Garbage Drum Set

Garbage Drum Set, 2008.

If you read my previous post on the AMPEG REVERBEROCKET 2, you know I like to rescue musical instruments from the landfill. It's amazing what people will throw away.

But drums, I'm not surprised people chuck them. Here's a typical scenario:

Teenage boy, let's call him Boomer, begs for a drum set. It's appears under the Christmas tree and everyone is so happy. But that fades, at least for the parents and siblings, when it becomes clear how LOUD drums are in real life. Sound like I'm talking from personal experience? Well, maybe a little. click for more info on my teenage drums.

Boomer spends a few years making obnoxious sounds in the cellar with his buddies. Then maybe he loses interest, goes to college, moves out, leaving the drums at home with the folks. (Not personal experience).

Eventually the folks decide to clean up their empty nest. You can bet those drums are among the first things on the curb: Associated with headaches and those wonder years when Boomer's parents wondered if their boy would ever amount to anything. On top of that, drums take up a lot of space better served by a new home theater!

Here's the history of my Garbage Drum Set:

FIRST The beat up gold glitter Ludwig 14" floor tom seen poking out below the mounted tom in the photo, found sitting on the curb. The Ludwig badge was missing, but I recognized its ghost around the air hole.

THEN A tiny silver Rogers tom, 12", again out on the curb. I put it on ebay expecting $20. I shipped it to the lucky winner in Puerto Rico who paid me $240! The profits are shown in the picture: A used cheapo snare, no-name, red glitter, $35 on ebay. The cymbals: Paiste 16" crash and Zildjian New Beat High Hats, small crack, $75 for the bunch, also on ebay. The hardware and Sabian ride I bought new with the rest of the $240.

NEXT A 22" bass drum (not shown) and the black toms, 13" and 14" and 16" (floor) in the photo. Later I found a better bass drum on the curb, and that's the one you see here, but it was missing a hoop out front.

ESP Call it a hunch, call it crazy — all I know is that I got in my car with a sense of certainty, and within 10 minutes found a hoop, the right size, in somebody's else's trash. It's the white one in the picture.

These drums are not precious. But they are certainly loved, maybe more than Boomer was.

Ampeg Reverberocket 2 GS-12R

Ampeg Reverberocket 2, circa 1965. Mine since 2005.

I am pretty green. I don't like waste. It's one thing to recycle water bottles, but how about not using them at all? Refill a good sports bottle and use it for the rest of your life.

What really gets to me is when people waste the stuff I really love: GEAR. I always scan the curbs on Bulky-waste-day here in my suburban hamlet. That is when people are allowed to put out their larger trash for pickup. Perhaps I'd spy an old drum set, or guitar amp that I could fix up and use for the rest of my life.

Well you've guessed it, and now you will become green — with envy that is — because this vintage 1965 Ampeg tube amp was found at curbside, headed for the landfill.

You cannot imagine how fast I scooped this up, took it home and plugged it in. That little red glowing light told me the thing worked. I knew that had found a treasure. I did some research and found that these sold in the $500-$800 range.

It was in really good cosmetic shape, and played well. I discovered the reverb was out, and that it tended to produce noise and hum.

After a few years of sitting around, plugging in now and then, I decided to take it to a repair place. They cleaned the pots, replaced a tube or two, got the reverb to work, and replaced the missing handle. About $150. Not bad for a vintage all-tube amp.

When it comes down to it though, I'm a songwriter, singer, keyboardist, drummer and guitarist, in that order. So something this sweet is sort of a waste on me. And I don't like waste, as I've mentioned.

Profit is O.K., though, so this is up on ebay. Buy it now for $650.