Yeah, for historical drums like Civil War drums and stuff, I wouldn't want to play them. I wouldn't even want to clean the dirt from them.

I do keep some drums just for looks, too. I like design concepts for drums, so I have some in my collection that are just.....weird.

Most of the drums I have are playable for gigging, though and most of my drums have been on one or more of my gigs or recordings.

I've got a set of knob tension drums - don't plan on gigging them (too fragile).

I have some late 1800's drums I won't play out with, but other wise That's why I have them so I can play them, I have passed on many super nice collectible drums just because I knew I wouldn't use them so why have them?!

Pics of me gigging with my 1970 slingy set, bought it new way back when

http://www.ovrevolt.com/images.htm

I play all of mine except for an early 60s Roger's Holiday snare. It has 8 flawless bread and butter lugs and I don't want to risk cracking them

I originally got into vintage drums because of the tone and that's still what I'm after. I have a 1929 Ludwig Black Beauty. I didn't buy the drum to gaze at it (although she's a beauty, no pun intended). So I do gig with it however only under certain conditions like being the only band on the bill, no dive clubs and no easy access to the stage from the floor.

I have however collected a couple of shelf dwellers along the WAY. I love George Way drums so I've got a small collection of 9 GW snare drums. Of those 9 four of them are 6 luggers and of those four only 1 of them sounds good, a 6x14. The other four are 5.5x14 so I'm guessing that extra half inch makes that one sound good. I want to mess around more with different head weights and types to try and make them sound better but I never seem to have the time or energy to mess with them so for now they sit.

Although recently I made the 5.5x14 6 lug Aristocrat BDP snare a permanent shelf dweller as I outfitted it with GW calf heads top & bottom plus gut wires. To quote Mike Curotto it now sounds like poo poo! I have a 14x26 GW bass in BDP that I'm looking for calf heads to pair the two up with as my 2 piece jazz kit.

Take Trixon Speedfire drum sets, for example. They are REALLY cool in a very unusual....weird....way. I would love to have a set and display it somewhere in the room as a conversation piece. But, I have been told the sound of the drums is pretty terrible and that finding original parts for them is nearly impossible. I don't have a problem viewing something like that more as a piece of past "futurism" type art design, rather than something that necessarily has to be used in a utilitarian way. Some old drum designs just didn't sound good and they didn't sell well and so they disappeared...only to resurface as collectibles, now! So, in some cases, the focus of the design was far more of a visual selling point than it was a sonic one. That's why owning some of those drums just to look at would be A-OK with me! Of course, I would have to try them out just too hear for myself, but after that, I would put them right back on the display shelf!

In a more modern/vintage example: I have my Arbiter kit and I don't take it on gigs because of it's weight! The shells are TWELVE-ply maple and they are like moving a piano....more or less! So, yes, they sound great and they look great, but the practicality of using them on gigs is way out of line for me. So, I have them set up in my drum room and I use them to do all the goofy drum shop licks that I'd never actually try and pull on any of my gigs. x-mas3 It's kind of like my version of an X-Box! It's where I can pretend that I'm Horacio Hernandez! But, nope, they don't get used on gigs. I call it the "Grand Piano Principle"; That is, if I was a piano player instead of a drummer, I would probably have a grand piano somewhere in my house. But, would I take it on gigs? No. -same thing holds true for the Arbiter kit! heh heh

I don't play my vintage pieces for one main reason, they sound like crap....let me qualify that statement...They sound like a drum made in the 1900s-1940s would sound like, that is to say, dry, militaristic, boxy etc., this is a sound that I do not like...All of my snare drums (except for the 60 modern day drums that I play) are set up in original condition so that's how the drum originally sounded way back when. It's more important to me to preserve the authenticity of the drums. To make these drums playable one would have to change heads, wires, rims and in some cases, strainers...as mentioned above, I have 60 modern day snare drums in my drum studio that get played all of the time so the other 480+ snare drums are my museum pieces.

Mike Curotto

I was reading the Bun E. Carlos interview in Vintage drummer and he has several that are not players. I guess those are truely "pieces" that should be preserved. I think a good vintage set should be used if the mounts and hardware can take it. I used to hate Ludwig hardware when I was younger and touring.