Was there a golden age of drum manufacturing

Hard to say about wood quality.. some vintage woods just seem to get better with time but todays manufacturing techniques are awesome. Hardware is so much better by todays standards.. some old vintage stuff is painful to tear down and setup let alone questionable features like internal mufflers etc. (i've had to remove lots of those!)
I have a set of RC 9000's which are awesome.. there is just so much to choose from these days.. and it's should just keep getting better.
 
I think it's different time periods for different manufacturers Hardware wasn't bad in the 60's/70's....it was dreadful. Today's hardware is a dream compared to what we dealt with as working drummers in the aforementioned era.

As far as shells, I'll take 60's/70's, then leave out the power toms of the 80's and pick back up to the late 90's up to about 2012. I haven't seen much in the last few years that constitutes any eye opening changes.

Today, the choices and price points, as mentioned by Andy, are truly impressive across all levels. If you're into wheeling and dealing used stuff (I am) there is much fun to be had. That and niche snares/kit make this a great time to be alive in the drum world.

Cheers,
Todd
 
Probably right now since you can get professional standard kits for less than a grand compared to a few decades ago where the only real brands were Premier, Slingerland, Rogers and Ludwig and their multi thousand dollar kits are comparable to today's cheap kits. Just check out the quality and competition there is in the 1000/2000 dollar price range, it's absurd. There's little difference in quality between a DW Performance and a DW Collectors, Tama Starclassic Performer and a Star, Gretsch Renown and USA Custom, ect...
 
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