Market is soft except for perfect examples of collector grade gear. And that puts many people on the sidelines waiting for prices to rise, so inventory is lower. That's what I'm seeing in general.

And my guess some people bought high and don't want to sell for a loss or to break even. I don't blame them a bit.

In my market I am seeing insane prices a lot of the times for not so desirable drum kit.

Totally agree... There's "something in the air" L.O.L.

What I'm seeing is a new scenario with no more bargains or "crazy opportunities"....

Every single old dusty/rusty drum owner are trying to keep valuable their stuff.Yes Sir

Nothing particularly wrong with that, just a new context for us guys!!Coffee Break2

We've discussed this in several other threads. I'm a forum member who prefers Slingerland drums. I also have a strong liking for Leedy by Slingerland drums and Walberg & Auge drums. I've been fortunate to buy or trade for great drum sets of these brands with relatively small outlays of cash. In my recent downsizing efforts, I sold one vintage Slingerland set and one vintage Leedy set after listing them in this forum and on eBay. I asked for, and received current fair market value for these drums. I also sold a Fibes fiberglass set for a very fair market value. All things considered, I made a few bucks on each drum set sale-enough to cover the shipping and packing materials costs that I factored in to the selling prices, but not enough to offset the selling fees. My take-away from these experiences is that I had three nice drum sets for a while that ended up costing me just a little money for the years that I owned them. If I were in the market to buy or trade for some vintage drums, I think that I could end up with a nice set of Slingerland, Leedy, or W&A drums at bargain prices. I don't have any experience with other brands except for Ludwig Standard Series which was a similar buying experience as the other brands I own.

I have been buying high in the last few years and can't seem to break even let alone make a buck.untill this year I sold a few drums and made 25 % on them to me not bad, it's been a far cry from the days if the 500 dollar purchase and the 5 k resell that won't happen no more for sure, but I see fair profits is in the turn around, I sold my blue note for a fair profit not a lot but still made money and I paid through the nose for it I am seeing a quest for certain drums but they have to be clean and no mods personally I think the sweet spot is gone and what we have left in our arsenals is it . the rest people are trying to get 3 k for a kit that's been to hell and back and is so altered it's not even a good players drum my 2 cents

I say it's pretty bad overall. Except for vintage 60s Ludwig and Gretsch. And of course Camco.

I have been talking up the advantage of owning "Vintage drum kits" in place of purchasing newly manufactured drum kits available at our local "Big Box Music" instrument retailers.

My key points to parents; Great Sound and Solid Construction.

IMO: a Great Way to be Green and Recycle!

Thoughts?

The flippers and strippers drive up the costs because it is a speculative market. I think the deals are in basements and attics and the repair and restore tips here are great to get a drum back to playing music rather than collecting dust.