New to thread and just made my first foray in ebay bidding (bid on a 14" Rogers f/t) last week. Is there a way someone could tell me what items you're talking about so that I can learn from this??? Thanks.

Yes there was a link posted briefly but was still a live auction. Not sure if

Gary was interested in bidding on the item. I'll let him fill everyone in.

Upon further analysis it looks like the other bidder t**a is a good bidder. I was wrong in my suspicions that there was shilling going on in this auction.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160885117504?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2648

I'm also pretty new at all this and got suspicious when the other bidder jumped in on the last day. He probably wanted the drum almost as bad as me but was not preparted to pay more than $300 for it. I don't blame him.

I did get the drum.

I extended myself on this drum because 14" Gretsch 3ply drums are very hard to find. The shell itself is rare. The badge and other hardware is worth a couple hundred so I really did not do too bad.

Going by the photos on eBay and the extra ones the seller emailed me it does look like the real deal......a 3ply drum.

However....I have been down this road recently and bought what I thought - and what the seller thought - was a 3ply 14" Cocktail drum. I have a nice 6ply Cocktail drum sitting in my livingroom haha.

Thanks all for your replies here,

Nice I thought you might be bidding on it. Very nice shot of the 3 ply shell too so looks like a winner. Plans? 2 14"s or 14" and a nice deep snare?

I have my fingers crossed and hope it is indeed the real deal 3ply shell. The proof will be when it's in my hot little hands.

The plan is to make a 14" floor tom - that leaves me with enough to make a nice snare drum - 8" or so (the drum is 24 and I will have some cuts withing that). Yes, it would be nice to make another deep snare drum. I have a 6.5x14 1950 3ply Gretsch I just finished in Cadillac Green. I was also playing with the idea of a 9x14 short tom.

I cut down this 9x13 1920's Gretsch Leedy shell that I bought on eBay a few years ago. Both ends of the drum were crunched/cracked/split right down to the tacks so bad there was no way to get around cutting it down if I was going to save it.

I carefully cut it down on my table saw..........

It finished up into this nice little 6 3/4 x13" Gretsch (no badge) tom with a Gibraltar tom hanger and flanged hoops. I use it with my 50's kit as a side tom and I love it. I do have the option of making a 6.5x13 snare out of it if I ever want to go that route.

Here it is: