DRUM SET BUYING GUIDE
by Rob Zollman
Basics
A drum set consists of drums (snare drum, tom toms, bass drum), metal hardware (snare drum and
cymbal stands, high hat and bass drum pedals, and seat), cymbals and additional items known as
traps (cowbell, woodblock, etc.).
Drums come in various sizes. Though you can buy them individually in just about any combination of
sizes, the companies that make them frequently sell them in common groupings. A smaller size
grouping is appropriate for light rock, jazz and smaller kids. A larger grouping is good for louder rock
and larger kids. Here are some of the popular sizes and their groupings (depth is first measurement,
width is second measurement).
Large set Small set
• snare drum 6 ½x14" or 5x14" • snare drum 5x14" or 5.5x14"
• 2 mounted tom toms • 2 mounted tom toms
8x12" and 9x12" or 8x10" and 9x10" (or 10x10") or
10x12" and 9x13" (or 10x13") 8x12" and 9x12" (10x12")
• floor tom tom 14x16" (mounted) or 16x16" • floor tom tom 12x14" (mounted) or 14x14"
(with legs). Sometimes 14x14" (with legs) (with legs)
• bass drum 16x22" (or 14x22") • bass drum 16x20" (or 14x20")
Current drum companies are Yamaha, Pearl, Taye, DW, Ludwig, Tama, Premier, Sonor, Gretsch,
Groove, Ayotte and a few others. Most have several lines of sets. There is usually a premium (top of
the) line, a middle line (or lines), and often two or more economy levels – cheap and cheaper.
For starters, we recommend an economy level of drums. They’re relatively inexpensive (the top of the
line set can be more than five times the cost of the low end line), and they look and sound very good
(the quality of workmanship is surprisingly high). In fact, we’ve found that, with well tuned, good drum
heads the sound of some economy drums is almost indistinguishable from higher levels of drums.
The quality of the hardware and the finish are often the only indications that it’s a lower line of drums.
Frequently the economy level comes with all hardware (cymbal stands, bass drum pedal, high hat
pedal and snare drum stand, but no stool – which we recommend you acquire with the drum
purchase) Cymbals are not usually included in new sets, however relatively inexpensive cymbal
packs (Sabian, Ziljian, Paiste and others offer these) are available at additional cost. These packs
include a pair of high hat cymbals and a crash/ride and cost around $200. The quality of cymbal you
get in a pack is okay for beginners, however we’ve observed that within one year many students start
hearing the difference in quality between these cymbals and better cymbals, so you may end up
upgrading cymbals before upgrading drums. If you do, save the old ones. It’s not worth it to trade
them in, and they’ll be a selling point when and if you sell the first set. Excluding cymbals, we’re
currently seeing brand new economy sets sell for around $500 (Yamaha and Pearl) to $700 (Yamaha
Stage Custom, Pearl Export or similar lines of other brands), depending on brands and qualities. As
mentioned earlier, a starter cymbal pack sells for around $200, so figure on $725 to $950 when you
put it all together.
Appropriately, an economy drum set comes with fairly cheap heads, which will get you started. Head
replacement is inexpensive (about $60 for a set of the batter or striking heads of a 5 piece set).
Properly mounted, good quality heads can greatly improve the quality of sound of inexpensive drums.
If you are in the market for higher lines of drums, you probably already know much of this information.
Most people buy the lower lines first, then upgrade as they know more and hear the differences
(which, like audio equipment, are more subtle as you go up in quality). Of the higher end drums, we
recommend Yamaha, DW, Pearl, Gretsch, Premier and other comparable nationally advertised
brands which can be found in publications such as Modern Drummer. There is much more
information than we we can give you here, so we suggest you buy or subscribe to some of the drum
publications. Also the Percussive Arts Society is an excellent organization which has a website
(www.PAS.org), monthly magazine, statewide days of percussion and an annual 4 day no-holds-
barred national convention where you can meet up with about 6000 other drummers and
percussionists.
USED DRUMS
When purchasing a used drum set, it is worthwhile to spend a bit of time researching so that you have
enough information to make an educated decision. If you don’t know brands from head names, if you
don’t have a sense of what was good at what point in history, buying used drums can be very tricky.
For example, the saying "they just don’t make them like they used to" does not necessarily hold true
in the drum world. While older drums can have a different quality of sound from the new ones, it is
also true that, technologically speaking, the sound quality of new bottom of the line drums may be
close to older top of the line drums. Getting into the drums themselves, the very nature is that there
are many parts to them and so there are many factors to consider. Judge used drums by overall
condition of the drums and hardware. Head condition is less important.
The rule of thumb for buying used drums is if you are shopping for an inexpensive set, it’s
probably better to buy one new. New drum prices on the low end have dropped while quality has
improved. In other words, technological advances have resulted in new models of the same line being
built and sounding significantly better than the same model that came out 2-5 years ago. On the
other hand a recently purchased set being sold by a parent whose child has lost interest could be
worth buying. We suggest that you don’t spend more than $100 less for a used set than what it would
cost new.
One word of warning: Stay away from cheap used drums that need stands or other parts. While the
initial cost of the drums may be $200-300, additional equipment can drive up the end cost close to the
purchase price of a new set, with none of the advantages of new set ownership.
Finally, the higher up in quality you go, the more used drums become a worthwhile option. We’ve
purchased almost new Yamaha Maple Custom drums for $1500 without hardware. Adding hardware
and cymbals brought up the end cost to around $2200, but new they would have been around $3500.
That’s a significant saving. Our rule of thumb is if you can get a premium used set in great condition
at a price close to a lower level new set, it is probably worth the money.
Good luck in your search. For questions and more advice feel free to email me at
(drummerrob@wholemusiclearning.com) or call 802 345-1714.