Mid/high level kits.

My $2450 (MSRP - $2999) Purewood Renown Gretsch kit (not the same drums as the Maple Renowns) sound everybit as good as, and is made as well, as the Custom USA Gretsch shellpacks. My Custom USA 3pc cost me Just under $4K....I'm happy with it because it's special to me. But, the quality and sound....to me....is no better than my Purewood shellpack. I'm pretty sure the only reason my 6pc Purewoods cost thousands less is because they're put together in Taiwan. What I'm saying is there are some very nice drums made offshore. And, I consider my Purewoods to be a Pro-Level kit.

Here they are...........

Price out a Sonor SQ2 or Pearl Masterworks.

Thats what I consider High end. Each company has a line of custom drums that you pick bearing edges, type of wood, depth, hight, hardware, wraps, 100% Custom made.

They cost over $8000 to build a kit and its usually something pro's endorsed drummers will get because for the average joe they are a bit too much money.

I have a Pearl masters (not masterworks) series kit and got it for 1600. I priced out building the EXACT SAME KIT (wood,sizes,wraps,edges,) and it would have been close to 9k. so technically I could consider my MCX a high end kit... (its a mid level) .


at the end of the day.. with good skins tuned well you can make a budget kit sound great. so just find the kit you like in your price range and play away

keep it simple said:

That's definitely USA pricing - you lucky b&^%$*&^s!! & way under most other "rock" instrument pricing. For sure, a million miles under acoustic instrument pricing.

Irrelevant though. You pay what you need/want/can afford to pay, you play what makes you happy

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Yes, USA pricing. I'm in New York. If one considers a mexican strat as the beginning of mid level with guitars then we are at about 450ish from general retailers. Same price as a Mexican P-Bass Digital keyboards give or take $100 are about the same. Ludwig Accent and the major manufacturers lines at a similar point are what i consider the start of mid level. You dont generally find them but you find tons of Percussion Plus etc kits all between 100-500. What you do at Guru is the drum equivalent of Cartier or something equally luxurious. You are like the guy whose shop is down the street from me who makes violins, violas,cellos,and Contrabasses by hand and is sought out specially for it by top musicians. Highly specialized and at the top of the ladder. Out of reach of the common man but something for us to strive towards.

MJD said:

Yes, USA pricing. I'm in New York. If one considers a mexican strat as the beginning of mid level with guitars then we are at about 450ish from general retailers. Same price as a Mexican P-Bass Digital keyboards give or take $100 are about the same. Ludwig Accent and the major manufacturers lines at a similar point are what i consider the start of mid level. You dont generally find them but you find tons of Percussion Plus etc kits all between 100-500. What you do at Guru is the drum equivalent of Cartier or something equally luxurious. You are like the guy whose shop is down the street from me who makes violins, violas,cellos,and Contrabasses by hand and is sought out specially for it by top musicians. Highly specialized and at the top of the ladder. Out of reach of the common man but something for us to strive towards.

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Mostly agreed Cartier isn't an analogy I'd choose though, simply on the basis I don't believe we're a style over substance or fashionable icon brand. We genuinely believe we offer something distinctive in sound & performance terms. It's certainly what we strive for, & is our total focus, almost at the exclusion of all other considerations.

The principal of diminishing returns certainly applies, & has been discussed here at length many times over. I'm always very honest with our clients/prospective clients. You can get 90% of our sound for half the money, & 90% of that sound for half again. The actual values I've applied there are subjective & largely irrelevant, but you get the general idea I hope. It's the value of that last 10% that relates very much to each player's circumstances, expected usage, & expectations. Equally, it's very personal & subjective. "Better" doesn't figure in that last 10%. "Appropriate for my needs & something of value to me" is probably nearer the mark.

Sonic distinction & headroom in musical instrument sounds/performance however almost always comes at a price. That last 10% I refer to is the distinctive & headroom element, & it's also by far the most expensive 10% in the construction cost mix. Again, does that have value? Well of course, I think so, otherwise we wouldn't do it, & I've yet to meet a Guru customer who didn't think their instrument represented value for money in performance terms. Can I get a mid range kit to sound as good as a Guru kit in a loud pub gig to the point where the audience couldn't tell the difference? - Yes, with ease!