I dont think the "average" player realizes how much money they have tied up in gear. Im not refering to the lucky few that are endorsed, just the guy that actually has to save up for gear. Take time to add it up, if you haven,t already, and be prepared.Mind Blowi

Interesting point, Last year I called my insurance agent to see if I needed an insurance rider for my drums and he kind of laughed since I play mostly for fun and only declare very little drum income. But he suggested I at the very least make an inventory spreadsheet with current resale value, replacement value (new) and what I paid for each item. Also he suggested photo's of each individual item. He didn't realize what an undertaking that was.

I have 7 kits, one of them has 13 toms and 3 bass drums. I have 70 cymbals, 30 snares, about 60 pieces of percussion, 13 sets of hi-hats, 12 bass drum pedals, cases for almost everything, hardware for each set, a complete wrap around rack system, roland electronic drums, not to mention JBL PA system, Yamaha PA system, Lighting rack, cords cables, mics, sound board, piano, guitar, amps, drum mics, triggers, stands and misc hardware, parts, etc, etc.

So almost a year later I have about 90% of my stuff in the spreadsheet and it turns out it's worth a hell of a lot of money. My agent was amazed but he actually checked my figures on a few items and decided I needed a rider on my homeowners.

But this led to me taking a realistic look at exactly how much I actually have and all the maintenance required to properly store and care for all that stuff.

I always say that I play everything but I think that's not as true as it used to be. I fall back on my favorites more and more.

Hence this thread!!!! How much is enough? And if you store it in your basement, garage, warehouse, etc wouldn't it be better if it was out making music? Or at least on display somewhere people could see or hear your stuff??

Yeah, sounds like you and I are in a similar situation. I play classical percussion, guitar, bass, hand percussion, run sound, etc. I've been at the point for a while now that I want to downsize to the bare bones of what I "need". While it's cool to have those 6 guitar amps, which ones get used the most? Do I really *need* that 2nd set of timpani, those 3 pairs of congas, both of the vibraphones? I mean, they were great deals when I bought them, and they all have their unique, desirable tonal qualities, but c'mon! I'm getting tired of storing, and having to dig past stuff to get to other stuff, and even taking those spare moments to contemplate which speaker mains will work best with which microphones to mic up whichever vibraphone I decide to bring. Ugh. Too much mental clutter for me anymore. After years of gear exploration and experimentation, I'm on a new quest for simplicity...

Back in the mid-'80's, I was all about nuthin' but Radio Kings.

At any given time, I had at least 4 RK kits, separate 20, 22, 24, and 26-inch bass drums; 17 or 18 RK snare drums, and at least 1 of every size RK tom they ever made, including a couple of one-offs. Not to mention a big ol' bunch of Leedy And Ludwig stuff just I got 'em cheap and they sounded different from the RK's.

Mind you, these were my axes. I was gigging and recording an average of 4 times a week (I miss those days.). I used them because they sounded absolutely marvelous. No different from a gitfiddlist preferring a tweed Bassman and a '63 Strat. Had anyone made new stuff like that at that time, I'd've been using those instead, just for the factor of the RK's being valuable vintage gear.

At the same time, I had about 40 or so other snare drums just 'coz I liked 'em and for when I needed a certain sound in a certain studio where an RK wouldn't get it done the best, due to the room's acoustic characteristics.

I got to gradually selling them off because it felt like I was keeping a bunch of Ferraris in a garage instead of using them for what they were designed for. They all went to guys that I knew could play and respected the drums for what they were, such as Nicko McBrain, Fran Christina (Fabulous Thunderbirds), and Johnno Brown (Ice-Capades).

I figured out that I needed to focus more on being able to do what I wanted on whatever drums were in front of me, and less about the kit I was doing it on.

I'm IN! Simplify Simplify Simplify my new motto - less is more!