In your opinion, when did vintage drums become "cool"? (2025)

waynel said:

I bought a 4piece 1960s ludwig set ( 12 13 16 22 in blue sparkle) for $100 in 1994 and was shocked when I sold it for $900 in 1996 so I guess vintage was thing back then.

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The collectibles market bottomed out around 1995-1996. So everything from muscle cars, coins, antiques, drums, etc. started becoming more attractive following
a significant price drop from 1988-1990. As a marker I recall Plymouth Roadrunner Superbirds in nice shape dropped in price from $100,000 in 1989 to $35K by 1996.
I felt there was a good chance they would come back to $100K within a decade or so. Which they did and then some by 2007.

The collectibles market slowly moved up in the 1997-2003 which was hard for many people to even notice. Strong hands were pulling the extra supply off the market and
prices were slow to respond. And once the stock market bottomed out in 2003.....then things really took off in another move lasting to 2007-2008.

In short, I think vintage drums became "cool" when their prices became way too low vs. the price of new drums.....with way more potential upside. That's usually what ignites a market.
I recall in 1992 when looking for my first muscle car and having a choice between say a clean 1969 383 Roadrunner sedan at $3K or a brand new Pontiac Trans Am LT1 at $23K. The answer
was simple. I bought the RR. By 2008 that RR was worth $20K and the 1993 Trans Am (now 15 yrs old) was worth about $5K. Collectible drums did follow a similar path.
Gretsch Round Badge kit in the early 1990's must have been dirt cheap......and by 2008 they were quite pricey. In my first act of "collectible stupidity" I sold off my 60's Slingerland,
Rogers kits in 1983-1984 for about $225-$250 each. "They were too old and couldn't possibly be "the" sound anymore." And then I spent $1100 on a new Tama Superstar kit.
Boy, I wish I had that decision back again...........lol.

bpaluzzi said:

As a teen in the 90s, I remember Eric Kreitz of Stone Temple Pilots being the first "rock" guy who really was known for using lots of vintage drums in the studio.

Although, an extreme personal "Mandela effect" thing for me: I distinctly remember Lars playing a rosewood (or maybe walnut) vintage Gretsch kit in the "Nothing Else Matters" video. It was a small-ish single-kick kit, and I remember seeing a black reso head with the Gretsch logo visible.

Watched it today. Nope. A big gunmetal grey Tama double-bass kit haha. I have no idea where this extremely distinct image in my mind came from.

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It is a Gretsch kit, it's been well documented.

Apparently from 1980, as mentioned here:

I was born in 1986 so they’ve been cool as long as I can remember.

I assume that every time drum technology has changed enough to make a given era noticeably different from whats currently available, the older style become interesting for some purpose.

I’m sure rope tensioned field drums were interesting to some musicians by the 30’s, 2 piece brass shells with single flanged hoops seemed to have some cachet by the 60’s, Radio Kings by the 80’s, etc

exliontamer said:

This is interesting but a hard thing to answer objectively. I was a teen in the 90s as well so my view is obviously skewed to that. I bought my first kit, a mid 60s Slingerland 12/13/16/20, at a pawn shop in 1993 for $150 including Pearl Wild cymbals & hardware. I had no perspective living in a small town in Tennessee & having no internet access but I don't recall old drums being cool then. I, for sure, know that I just wanted a newer Tama or DW but those were serious money even then.
Fast forward to the mid to late 90s & me starting to play with older college kids who liked Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel, etc. I definitely noticed the older indie kids tended to think it was cool &, overall, there was definitely a conscious effort on their part to play 60s instruments. I didn't personally notice it being a real thing beyond collector nerds until the late 90s. I will say that DW was ubiquitous then, seemed to be the kit of choice for a lot of younger bands (once they had money) & had an envious roster of studio greats/vets.

