How to shop for your first (or next) kit and spend wisely, and why you should always shop used first for everything you can

Tl;dr - New gear is overrated and overpriced. What's on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace in your town? Probably the perfect thing. Have you looked? If you have and there's nothing there really, or you want to/have no choice but to buy new, I can help with that too. 

I often respond to drummers showing off their new (or new-to-them) kits with the salutation, "Welcome to the madness!" Are you on the outside of the madness looking in, wanting to join in, but overwhelmed by all the different choices in kits, and even within kits? That's a perfectly normal feeling. That's why I write stuff like this. 

So why shop used? Wouldn't I want to buy new?

Simple. Think of cars. (I will use cars as a metaphor often in these bits of advice, because it's a major purchase that most people can relate to.) All things being equal, which is going to be a nicer vehicle: a $25,000 brand new car, or a $25,000 used car that's five years old in good shape, especially one that has had certain components upgraded by previous owners, such as a nicer stereo or nicer wheels and tires? 

The bottom line is, buying drum kits used, in many places in the United States, will almost always get you either more stuff, better stuff, or both, for the same money spent at new retail price, and sometimes for less than that. If it "comes complete," there is a higher chance that certain crucial components have already been upgraded by the previous owner, namely heads and cymbals, the two upgrades that will make the most drastic improvement in sound and playability and enjoyment. If I have ~$600 to spend, and my choices are a brand new entry-level "complete kit with cymbals" or a five-year-old Yamaha Stage Custom with upgraded heads and a decent cymbal or two, the used Yamaha rig is a no-brainer . It will always sound better, play better, and save you money on the upgraded things that you now don't have to upgrade - and most drums, even many "nice" drums, will come from the factory with heads you don't want to play on. More on that later.

I want my first drum kit. What does that even entail? What comes in the kit? What constitutes a "complete kit"? What am I even shopping for?

It's crucial to remember that the "drum kit," as we know it, is what I call a modular instrument - a collection of instruments assembled together and intended to be played as one instrument. This distinction is rarely made in the marketplace when manufacturers are selling their new kits. That's why it's so common to see the fine print say, "Cymbals not included" - they rarely are with new kits, and among the ones that are, almost exclusively entry-level "package deals," they are lousy sheet brass garbage that I categorize as "cymbal-shaped practice targets," just placeholders to hit on while you are replacing them with actual instruments. Nobody tells you that when you are shopping for the very first time. Going back to the car metaphor: It's as though you buy a new car on this side of the dealership, but if you want it to have an engine and transmission in it, well, you have to go to the other side of the lot and buy that separately from another department. If no one tells you this, you sit there on the lot wondering why you can't drive away yet.

The good news down the road? This makes the drum set one of the easiest instruments in the world to upgrade or customize one piece at a time. You can improve individual "modules," or swap them out, as you go. If you stick with the instrument, many drummers end up with a "ship of Theseus"-type kit after many years - there is certainly one in the next room as I write these words. The bottom line for your first kit is this: Get drums. Any drums you can afford. Play drums. The rest is just details. We can clean up the details as we go. But first, just get drums. Any drums.

Here's the best complete checklist I can give for a "complete drum set," by definition, with minimum quantities of items that define a complete drum set:

• Bass drum and bass pedal
• Snare and stand
• Hi-hats and stand
• At least one mounted tom and mount
• At least one floor tom with legs, or with a clamp/stand mount if it is a "hanging" floor tom
• At least one suspended cymbal (crash, ride, or crash/ride) and stand
• A proper drum throne

The single best and most crucial attribute anyone's first drum kit can possibly have? It includes a minimum of one of each item you need in order to take it home, set it up, and begin playing today, right now. "Quality" is only a minor concern; not missing anything and ready to go right now are the two major concerns. Again, we can upgrade things later on to make any kit "better," and if you have the means, I'm fully in favor of anyone buying themselves nice things if they can afford it - but for now, you just need something that can be played. 

So what can't be played? The "modular" nature of the drum set lays pitfalls before inexperienced shoppers. First of all, learn what a "shell pack" is - drums only, usually consisting of the bass drum, the snare drum, the rack tom/toms, and the floor tom/toms. End of list. Just the drums. And "just the drums" isn't a set. They usually include the mounts for the rack toms and either legs or a mount for the floor tom, depending on whether it's a "hanging" floor tom suspended on a stand, and sometimes a snare stand, and that's it. 

Example: As of this writing, on the Sweetwater website, they offer a Tama Superstar Classic "three-piece shell pack" with maple shells for $829.99, while a five-piece Tama Stagestar "complete kit" with poplar shells is $749.99. Why not spend the extra $80 and get the "nicer drums," you may ask? Well, because of the fine print in the Superstar listing: "Cymbals, stands, pedal, and snare not included with this shell pack." That's why. If you order the Superstars instead, Sweetwater will send you three very nice drums and nothing else. Now you have to buy a pedal. You have to buy a hi-hat stand, you have to buy other cymbal stands (you are still missing a minimum of one, for the rack tom to even have a place to go in the first place!), and then you have to buy the cymbals to go on them besides - and cymbals, especially good ones, are always the most frustratingly expensive "modules." More on that later. Whatever you buy, do your very best to make sure it comes with one of everything you need. 

