Legend drums are rare but are they collectible?

The term vintage in the drum world is definitely over used. It initially meant drums from the 60's and earlier but it's basically a buzz word to use since the word antique doesn't apply to any drum built after 1911 (the 100 year rule for antiques).

Basically the rule of thumb is if the drum is collectible it is considered vintage. But just because a drum is rare doesn't mean it's collectible which I think is the case with Legend drums. Of course that can change once enough people out there just have to have Legend drums.

It's interesting that you ask this question. Do a little research and you will see that this topic has been talked to death on this forum. The best answer I can give you is that there is no officially sanctioned definition of the word with regard to drums although there are many understandings of the word vintage. You will need to determine which explanation of vintage works for you and then simply go with it. This of course makes it more complicated to communicate using this term. Would you like to see my "vintage" DDrum kit!

...when the player feels vintage...that is when the gear becomes vintage. Of course, feeling old for a drummer is an everyday thing. We are the most physically abused member of any group of musician.

Hello.

Searching about this word, reffered to musical instruments, somwere I read something like this...

To be Vintage, a musical instrument must meet 3 points:

1- Discontinued manufacturing: If an object is made now in the same old way, you can´t say that an old one is vintage.

2- High quality construction: Professional performance (may be initial level instrument with high performance). A low performance old instrument is scrap.

3- Good condition to use, not just to show it.

I think that are reasonables duties.

Thus not necessary antiques (80´s or 90's real good discontinued instrument) may be vintage (or collectible).

Thanks guys. I love my Ludwig set from the early 70's and I cant imagine selling it although I play a new Tama set most of the time. I really enjoy this forum and thanks for all the responses.

I think the thing that is most overlooked when discussing this topic is manufacturing.

Vintage Drums were manufactured differently than drums from the 80s on up.

The glue was made from animals and the wraps were flammable celluloid. The shells were handmade using goofy items like inner tubes and burlap as pressure tools. The wood was old growth wood and even rare choice species (African Mahogany). The list goes on and on.

These factors cannot be duplicated en masse. No current drum manufacturer can/has/will include(d) all of these into a drum.

This is part of the reason why NONE of the more modern drum builders will ever be totally accepted as Vintage, regardless of the passage of time. This is also why there is a fairly precise date for the cuttof ... it revolves around the 70s.

Excellent explanation! Thanks for pointing that out!

Obviously I´m not a drummer, or drum maker. Thus I don't know so much to discuss about drums manufacturing. But I think in some questions...

All the old drums was made in similar way, but are all "vintage"?... What do you expect in a vintage drum to differentiate from any old drum?

An old drum toy is a "Vintage Drum"? Why?

Why now a lot of people use this word (vintage), fashion?

When manufacturers have changed substantially the actual process and materials, the actual good drums will be considered vintage?

Today "vintage" is a word often used to sell more expensive any old object. Personally I expect high quality and discontinued model to name vintage to an object. What do you expect in vintage object?

20+ years old is as good of a measure as any.

I think the correct usage, where applied to this collector market, in particular, would be those qualities indicated by RogerSling. Once mass manufacturing took on the look and feel it as today, he is right, drums all became generic, like the use of auto-hammers in cymbals changed them to a more uniform product, like them or no.

Let's take the Ludwig 6 ply era, for example: virtually all 16x16 floor toms from that era, regardless of wrap type, lugs (classic vs Std vs Mach) pretty much sound the same as the next one out of the crate, whereas 3 ply shells were much more affected, sonically, by cortex wraps, natural finishes and other factors.

The glue change at Ludwig, I think I read somewhere a couple of years ago, came about the time the scarfed in wrap ended, but before the end of 3 ply shells, the clear lacquer era? Or was that the Granitone era? I get those confused as to which was earlier or later, and even when the scarfing changed, but it seems the clear maple shells had no scarfed wrap.

Anyway, this is when the tones began to take on a more generic or "standardized" quality, the end of scarf jointed wraps, and more consistently round drums. And then the 6 ply Chicago and 4 ply Monroe shells, all sound virtually identical to their respective types, except the 4 ply Monroe in wrapped vs natural finishes...

I say we stick to the RogerSling explanation and go with it!

Afterall, it seemed to hit the big 3 all about the same time, and Rogers just exited, pretty much, when CBS started demanding absolute profit over absolute quality. That pretty much hit all the corporate structures at the same time, and mass production techniques helped to realize that factor, for awhile, until the Japanese, who already had the formula working for them, took over the rest of the market. Gretsch seems to have, for the most part, escaped a lot of the hectic corporate greed that all but killed the others.