DW for $23K?

BacteriumFendYoke said:
Just wait until you get into repair costs for that sort of thing.

I work with a lot of different instruments. A basic bassoon (a basic one) will set you back at least £2,000. A decent student oboe about £1,000 (if it's priced low). Clarinets and saxophones are generally a lot cheaper for decent student instruments, as are violins (under £500).

What it demonstrates to me is the cost reduction that we get as consumers from mass production. If an instrument has the demand for mass production, the price saving is enormous. Think of how many drummers you know (ten, fifteen in my case outside of here) and think of how many oboists you know (two - and I'm 'in those circles') and it really demonstrates directly how the popularity of an instrument dictates the price.

You can buy inexpensive plastic clarinets and you can buy inexpensive, Chinese-made saxophones that are mass-produced and will function well enough. The difference is that in non-'Rock' circles of music, you will generally only ever buy two instruments. The one you start on and one in five-ten years when you get a lot better, that will be your instrument 'for life'. That second instrument is an investment.

Getting into repair, for a basic clarinet service and repair (check the joints, re-pad, etc.) you're talking around £100-250 and the clarinet is one of the easier instruments to fix. Oboe? The sky is the limit - and they're fragile. Oboe reeds start at about £12 a go and go up to about £50 or £112 for synthetic.

So when you actually sit back and think about it, £10K for a kit is a lot of money but it's nothing compared to what you'd pay for a professional bassoon or double bass. Want a Selmer Mk. VI Tenor Saxophone? £5,000 for one that needs work.

For a professional-quality full set of drums, including cymbals and hardware, the cost is unbelievably inexpensive compared to some other instruments and we have mass manufacturing to thank for that.
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Really interesting people on this forum. I love it. Thanks for putting things in context.
 
I just wish somebody had been clear with us in band class about which instruments had which pluses and minuses.

"Drums--you'll be moving drums til you're sick of it, but they're the most fun to play. People will make jokes about you being dumb, but you'll have the best rhythm"

"Oboe--you'll spend hours making reeds, and it's hard to find paying gigs. Oboes are easy to move, though."

"Bassoon--there's just no upside. Expensive, somewhat bulky to move, and gigs are nonexistent. Give up now."

"Trumpet--easy to move, but gigs aren't that common, and you will become more of a narcissist."

Etc.
 
pgm554 said:
DW and others are producing drums not unlike the collectors plates you see on late night sales channels.
Look ,we have a limited number run of Elvis douche bag collector plates and when they run out ,that's it!
So invest your 401K.
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WallyY said:
In 1986 I bought an expensive set of Sonors. I used all my money that I saved for years. Every bit of money I had. I blew it all on a set of drums. I still play them.
$2300 for seven drums, and all the heavy duty hardware was included.
The list price was over $8000.
The value of $2300 from then to today, adjusting only for inflation is $6400.
That's a 10,12,13,14,16,22, snare and three cymbal stands, hihat stand and bass drum pedal with two tom stands.

$8000 in 1986 is worth $17,725.47.
Perfectly in line with the outrageous DW list price.

List price means absolutely nothing.
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Which is how I judge the worth of a drum kit/gear. If Im buying a kit/gear I need to determine if I can sell it at, or more than what I paid for it (not adjusting for inflation) in the future.

Used is where you can win most of the time with this tactic if you keep the stuff up to snuff, in good shape. New, its got to be something special, or perceived as going to be- rare in the future.

Im just renting everything I own is how I look at it. So if I have a snare drum I paid $500 and 6 years later sell it for $450, that's not a bad rental fee (2.28 cents per day).


Will the said DW's in the future be able to command $10K? Doubtful, as more and more DW's are cranked out each year.
 
The DW used market has bee at 50% of original for years, but that's based on the standard collectors or performance series. A tricked out 23k kit may bring 23k at a later date, or 1k. Tough to tell. I remember Pearts Time Machine was priced at 25k. Now that he's retired on a high note, in another 10 years...who knows..it may be worth 50k or 1k. I don't think you can lose with a standard DW, unless they did something obnoxious. Can't hardly lose with most quality high-end drums these days, until we go back to the super deep toms or something crazy, making today's drums undesirable.
 
Oh! That's the other thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post. Instruments like bassoons and oboes tend to hold their value second-hand. New instruments are not significantly more expensive than old instruments which means that there is no way of getting a 'cheap' one...

And thanks guys.
 
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Push pull stroke said:
I just wish somebody had been clear with us in band class about which instruments had which pluses and minuses.

"Drums--you'll be moving drums til you're sick of it, but they're the most fun to play. People will make jokes about you being dumb, but you'll have the best rhythm"

"Oboe--you'll spend hours making reeds, and it's hard to find paying gigs. Oboes are easy to move, though."

"Bassoon--there's just no upside. Expensive, somewhat bulky to move, and gigs are nonexistent. Give up now."

"Trumpet--easy to move, but gigs aren't that common, and you will become more of a narcissist."

Etc.
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Piccolo. I always make the joke about wishing I played the piccolo whenever I'm hauling gear around...

What's the difference between a trombonist and a horse? The horse might be pulling a regular gig...
 
i think DW has a good strategy: build some of the best drums and hardware in the world and then give nice sets to all the great drummers. the rest of us pay full price to belong to the DW club. a Steinway concert grand piano goes for 80K. i guess 10K for a drum kit is peanuts to the lucky few.
 
Push pull stroke said:
Piccolo destroys your hearing. Flute is better, but there's no gigs.
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Recorded some material with a flautist the other week that I'm in the process of editing into an album. There are gigs!

Actually, the most important thing I learned from him (professional player of 40+ years) is how important branding yourself is. He passed on an anecdote about how most of the professional musicians that he'd met with significant album sales had studied or understood graphic design...
 
BacteriumFendYoke said:
Recorded some material with a flautist the other week that I'm in the process of editing into an album. There are gigs!

Actually, the most important thing I learned from him (professional player of 40+ years) is how important branding yourself is. He passed on an anecdote about how most of the professional musicians that he'd met with significant album sales had studied or understood graphic design...
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Yes, I spent tens of thousands of dollars on a music degree and thousands of hours practicing so I could learn graphic design. No thanks. This profession sucks, and I'm glad I figured that out before I wasted any more years of my life trying to make a living at it.
 
Having personally owned a DW, I can safely say they are one of the best manufactured and made ply kits on the market. They have great attention to detail and everything is very neatly done. However I hugely disagree that they are the best sounding ply kits on the market. There is a reason I sold mine, they are mid line at best. Your paying a premium for american labour and great craftsmanship, not great sound.
 
StaggerLee said:
I hugely disagree that they are the best sounding ply kits on the market. There is a reason I sold mine, they are mid line at best. Your paying a premium for american labour and great craftsmanship, not great sound.
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Wow, that's quite a claim!

I'm not saying you're wrong though.
 
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