Vintage gear is all the rage right now, and even though I don’t consider myself a vintage gear lover…I have ended up owning quite a bit of it. The video above is about the “new” 1979 Ludwig Acrolite snare I just bought. Now that I do own quite a bit of vintage gear, I wanted to write a few things that might help you decide whether vintage gear suits your needs.

Firstly, the specs of this specific snare:

• 1979 Ludwig Acrolite
• 5″ x 14″ shell
• Came with all original hoops and throw off
• I bought it for $180

Check out the video above to hear my full review of this snare and to hear demos of it at several tunings. Outside of this Acrolite snare drum, I have a 1970’s Big R Rogers drum set, and a pair of 1970’s Zildjian hi hats. The points that follow are the knowledge I’ve gained from owning all of these pieces of vintage gear, not just this snare drum.

Again – I’m NOT a vintage gear nerd. And I’m also not a ‘purist’. I don’t care about replacing the throw off, or hoops, or tension rods. Some want to keep the drum as it originally left the factory – that isn’t me. I just want the drum to be functional and sound good. Bringing me to the first point:

Vintage Can Be Cost Effective

Certainly not all vintage gear is cheap. ‘Collector’ type vintage is not what I’m talking about. The Rogers kit I play I bought for $950 and it sounds amazing (a professional kit for under $1k is rare). The 15″ 1970’s Zildjian hats I use are a pair of cymbals I purchased off a backline company at a gig for $200 (I’m particularly proud of that negotiation). The Acrolite I just purchased was under $200, and is an incredible snare that I can use in the studio and on the road in a variety of different tuning ranges.

That is a total of roughly $1,300 for a professional drum set, snare drum, and pair of hi hats. If I had been ‘buying new’ you’d be looking at $1,600+ for the drum set alone, and the snare and hats on top of that would probably drive you into the $2,500 range. So, in my opinion, vintage is good for people that want a particular professional sound, but want to save money. But, owning vintage gear does come at a “cost”.

Vintage Does Require Some Elbow Grease

Finding the right deals on vintage items can save you a ton of up-front costs, but I would prepare to spend a little cash on the gear after the initial purchase on small things that might need some love and attention. For the Acrolite snare I just purchased, I had to give it a little love for it to sound and look like I wanted it to.

Here are the ‘issues’ with the Acrolite snare when I got it in the mail:

• Tension rods: many of the rods were missing the little washers that go with them
• Dirty shell: many smudges and grease marks on the shell (cured by a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser)
• Rusty rims: the top and bottom rim both had rust
• Throw off: the original P85 throw off on the drum was broken and missing the screws and plate that holds the snares

Now, some of these issues (like the tension rod washers) are super easy fixes. I have several drums and drum parts sitting around that I don’t use, so I typically have spare parts to spread around. The biggest fixes on this snare were the throw off (I had an extra P85 from a Supraphonic I own) and the rust on the rims. The rust isn’t a big deal, and now that it is in a good home I don’t believe it will get worse.

Although these issues weren’t too inconvenient, I would always expect small issues like this when purchasing vintage. When I bought my 1970’s Rogers kit, many the tension rods on the kick drum were bent and they were bulky and strange – so I replaced them all. Again, not a huge deal, but when buying a drum that might have seen 20+ years of playing I would plan on spending an extra $20-30 on parts and ‘stuff’ to fix it up to make it ‘like new’ to you.

Will It Survive ‘The Road’?

Yes. That is the short answer. I used to bring my vintage Rogers kit out on the road and people would always ask me if I was crazy. But, in my opinion, they were meant to be played…SO PLAY THEM. However, I will offer a few pointers and things to think about if you do want to use your vintage gear on the road.

The first thing to consider is the condition of the drum. Some kits that are 40+ years old look like they left the factory yesterday. Conversely, the drum kit in the practice room of my college was 2 years old and was ALMOST not functional. A huge deciding factor in whether vintage gear is ‘road worthy’ will be who has owned the drum before you. Gear that had loving owners that took care to protect it and not abuse it should be fine. Some drums/cymbals that weren’t as lucky might have some issues (splitting shells, busted hardware, etc) that will make bringing it out on the road a non-starter, or will shorten the life span of the drum considerably.

Vintage gear often has outdated hardware. For example, the butt-plate and throw off on the Acrolite I purchased both use screws to tighten down the tabs that hold the snares on the drum. That is fine in the studio, because just about every studio has a screwdriver lying around – but on the road? Not so much. When on the road, I try to ONLY have gear that requires a drum key. I always have several within an arms length, so if anything goes wrong I can fix it.

Another example – my Rogers kick drum has old vintage legs – they don’t fold up like most modern kick drum legs, you have to take them out and they are a separate stand-alone accessory from the drum. This is riskkkyyyy. If you happen to forget a kick drum leg at a venue…you are doomed. Playing a kick drum with only one kick drum leg will prove very difficult, and good luck getting your kick drum leg back. Hopefully the person cleaning up the venue didn’t toss it, because if so…you will have to hope a vintage kick drum leg shows up on eBay AND that you win the bid.

Ok ok. I’m being dramatic. But you get the point. None of those are ‘deal breakers’, it is just a matter of whether the ratio of how much you want your vintage gear on the road is worth the headache/risk it might cause from scenarios like the two above.

SO.

That is what I know about vintage gear (which isn’t much). I think vintage gear is a way to get professional sounding gear for a fraction of the cost, but buying vintage does limit the “road worthy” quality of the gear and requires more love and attention than most drums.

Hope that helps any of you thinking about ‘going vintage’. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. So shoot them my way!