two great kits already. What would you do? As I said in earlier posts, although I primarily play 4-piece kits for everything, every now and then you have to go out and be able to look and play the part of the jazz-fusionist. Some people just like drummers with two toms on top too, so it definitely makes me able to fill any needs anyone might want. But then again, I'm comfortable enough nowadays that I actually turn people down for gigs. I'll stare at the drums for a while and decide where I want to go with these ;)
 

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Beautiful! Keep 'em!!
 
You got a ridiculously good deal on them. You have plenty of space in your drum room. If you like 'em, I say keep 'em. Besides, with the money you saved getting that great deal, you should have plenty left over to get something nice for the wife! From one married guy to another, as long as she's happy its all good!
 
I'll say that if you like them enough that you would have bought them at the regular price, then you should keep them. Otherwise - out they go.
 
I'll say that if you like them enough that you would have bought them at the regular price, then you should keep them. Otherwise - out they go.

This is quite a loaded question, isn't it? I'm not sure I ever paid the regular price for any of the drums I've had. I recall really liking the Sonor SQ2 in concept, but because I was taught that the drums don't matter as much as the guy playing them, I highly doubted I'd ever pay for that. I did pay for a new set of Drum Workshop some time ago, but I didn't like them afterwards. I kept wanting them to be the old Camco's - and they weren't.

As far as the wife goes, I think she likes them better. There's color to them. She thinks gloss black on the Slingerlands and natural maple (which she calls yellow) on the Ludwig is pretty bland.

But the interesting thing is the "modern vs. vintage" thing. As Anthony attests to, we've had to futz with our old drums as we grew up for hours making them sound good. And all new kits these days you just throw heads on them and crank 'em up. If you can't get a good sound out of a modern kit, then I think there might be something wrong with you.

I'm gonna give these a good cleaning and do some seriously playing in the morning. I'll live with the crowded drum room. When the Slingerlands come back from Pro Drum I'll have my own little shop ;)
 
Did I miss something? What happened to the Granstars and the Starclassics?
 
...This is quite a loaded question, isn't it?...


How so? I got the impression from this post, http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1122098&postcount=1
that the main reason you got them was because of the price.

What I mean is, you didn't seem like before, you were - 'I really want a set of DrumCraft drums and I'm going to search for them, no matter how much they cost'.
It was more like - 'I found a set of DrumCraft drums for a really good price. I don't need or particularly want them, but they're a really good deal'.

I could be wrong about that, but it doesn't seem like it from your post I linked to.

.
 
Nice kit. Congrats! The name of the finish is interesting. Cardiac burst? Do they also carry it in pulmonary embolism?
 
If you're that on the fence about them, I know a good home for 'em. ;)
 
Did I miss something? What happened to the Granstars and the Starclassics?

Thinking the same thing.

Tama Granstars
Tama Starclassics in black oyster (my fav..I'll take em if you're selling...)
Ludwig naturals
Slingerlands
Drum Craft

Jeez..how is it I know Bo's drum collection but I can't remember to pay the electric bill?
 
Thinking the same thing.

Tama Granstars
Tama Starclassics in black oyster (my fav..I'll take em if you're selling...)
Ludwig naturals
Slingerlands
Drum Craft

Jeez..how is it I know Bo's drum collection but I can't remember to pay the electric bill?

My apologies for not updating all of you. But due to the nostalgic nature of both the Ludwigs and the Slingerlands, both Tamas were let go to help fund those kits. Well, not exactly let go - the Starclassics were bought by the high school I work for so although technically I don't own them, I'm the only one playing them and maintaining them. The school thought it wise to own their own kit for the choir program, so I was able to provide one for them ;)

The Granstars went to the accompanists' 12-year-old son who I give lessons to about once a month now. His mother asked me advice on a first kit for him but she didn't want to buy him a toy, and be loved the Granstars every time he saw them so for his birthday, I set him up with it.

So I have access to all FIVE kits anyway, two of them just don't live in my house. Considering the emotional ties to the vintage kits, they're a good trade. My house is full of maple instead of birch ;)

At first I felt I could flip the DrumCrafts, but I feel like the Slingerlands will probably just enjoy a home life instead of gigging, which would mean the Ludwigs and DCs would share the brunt of the gigging abuse. But I reserve the right to change my mind on that. Good kits need to played in public - every blue moon or so ;)
 
How so? I got the impression from this post, http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1122098&postcount=1
that the main reason you got them was because of the price.

What I mean is, you didn't seem like before, you were - 'I really want a set of DrumCraft drums and I'm going to search for them, no matter how much they cost'.
It was more like - 'I found a set of DrumCraft drums for a really good price. I don't need or particularly want them, but they're a really good deal'.

I could be wrong about that, but it doesn't seem like it from your post I linked to.

.

Yeah, it was more the latter. I just wanted to point out that I don't think I've ever been a "have it all costs" kinda' guy. I thought I was that way years ago when I bought my first DW's, but I think that whole situation cured me of that (since I was so dissatisfied with the whole DW Experience). These new DC's are definitely worth what I paid for them - not sure if I would've paid $2000+ for them - they wouldn't have come up on my radar for that price - although a new Ludwig classic maple Downbeat would've.

And the Slingerlands didn't fall into that category, either. In Bermuda's thread about the outrageous drum prices, I see folks trying to sell their vintage kits for really high prices, and emotional ties or not, I don't have that much disposible income to spend $4500 on a 35+ year-old set of drums. I had seen these particular Slingerlands for a few weeks before and started playing with the idea of getting it in honor of my parents, and it just so happens they were the cheapest by far of any other Slingerland seller, and it fit all the parameters I was looking for. So that was an easy trigger pull. Talk about odds, eh?
 
... I just wanted to point out that I don't think I've ever been a "have it all costs" kinda' guy. I thought I was that way years ago when I bought my first DW's, but I think that whole situation cured me of that (since I was so dissatisfied with the whole DW Experience)...


Yep - one experience like that is usually enough to turn most people a bit more practical.

Still - for someone who's rolling in the cash - why not, right?
 
Yep - one experience like that is usually enough to turn most people a bit more practical.

Still - for someone who's rolling in the cash - why not, right?

Yeah, you're right. In this case, why not?

Now I've spent the morning cleaning up and tuning the DrumCrafts and futzing with hanging the toms off of two straight cymbal stands, and I got it working. These drums are definitely in that sub-2K range, and they tune really easy (almost too easy). They're light, which probably adds to their resonance, and the drum hardware is good (not sure about those tom arms and clamps supplied, though). So I think I'll go with the Yamaha double tom mount on the bass drum anyway. I think this will be a smart move since this company doesn't really have any support in the US, hence no way to get replacement parts should I need them.
 
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