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Post by swurveman on Jun 15, 2016 12:20:05 GMT -6
Sonor Horst Link Signature Bell Brass Bronze HLD 5We live in schizophrenic times. While so many records use sample replacements, a rare snare is being sold for an outrageous price. Here's the seller's rational: "This drum is rare - only 200 were made. These only come up on ebay every few years, and they go quickly. I saw one sell for close to $8,000 a while back, and another for over $7,000. Is that a crazy price? Not when you consider cost of materials, inflation, and appreciation. Cost of materials: based on the thickness of the shell (remember it started at over 5mm thick and was lathed down, the depth, and ultimately the weight) this drum probably required about 30 pounds of a special copper tin alloy to manufacture. I have done some alloy casting with bell brass. I estimate that there is over a $1,400 in raw material in the drum shell alone if you account for the waste that is an inherent part of casting and lathe turning. Inflation: This drum originally sold for ~$2000. $2000 back in the 1980's is $4000 in today's money. Appreciation: Quality musical instruments gain value over time. Look at a 1957 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst or a Stradivarius violin..... When something is rare and sounds great, the price goes up with time, not down.
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Post by kilroyrock on Jun 15, 2016 12:30:17 GMT -6
I feel bad for drummers that want good drum gear. A black beauty snare is something like 700 bucks, and then you're expected to beat on it with a couple sticks repeatedly. At least with guitars and violins they are lovingly stroked and handled (for the most part).
34 lbs!
That black beauty sounds pretty great though..
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Post by jcoutu1 on Jun 15, 2016 13:21:02 GMT -6
Sonor Horst Link Signature Bell Brass Bronze HLD 5We live in schizophrenic times. While so many records use sample replacements, a rare snare is being sold for an outrageous price. Here's the seller's rational: "This drum is rare - only 200 were made. These only come up on ebay every few years, and they go quickly. I saw one sell for close to $8,000 a while back, and another for over $7,000. Is that a crazy price? Not when you consider cost of materials, inflation, and appreciation. Cost of materials: based on the thickness of the shell (remember it started at over 5mm thick and was lathed down, the depth, and ultimately the weight) this drum probably required about 30 pounds of a special copper tin alloy to manufacture. I have done some alloy casting with bell brass. I estimate that there is over a $1,400 in raw material in the drum shell alone if you account for the waste that is an inherent part of casting and lathe turning. Inflation: This drum originally sold for ~$2000. $2000 back in the 1980's is $4000 in today's money. Appreciation: Quality musical instruments gain value over time. Look at a 1957 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst or a Stradivarius violin..... When something is rare and sounds great, the price goes up with time, not down. I think his pricing is legit. I don't know about these snares, but rare and quality make for an expensive piece. A couple years ago I sold a used Warwick Fortress Flashback bolt-on bass for $2500. The regular Fortress goes for about $700, but there were very few of the Flashback model made, so I cashed in. More than doubled my money with the sale because of its rarity. |
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Post by Guitar on Jun 16, 2016 14:28:47 GMT -6
I feel bad for drummers that want good drum gear. A black beauty snare is something like 700 bucks, and then you're expected to beat on it with a couple sticks repeatedly. At least with guitars and violins they are lovingly stroked and handled (for the most part). 34 lbs! That black beauty sounds pretty great though.. Take a look at the Pork Pie Big Black Brass snare for about $200, or any number of equivalent snares from other brands. Spectacular black nickel over brass sound for a fraction of the price. I feel like the music industry and the musical instrument industry are suffering at the same time from the same economic ailments. The desire for cheaply made stuff, with quality, and then this stratospheric cost for truly intensive and rare products. It's pretty hard to choose between cheap and world class, with the kind of price differences involved. Also the vintage market just keeps getting higher and higher. I wonder if that drum will find a buyer. I wonder if it will be played or polished. |
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Post by Quint on Jun 16, 2016 20:12:07 GMT -6
I feel bad for drummers that want good drum gear. A black beauty snare is something like 700 bucks, and then you're expected to beat on it with a couple sticks repeatedly. At least with guitars and violins they are lovingly stroked and handled (for the most part). 34 lbs! That black beauty sounds pretty great though.. Take a look at the Pork Pie Big Black Brass snare for about $200, or any number of equivalent snares from other brands. Spectacular black nickel over brass sound for a fraction of the price. I feel like the music industry and the musical instrument industry are suffering at the same time from the same economic ailments. The desire for cheaply made stuff, with quality, and then this stratospheric cost for truly intensive and rare products. It's pretty hard to choose between cheap and world class, with the kind of price differences involved. Also the vintage market just keeps getting higher and higher. I wonder if that drum will find a buyer. I wonder if it will be played or polished. Polishing will definitely happen but it will all be "knob" based. I believe in paying for quality but I equally don't believe in supporting the completion of yuppy dreams. Only people who don't actually play instruments like these (with the requisite proficiency) have the ability to buy such items and remove them from the buying pool for people who could otherwise afford them and actually play them. When has a dentist ever written a good song? |
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Post by iamasound on Jun 17, 2016 2:42:39 GMT -6
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Post by levon on Jun 17, 2016 2:50:34 GMT -6
Lol, touché.
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Post by jeremygillespie on Jun 17, 2016 20:25:28 GMT -6
You can get a used Ludwig Acrolite on ebay for less than $100 if you keep an eye on them. Clean it up a bit, new top and bottom heads, new set of snares, possibly new throw off. For $200 you have a great snare that has been on more hit records than that Sonor monstrosity...
For the longest time the vintage drum market was extremely reasonable. Its gone up considerably the past 3 years or so. I got my '54 Slingerland Radio King kit for $800 on ebay about 3 years ago. That same kit is more than double the price now if you can find one.
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Post by Guitar on Jun 18, 2016 14:13:50 GMT -6
You can get a used Ludwig Acrolite on ebay for less than $100 if you keep an eye on them. Clean it up a bit, new top and bottom heads, new set of snares, possibly new throw off. For $200 you have a great snare that has been on more hit records than that Sonor monstrosity... For the longest time the vintage drum market was extremely reasonable. Its gone up considerably the past 3 years or so. I got my '54 Slingerland Radio King kit for $800 on ebay about 3 years ago. That same kit is more than double the price now if you can find one. I love those Aluminium ludwigs, I've got a "blackrolite." I did just what you said and rehab'd it back into playing shape. My big aluminum drum is a Pearl Sensitone Aluminum 6.5x14, that is also a very good value, and very similar to the Acrolites. Possibly a used Supraphonic, though, would not be too much more if you find a sweet deal. I think the chrome is a little more attractive than the raw aluminum. They are all good drums though. The best way to clean rust off of chrome is some aluminum foil with water. You just rub the wet foil on the rust and there is a chemical reaction that takes it right off. Just using chemistry like that to fix a drum is really satisfying, feels geeky. A lot of these old snare drums have lived in basements, sheds and the like with lots of humidity so a heavy rebuild is required. I was honestly very surprised how clean the drums look now after the process, and how well they sound. As long as the shell is in round, and not badly damaged on the bearing edges, the drum should clean up quite well with new heads, wires, hardware, etc. I had to put some new tension rods in the Acrolite too because they were so gunky and brown. It's not a massively expensive job, just slightly, and the payoff is huge. That darn P85 throwoff is not too durable when you've got a heavy handed oaf manhandling your drum, but the replacement part is less than $30 I think. I'm just amazed how much abuse a snare drum can endure and still be repairable. |
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