Got hustled, any input apreciated

S

swtjames23

Junior Member
I thought the title would get some attention, everyone loves to see people fail right?! Anyway, I just got hustled out of $500 for an '80s Rogers R360 set, square badges, yeah the cheapo Taiwan-made set. Tried to take them back, the guy clearly knew he hustled me and would not take them back (Craigslist, not a store). So.. now I'm stuck with them.

I've been reading on here and other forums about this set and it looks like it not much of a set. My question to all you drum connoisseurs, is this set worth keeping and trying to make sound decent? ie. new heads, tuning. Or should I sell them at a loss and start over?
 
First of all, no, everyone does NOT like to watch people fail. Secondly, you state a couple of times that you were "hustled." How so? You bought a used kit from a private party on craigslist. Did the seller advertise these as "vintage Rogers Holiday kit"... etc. and then send you these 360s? Or did you know all along that they were 360's and bought them on blind trust, believing them to be a high end kit. Know what you're buying before spending your hard earned money.

Sorry to read that you spent $500 on a 360; ouch. I have a fondness of Rogers kits as I played them back in the day.

Now, to your questions, your options depend on a few things. Is this your only kit? How is your financial situation? Can your finances take the hit of selling them at a loss and move on? If so, only you can make that choice.

If you can't take the loss and this is your only kit, don't despair. You can get some good heads and with some tuning get maybe get a decent sound out of them, but yeah, these weren't Rogers flagship. Some day you will eat a bit of money selling that kit.
 
$500 eh? damn, sorry to hear that. too bad for you. a little research before buying always helps. my experience buying used old drums is if the deal seems too good to be true.....it likely is.
R360 - depends on your goals/needs. if its your sole only kit, ya maybe you want to slowly start over. but an R360 is surely worthy of a practice space with a band, where you can leave your kit and not worry.
 
I'm with Derek - I don't take pleasure in seeing people get taken for a ride - however, but I would say, if you like the kit and it does what you want them to do, how can this be a bad thing?

$500 might be a bit high for some kits, but without seeing what you bought, I can't comment on that. If it's solid and there's nothing broken on them, why not spend a bit more, put some good heads on it and see if it doesn't sound good. I'll bet they'll sound all right.

To paraphrase Stan at Pro Drum, "They're drums - you play 'em!"
 
Your best option is to keep them and use them. They really aren't bad drums, they just aren't as good as the earlier Rogers kits.
You only lost a few hundred dollars to learn a lesson that is much more valuable. It could have been much worse if it had been something of a higher cost such as a car, etc.
Take it in stride and move on.
 
Give the kit to some thugs in exchange for a few if his broken windows/letter box/porch lights lol
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There must be something about this kit that you like or else you wouldn't have bought them. Maybe you paid twice as much as they're worth, but like someone said earlier, you can leave them somewhere and not have to worry that much, and a drummer can always use a gig kit.
 
You can always put them up for sale for the price paid on Craigslist. It's a free ad so there's nothing to lose. Meanwhile, play them, I bet they can be made to sound just fine.

Oh wait, they are concert toms.

Nevermind lol.

I'm kidding.
 
I know Rogers pretty good and I don't know what you bought. R-360 and R-380 had rectangular badges. They weren't high end when new. The drums with the same designation and oval badges from the 60s-early 70s were decent quality, actually high quality for import drums. Taiwan Big R from the Late 80's had square badges with no USA designation. The earlier ones, 87-88 were decent quality mid level drums. The later ones 89-90 were pretty much crap. 500 was way too much. Hustle is something I don't quite understand. Buying something and then changing your mind a few hours later isn't an option in situations like this. Hustle could really describe what happened. And then, it might not.
 
JohnPloughman said:
Hustle could really describe what happened. And then, it might not.
Click to expand...


As in- Here's the grey area;
"the guy clearly knew he hustled me and would not take them back..."
Click to expand...

If 'the guy' advertised them as vintage, you could say you got hustled. Did you save the ad?

if 'the guy' priced them high and you went for it that's something else... you see that all the time everywhere, not just CRAIGSLIST.

I've told this story b/f in another thread- A drummer I knew once bought a YAMAHA STAGE CUSTOM set for $1700 used. This was back in the day when SC's (in a cherry finish) could look like a RECORDING CUSTOM set if you were none the wiser.

At the time I didn't have the heart to tell the guy the same drums could be purchased new for under a $1000. He loved em, only aware drummers knew he paid too much, but it didn't matter, they guy thought he got a deal.

Inflation may allow you to morally get $500 for the kit someday.
 
I wouldn't give up on 'em right away. Yes, you paid to much ..... but that's done and over. Put some new heads on 'em, and play 'em. At least they're a set to play, while you can research and decide what you might "really" want. And next time, check in here before you throw down any money.​
 
Hollywood Jim said:
Don't feel bad. It could have been worse.

Like this: http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/msd/4898940768.html
Click to expand...

Haah!! I saw that the other day. I read the title and though "Wow! A real Mardi Gras wrap?" You can all imagine my disappointment.

OP, don't feel bad. I like the way Bob put it, a pricey lesson but I'll bet you never make the same mistake again. Give em' a try and you really might like the way they sound.
 
Well, thanks for the input guys. I could have done without the life lessons speeches, but then again I did say any input appreciated so, hey, I appreciate them! Obviously I was frustrated by the situation, no one likes to feel like they got duped and whether you all agree that I was "hustled", "duped", lied to or otherwise, I feel like I was and that is that. If you'd like to hear the whole story and THEN draw your conclusions, feel free to ask. But this post wasn't meant to be about that.

Anyway, these are my first and only set, though I've been playing drums off and on for about 10 years. I just never had the space to own my own set. Financially, I could take the hit and start over but it sounds to me like the general consensus here is to put some heads on them, tune them and see what I end up with. I like that idea, especially since it doesn't involve anymore craigslist dealings.

Thanks again for the feedback and if anyone else has anything to add, please do.
 
In the Orange County C/L, it seems like everybody is hip to the prices for used drum equipment and a lot of people are asking way too much for their stuff. The lucky finds are few and far between, but one time I got lucky and found an old 20" 70's Zildjian A in good condition for only $20. Maybe you'll get lucky too down the line and things will even out in your favor. Live and learn.
 
Well then, after all is said and done, you're not in a terrible situation at all, really. Your finances are in a pretty good place, as you say, and this is your only kit right now.

Take a break for awhile from the wheeling / dealing and just get some heads on them and enjoy them. I liked Larry's advise; use some spending cash that you have for a nice snare drum and some really good cymbals and enjoy.

You'll know when you want to part with the 360's and get yourself some better shells. The best part is you finally have a kit and space to put it in.
 
Thanks guys. I'll try to get a picture up but they're not much to look at. When I change the heads, I'm going to try to clean them up a bit.

Thanks again.
 
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