I dont respond to Ludwig, Slingerland, Japanese, Gretsch, and some others... because I do not know. I respond to Rogers questions I can answer, especially in Big R Rogers. When you get past the general knowledge of vintage gear into the minutae of knowledge and factoids, a lot of people drop off from resonding, including myself.

What is your specific question?

I can dissect a cat ... or a beetle ... or a kid. I'm pretty good with a scalpel. I did a complete dissection of a pig in under four minutes. But I draw the line at ... well ... I don't actually have a line, but I'm sure there's something out there that I wouldn't disassemble.

My concerns have been about Gretsch,Fibes,and Japanese gear,but im not bringing up the past.Just wondering if you guys feel that its worth it to pay for advise?

Nope. Not in a million years.

You could pay the same for good or bad advice, so why pay at all?

I would not pay for advise when it come's to vintage drums.The only time's iam paid on vintage drums are for parts and re-storeing the drums..I to answer questions on this forum and other's iam on but then again if you ask a question and it has say 5 or so replys i don't answer un-less a member got it wrong or i can add something to the post that has not been covered...Mikey

I really only know about what I have in my collection....but I have a decent collection and learned a lot about those drums through the process of getting them, so as long as a question pertains to what I know I can answer fairly accurately, I participate.

The problems I have come by way of trying to make valuations. As you know, we get a lot of new members posing that question. I don't think there are any real "gurus" in that regard. It's pretty much a crapshoot these days.

Forums like this are usually comprised of many "experts" with similar kinds of "expert" credentials. It's when everyone convenes together that the entire forum becomes a singular entity of wide-ranging knowledge.

The other thing about this forum is that it's a kind of self-teaching forum if you know how to use the resources that are already in place. The Vintage Drum Guide is like the single most valuable reference guide on the internet and is used by almost every drum discussion forum that has a vintage drum discussion section.

In general, the people who jump right in and start participating seem to benefit the most, but I presume that even a lurker can acquire an expert amount of knowledge just from reading here.

We all have had questions go unanswered at one time or another. When the answers aren't forthcoming, it's because no one has the correct answer...or maybe didn't see the question.

Oh, yeah....

"Would I pay for expert advice?"

Well, yes, in a roundabout kind of way. Because I donate to this forum when I can. It supports my own addiction to the subject of vintage drums. Whether or not I get all my questions answered, I'd still pay to keep this site in place because it's become a habit.

basic knowledge is here in the threads if you take time to research as the same ? is asked again and again but i do know my sixtys luddys and no to paying for advise

quit pu$$yfooting around and ask an actual question!

get specific about what u want to know.

people here are cool and will most likely answer it for you (unless its a 'how much is this worth?' question... lol)