And how in the world do you know that it didn't take me a long time to work my way up to professional grade stuff? I am 42 yrs old not a young kid. Have been drumming since age 15. You do the math. I have owned NUMEROUS kits during my life including other pro end kits like Tama Starclassic performer, Mapex Saturn etc. However I started drumming with kits like Sunlite, Pearl Exports etc. I am a disabled ex police officer, so no I am not rich at all. It took me a long time to save up for this Collector's kit. Why I never had any backup snares? Simply because every drum kit I ever owned had a snare come with the kit. Just like this is the very first virgin bass I ever had. I never had to mount toms from a stand until now. Why is this so hard to believe to you? With that said, excuse me for being ignorant about other snare brands. Sorry I don't have all the knowledge as you do lol.