Okay, fine, all things being equal, used is a better bargain - but how do I determine whether something is worth buying? What if something is broken or missing? If I don't know what I'm looking for new at the music store, how will I know what I'm looking for in my local ads? 

Well, that's why you read stuff like this first! Here's a rundown of more detailed things to check out on a used kit. If some of these terms are unfamiliar to you, look them up in a drum jargon glossary:

• Missing tension rods or screws on drums, and missing or stripped wingnuts/wing screws on stands.
• Missing bottom hoops and heads - some drummers do this for the "concert tom" (single-headed rather than double) sound, and they often go missing over the years, or even over the months. If they're not present, immediately ask for a $100 discount to replace them.
• If the bottom hoops and heads are missing, check the exposed edges for damage. That is a dealbreaker, unless you own a router table and are confident enough in your capability to recut new bearing edges. If that's the case, haggle mercilessly, because anyone who does that to drums absolutely does not deserve asking price, especially if they were nice drums. (I spent half the 1990s tracking down replacement bottom hoops and heads for various used toms; without the internet, it was an unnecessary, expensive, and troublesome pain in the ass, and obviously, I still have some feelings about it, LOL.)
• Check wooden bass drum hoops for cracks.
• Check cymbals for cracks and keyholes. Keyholes can be managed, sometimes for decades, as well as "spiderweb" cracks at the hole - but cracks anywhere else would be another hard haggling point, unless the seller is upfront about them and the price reflects it.
• Check all moving parts: make sure the snare throwoff throws off and the snare tension knob tensions, make sure the kick pedal kicks, make sure the hi-hat stand hi-hats. Be sure there's a clutch for the hi-hats; if you are buying drums that have been stored for some time, especially by someone who doesn't play them (such as the original owner's mom), this is an item that is easily misplaced or lost. Luckily, good quality new ones are less than $20.
• On any drums with clear heads, check the bearing edges for chips or ply separation. Bring a drum key and ask permission to remove one random tom head as a sort of quality control.
• Make sure every rack tom has a mount and a place to mount it. Make sure every floor tom has a minimum of three leg - or, if it is the suspended type, make sure it includes the mount. Make sure the kick drum has two functional spurs.
• Rust and pitting aren't the end of the world unless they're really severe, as in "metal is disappearing" severe, but if the price doesn't reflect it, haggle over that too. Also feel free to haggle over the condition of the heads, but not too hard - think of it as buying a used car that needs tires. (The car metaphor again!)
• As for stickers or sticker/tape residue, that's easily cleaned, but also a haggling point.

The good news? If you are on a budget and the best used kit available to you is missing some small parts, those are easily replaced through retailers such as Drum Factory Direct. They sell many small parts that I never even knew were available as individual items, so even some of these concerns listed here aren't the end of the world, for an otherwise pretty solid deal.

That's all well and good, but I live in the middle of nowhere and the selection is lousy. What then?

If you are motivated enough, and if this is a reasonable option, I can't recommend strongly enough that you check the ads in the nearest major city to you, and spend a Saturday or a day off shopping there. If you have the time, and you have the gas money, it will pay dividends. 

Well, I don't live in the middle of nowhere, but I'm a kid, and my parents are buying this kit, and they refuse to even look at anything second hand. Or: I don't have the time or the gas money, and I really just want to order something shipped to my home. Or: I've been getting by on used gear for years, and I just want something new. What do I do? 

Just be as practical and objective as you can.

Bear in mind, quality and value will be pretty much the same across reputable brands, so at new retail prices, $1000 worth of Tamas will pretty much be as good as $1000 worth of Ludwigs, or $1000 worth of Pearl or Yamaha or whatever. Therefore, you should not focus so much on brands, but practical aspects:

• One of them probably comes in a finish that you absolutely love. Get that one.
• One of them probably makes the sizes that you really want. If you're set on a 20" kick but only one brand offers one within your budget range, get that one.
• One of them may come with a mounting system you prefer, or an extra cymbal stand the other company doesn't offer in their package, or whatever. Get that one.

Don't think first of brand names - think first of what you want out of a kit, then find that kit within your budget. Remember that each major manufacturer is fighting for your money. Pit them against each other under these guidelines - one classic technique is to make a "Ben Franklin" list, plusses about a given kit on one side, and minuses on the other - and buy your new drums from the winner. May the best drums win. And of course, this also applies to comparing one Marketplace ad to the other. 

On the other hand: The value of any used kit isn't in how "nice" the drums are - it's in what all comes with it. Let's say you see two listings for two kits that are both $500. One is a solid set of 1970s Ludwigs, drums only. The other is a late-model bargain brand kit, say an SPL, but all the heads have been changed to Remo or Evans heads, it comes with a fairly nice kick pedal, and it includes a set of Zildjian ZXT cymbals. The Ludwigs are "nicer," but the SPLSs already come with the very things I would tell you to invest in once you get hold of any kit. So just buy the one that already comes with all that stuff. Again, you'll be able to set it up and play today. That's the most important thing for your very first purchase.

And as always, feel free to ask questions - since I don't have much money of my own to spend on drum crap, there are a few things I enjoy more than spending other people's money for them!

See other posts for more information, particularly the ones about upgrade suggestions and cymbal shopping.