Drums by the pallet

Cmdr. Ross

Platinum Member
Before the COVID, I frequented a local buy/sell/trade shop we have in town. They advertised guitar, electronics & band equipment repair, but nothing for drums.
So I asked the manager how I could get in on being a drumsmith for them.

I restrung a few djembe's & fixed about a half dozen snares all to their satisfaction before the warehouse guy asked if I had time to come down to his shop.
I got to their warehouse thinking he had more for me to fix, when I saw 4 pallets of drum kits in various condition. I saw a few gems in the stack, but he wouldn't let me take it apart to see the rest.
I asked him what he was going to do with these & he said he'd sell them to me for $100 a pallet.

So needless to say, I came home with 4 pallets of drums for $400.

In them were drums from Tama, Slingerland, Sonor & Ludwig. Hand drums from Remo, Toca & Tycoon & hardware from almost every brand.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I had SQ's or Starclassics here. Most were beginner lines & the hardware was clearly sitting in a garage for quite sometime.
But the opportunity to hone my drumsmithing skills by problem solving the issues they had was golden! I learned a lot about how I can fix drums & work the wood to make what's cheap sound good.

I sold 99% of what was there to those looking to get into drumming as well as keeping a few pieces for myself. My rolling toolbox of parts & hardware accessories is full & many of them have helped me with future gigs.

So my question is: Has anyone here been to an estate or garage sale and scored on what was quantity over quality but you bought it anyway?
 
I'll dig up the full room when I finally got them all organized. Most were cheap, entry level kits the shop couldn't sell. The Slingerland/Tama/Sonor were just individual drums or parts.
I had fun messing with it all for sure.
 
I have done this with sports cards, but never with drums.

And not by the pallet, but in large quantities sometimes. Garage sales are sometimes gold mines, but usually you get 3000 common cards in good or less shape, and maybe 1 or 2 gems.
 
I've never bought that many at once, I just occasionally pick up a fixer-upper.

I'll do this at garage sales if I see a kit outside. Talk them down a bit, take it home, make it look pretty & flip it.
Unless it's worth hanging onto & then I'll take my time. ;)
 
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