Still Drool when I see Drums Like This

Lou and Jean are coming to our house today and will stay until Tuesday. Karen asked me about the basement and I fibbed when I told her "it's clean."

It's not.

After the Bad Rumor gig on 1-19-2023, I carried all of my drums to the basement and, because I had it in my head that I wanted to reorganize the furnace room prior to putting those drums into the furnace room, I left the drums in the "living room" area of the basement.

Meaning, no, it's not clean.

Earlier this week, I did reorganize the furnace room. I took the two shelves that were parallel with the door and combined them into a single taller shelf. However, because those two smaller shelves allowed two stacks of "stuff" to reach the room's ceiling, I basically decreased my storage space by doing so by half. That led to creating a stack of Rubbermaids on the floor. The net result is that where I had thought I would put the drums from the Bad Rumor gig is now occupied with a stack of Rubbermaids, meaning I need a Plan B.

Plan B is likely to be putting those drums in the den, which has enough room for the drums. In fact, I have enough room in the den to actually lay out the carpet I use under my drums and to actually set them up.

I did that by moving the white file cabinet and brown bookcase that used to be on the wall to the right as you walked into the den to the corner, freeing up a nice space in the room.

However, at this moment, I haven't moved the drums into that space, meaning, no, the basement is not clean.

Guess what I plan to do when Karen goes to get a haircut today, I write as I am grinning.

All of the words about my existing drums in my existing basement leads me to the following drums for sale in Indy. I really want to have more drums, especially a Ludwig Vistalite set like the one in the ad. Prior to Alex and Hannah's wedding, I drooled over a similar set that was for sale in Iowa City, so much closer than Indy, but because of the wedding and the price being offered (I think it was ~$1200), I didn't pull the trigger. Now, there's a similar set with similar sizes for sale in Indy that would cost $600 more, plus there would be the $ involved in either driving to Indy or paying to have the drums shipped to my house, if that would even be an option.

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If I were to drive to Indy to pick up that Ludwig set, I could stop in Chicago and pick up this snare drum as well as I would be driving through Chicago to get to Indy. I mean, that would make sense.

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Pertains to a Proposed Road Trip to Indianapolis

Recently, there was a discussion about a trip to Indianapolis, IN. I made a mistake when I said, aloud, that I didn't have a strong desire to go with the group that was in the discussion. In fact, I volunteered to stay home so a different person could go in my place.

I was a fool for saying that. I was just looking at the indianapolis > for sale > cds / dvds / vhs - by owner & https://indianapolis.craigslist.org > for sale > musical instruments - by owner pages and, of course, it did not take long for me to find two things I would buy if I were in the Indy area right now:

So, of course, I'm going to find CDs for sale. However, the really good deal is the Yamaha drums. It has a real hihat stand and 4 cymbals, which is one additional cymbal than the Yamaha set I play at Saint Thomas More at 515 Mass. Not only that, there are 5 drums in Indy with a red knob. The red knob is very important as it allows tuning the drum sound by turning the knob. The Yamaha set I play at Saint Thomas More at 515 Mass has 4 drums and only 1 (in the snare position) has a red knob - the other three drums are simple rubber pads. I can change the sound striking the pad makes by editing the drum within the "brain" that comes with the set. On top of that, honestly, $1300 is not a bad price.  

Another option, and closer to home for sure is a Yamaha DTX700 set for sale in Tiffin, which is not even 5 miles from my house. While it is listed at $2000, the ad has been posted for a month so, to me, there is a possibility that the urge to sell the set and "get it out of the house" is greater than demanding $2000 for a selling price.

I will also say that the model - Yamaha DTX700 - is a newer model than the Yamaha DTXTreme III for sale in Indy. However, the pads for the Yamaha DTX700 do not have the red knob and, frankly, if I were looking to actually purchase a set in the near-term, then, yes, I would choose the Yamaha DTXTreme III in Indy, just for the red knob.

I also noticed in the picture with the closeup of the bass drum pad that there is noticeable discoloration. This is not too big of a deal as whenever any beater - whether it is attached to a bass drum pedal or whether it is a drumstick - strikes any drum, there is a small fraction of the surface that is being removed with each stroke - this is the way of the drum, to expand upon a phrase repeated throughout The Mandalorian series on Disney+ so I don't really consider it to be an overwhelming negative. However, a difference between acoustic drums and electronic drums is that with an acoustic drum, it is easy to stop by West Music or Guitar Center and purchase a new drum head for less than $50 to replace a worn drum head. However, that is not the case with an electronic set. I would have to replace the entire pad, which can be over $100 - and I'm offering very generalized dollar amounts on purpose, just to illustrate that replacing an electronic drum could cost twice as much as an acoustic drum head. 

All of the things I would want to purchase in Indy could be sold by the time I would end up in Indy so, I guess, all of this is speculation.