There's no precident for what is happening now. There are more boutique drum makers than ever before. Thanks to the Internet, pretty much anyone can take parts and assemble them into a drum and call it custom. I'm not so sure it's that big of a deal these days.

Yup,botique guys by the hundreds,but i dont think they count because like me,a lot of us end up closing up shop.The obvious big guys that we know will be around 20+ yeears are the ones that should,and likely do keep it all well documented.

Good custom builders will keep some sort of record of their builds with all info (wood type, finish, date, etc), a cataloge is akin to a portfolio or resume'.

I don't think that most builders expect their drums to be around after a few years (re-wrapped, lug change out, etc.). How many kits out there are unknowns sitting in the back of a Pawn Shop because some putz uses sliver paint and stickers on a Black Beauty because he thought it was cool?

Plus, most everyone uses stock parts, there are a few that make their own, few are unique enough to warrant a catalogue or historical documentation.

Other factors such as brand ID and sponsorship. The reputation of the builder/company and the players who used their drums.

Ludwig, Slingerland, Gretsch are ID'd with a person or family with a long line of history behind them. The players too had famous reputations, endorsing the drums they played for decades.

Will anyone care 50 years from now care if Travis Barker used to play the such-and such-model DW kit in green? I doubt it. So there's no point of keeping a record.

My 2 cents.

there must be a scenario where current drummers are revolutionary to the industry just like gene or buddy.

when you want to identify a vintage kit, are you happy with a rough date, or do you try to track down when it was made as close as possible?

For the purposes of this discussion, lets take boutique out of the question as you are both right they are by nature individual and will be hard to identify in 50 years time.

I'm more specifically referring to the current big name builders. with regards to finding information on the internet, once a company changes lines of kits, they often will update their website accordingly. what then happens to the information that they once had available? it is removed from public space and people once again have to rely on backdated catalogs.

today arguably the best resources are the rob cook books. these were written after the fact using investigation by rob cook and still contain some gaps and inconsistencies. I would go out on a limb and suggest that nobody in buddy's earlier years ever knew he would have such a long standing and legendary impact on music, is it not risky to make the same call for current industry leaders (whoever they may be)

if we are in fact making tomorrows history today, why are we not documenting it properly?

Still will have the back against the wall. A great deal of the modern larger drumcos are shopping out to China and parts unknown. Take Gretsch or Tama or Ludwig or Yamaha etc etc etc. They all do it. Those lines will be difficult to track ... Though most won't be interested in doing so.

Yeah, there are so many convoluted drum sets out there, now, I don't think anyone will ever care to track any of them. Easier to just throw them away and buy another one, imo.