Had to rack my brain a bit but here's a list of drummers (all great drummers too) that I actively remember playing vintage kits in the 90s. As in they played them visibly live or talked about recording with them in the studio (i.e. Larry Mullen Jr. talking about using the old Sonor teardrop kit at Hansa for Achtung & Zooropa).
*Matt Barrick (Jonathan Fire Eater...later The Walkmen).
*Erik Kretz (Stone Temple Pilots).
*Darren Jesse (Ben Folds Five)
*Bengt Lagerberg (The Cardigans)
*Jonas Holmberg (Komeda)
*Cindy Blackman (Lenny Kravitz)
*Alan White (Oasis)
*Larry Mullen Jr. (U2)
*Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth)
*Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil)
*Mike D (The Beastie Boys)
*Colm O Ciosoig (My Bloody Valentine)

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Great rundown of that time period. Definitely jives with my recollection as well.

There was a huge "retro zeitgeist" that took hold in the '90s in many areas of the culture...probably as an organic reaction to the high-tech, futuristic neon glow that colored a lot about the '80s.

The swing-music revival; Pulp Fiction; the tremendous resurgence of acoustic, folk, garage, country, blues, and '60s-influenced music; the turn to retro-inspired stadium design; all signposts of that collective consciousness of the time.

In many ways, we're still inside the residual energy of that, but we may be at the tail end of it, approaching something else.

My "lightbulb" moment back then was being just out of college and seeing Darren Jesse with Ben Folds Five on Sessions at West 54th. Circa 1997. Playing his small Leedy BDP kit with what looked like a bunch of old As. Sounded so great. Such heavy vibe to the whole thing.

Sold my c. 1989 red Tama Swingstars the next year and picked up a BDP '60s Slingerland kit--the first in a long succession of vintage kits up to the present. A tremendously musically rewarding and fun trip.

Technically my first set of drums is a 1975 Gretsch in Rosewood, but i got them used in June of 1983 so they really weren't vintage. The hardware has never been all that great either but I still have them. The vintage bug did not really hit me until the summer of 1990. I wanted a set of Ludwig drums kind of like Buddy Rich but did not know the first thing about old ones. I actually ordered a brand new Ludwig classic set in WMP from my local drum shop and on the way home stopped at an old mom and pop store. They had a quadra plus vistalite set for $350 and I bought that too. Sadly the new Ludwig set had all kind of wrap problems and after a few atempts at re-wraps from Ludwig, I sold the set and went strictly vintage.

John Aldridge was living in VT at the time, which is the next state over from me and I caught wind of the NSMD magazine. Between that and the drum shows, I was totally hooked.

I started collecting around 1987 when it was all Want Ad Press and going into peoples basements and attics.

They couldn't part with stuff fast enough.

I was getting sets for $300 that are nearly $3,000 today.

I knew nothing about a vintage community or anything like that ... I just knew what I liked.

Tama CW said:

In short, I think vintage drums became "cool" when their prices became way too low vs. the price of new drums.....with way more potential upside. That's usually what ignites a market.

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I think this is basically correct.
North America is a very different market to Europe/UK. North America has always been much more competitive price-wise (cheaper) and most of the desirable vintage gear has resided in North America (often made in USA).
In the 1980's UK and European drummers bought 'vintage drums' because they couldn't afford a new kit. Most people who could afford it were buying and playing brand new drums.
I'd never heard of an Acrolite before there internet. In the 70's I knew of one jazz drummer who played Camco, but I'd never seen a Camco kit and thought they were just a very, very obscure brand.
By the late 90's there were drum forums and Ebay. Mail companies were happy to accept large packages.
I bought my Oaklawn Camco for about $1200 and the US seller posted it to me in the UK by US Mail.

SKSMITH said:

I think 2 things really kickstarted it:
1 - Neil Peart praising his Slingerland Artist snare and using it long after he switched to Tama.
2 - Bun E. Carlos playing those Slingerland Radio King's in the photos of "At Budokan".
That is why I was draw to older Slingerland stuff. And one day, Bun E. will "will" those to me! Hahaha!!
That is my opinion anyway, others may vary.

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Ginger Baker’s old leedy snare with his then modern Ludwigs and Levon Helms old field drum kit seem like a few more high profile early “vintage” drums.

Fred Young’s Kentucky Headhunters kit is another cool one from when vintage seemed less popular in the mainstream