I would submit the Sonor Safari and/or Bop kits. Similar in price and features

to the Ludwig Breakbeat kits. The quality seems to be there. I've been gigging with a Safari kit for the past 3 months.

One consideration for your dealer friend would be the "buy in" to carry Ludwig or Sonor kits if his store is not already a dealer for these brands. That is, to carry the low end items, he may be required to stock a certain amount of high end merchandise from these brands that may be hard to sell profitably in his market.

My advice to anyone looking for a beginners kit is to look to your local Craigslist and local rummage/yard/garage sales. It may take some time, but sooner-or-later you can find a complete kit in decent condition in the $100 range.

I purchased a Ludwig Accent set for that price last summer, complete with even a throne. It just needed cleaning up.

Also last summer, for $125 I got a "Verve" set (complete and also with a throne) that only needed cleaning up.

Just a few weeks ago my wife found a "no-name" MIT set for $40. It needed bottom hoops and a good cleaning up.

And, just last week one of the teachers here at the HS cornered me and told me she had bought a set for her 5th-grader and wanted me to see it (to see if she got a good deal). It was a GP Percussion set (22/16/13/12, 6.5x14 SD) complete with all hardware, cymbals (also GP), and a throne... for $75. She had me clean it up and put new heads on the toms, and I threw in a case for the SD -- I did that for $75. So now she's got a complete set for $150.

I've got 5 or 6 of these types of sets in my garage that I've picked up cheap just waiting on cleaning and minor repairs. I typically resell them in the $250-$275 range.

So... I have a hard time telling people to just buy them new...

Bill

Tim,

You pose a good question, but most of us here in this community would probably recommend a used vintage MIJ set for $150-250 over any of the new, entry-level MIT sets. Unfortunately, most parents of beginers probably feel more comfortable buying the new $400 PDP set with hardware and cymbals from Guitar Center (see ad below) over a used set of unknown value or quality (plus, the ad says I'm saving over $318!!).

Funny how most non-musicians can accept the concept that old violins can be much better than new ones, but can't grasp the fact that old drums can also be better than new ones.

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I agree with you Bill, but there are some people that would rather buy new from a music store that is going to stock new kits anyways. I was just thinking there are better alternatives than the TJ/CB/GP Percussion stencil drums.

At the time and not knowing much about drums, I opted to purchase a Pearl Forum kit over the Sound Percussion kit for my two sons. The Forum kit was a little more, but there was a definite quality difference between the two. Some of the mounts and hardware were made of brittle pot metal on the Sound Percussion kit.

If someone is willing to spend $450 on a new entry level kit of poor quality, I personally feel it's a wise choice to spend an extra $100+ to get something of better quality.

Hmmmm ... Maybe I could do something like you and sell refurbished kit to the music store for them to resell. :rolleyes:

-Tim

We are a disposable, must-have-it-now, society in 2013. They package up a product that can be set up and played, immediately. All of us know that buying a 450 dollar Slingy kit, and wrapping it in hardware and a few cymbals is the much smarter play, but mom and dad don't care. They want it done with, NOW!

If I ever had a beginner's kit to sell, I would definitely make it a complete kit with el-cheapo hardware and anything that would pass as a cymbal. I have to think that simply stating in the ad that the kit was ready to play, would open up many, many more opportunities to sell it.............

My opinion: there is more than enough cheap, used gear that if manufacturers all simply stopped making new stuff, the market for drum gear would be satisfied for at least a decade. Also, why buy a $300 Sound Percussion kit new when you can get a used one, with upgraded cymbals, for under $100, all day every day? Why pay the "chump price" when you don't even know if your 10 year old is going to stick with it for more than a month?

I think most here would suggest purchasing a better quality used kit or a cheaper yet cheap quality used kit, however, that is not the question posed by the OP.

Stalwart makes a good point. If you want to help your friend out with suggestions, the first thing to do is figure out what dealerships he already carries. Otherwise, you may find it difficult to convince him that he needs to buy into yet another manufacturer or distributor. If he is already a Ludwig dealer then he may be able to order the Breakbeat kits. I say "may" as there are a multitude of layers in those deals. Perhaps he can market a decent kit with some decent stands a, pair of hats and a cymbal?

Wow.

Just checked out Guitar Center online.

Brand-new-in-box, PDP Z5 5-Piece Shell pack with hardware (cymbals not included, however) for $199.99 (MSRP $755.98)/

http://www.guitarcenter.com/PDP-Z5-5-Piece-Shell-Pack-with-Hardware-109717439-i3069902.gc

Not sure any of us can beat this price!

BTW -- Musician's Friend has the hardware pack for this set for $89.99 (hihat stand, SD stand, cymbal stand, BD pedal).

I was looking for a cheap hardware pack (as thornbeck had mentioned) because I don't always have good used hardware to put with the "beginner" sets I have available... and it does make for a better/faster sale to parents of beginners when you can provide them with a "turn key" setup!

I also don't hesitate to pick up "cheap" cymbals when the opportunity arises. 'Cause what drumhack mentioned I agree with completely!

Bill

Tim,

Quite frankly IMO the Pearl Forum is one of the better options out there. Several years back (around 2000) when I had a son starting to drum (and before I was into this restore/refurb buy/sell thing with drums), I went the eBay route and put him a set together. Of course, I was a big Pearl FG fan, and found a set of Pearl FG toms (16x16, 9x13, and 8x12) in decent shape (chrome finish) for about $75 on eBay. I also bought a hihat stand, BD pedal, tom arms, etc. etc. etc. all separately on eBay, but couldn't find a BD. So we went to Wichita, and MidWest Drum & Percussion had some of Pearl's "B" stock available and I ended up buying a 16x22 Pearl Forum BD in chrome. The lugs of course didn't match, but neither of us thought it to be a big deal. Anyway, that's when I noticed that I could have bought, on sale at the time, a complete Pearl Forum 5-pc kit with hardware for $499.99!! Even in chrome! Now, that was a little more than I had spent on his kit, but I could have done it all at once instead of over a several week time period!

Bill