Well, in and of itself, I can't say 350....this is a bass, all alone. In your area, I can't fathom what you go through to get a decent set of drums. If it were a complete kit, yeah, 500 would be an OK deal, nit smoking, not bad, but to tell you how the market is here: Around Christmas, I listed a 3 pc set of Ludwigs for 300....took me until almost the end of March to get them sold. They were 1980 serial#, so not an Accent by a long shot. They were the 6 ply classic maple, really nice set of shells...but they were power toms, and I mean POWER toms. A 24" bass, 12x13 and 13x14 mounted toms, and a 16 FT...no snare. Finally, a kid from Wichita drove the 3 hours south to grab them. Great drums, no market. So, a stailess bass, unless you just love that drum, and it is something you are into, I can't really say it is or is not.

Yeah, kinda got attracted to this one because it was so shiny! LoLoLoLo

I think it's definitely overpriced but don't know much about tama's so thought it might be of better quality, but it would seem the artstarII has the maple shells. It's hard to get american made vintage kits here like slingerland or ludwig unless you pay alot for them, but there's lots of nice stencil kits floating around for reasonable moola. Coffee Break2 Yeah the market for drums and cymbals is really slow an low here as you would expect, but the good stuff still gets top dollar.

Trev, this one even more over priced than normal – it's

an artstar esprit (notice the acutune plastic composite hoops)

If it was an artstar II might be more realistic.

Tell you what, Trev...do this: Look around at some of the early 60s MIJ stencils, look for a cool wrap if you like, but be very specific about the shells. Look for some really thin, almost papery shells (they are 3 plies, all Asian mahog). Take them home, you should be able to get them relatively cheap. Tear them down to the shell, not the bare wood, but hardware off. Sand the interiors of the shells smooth, 100 or 220 grit, and get the edges the way you want and smooth as a babies butt. Now apply a coat or two of lacquer to all the interior, including the edges, if they are in good shape. Now, take a cheap spinning toothbrush or a parts detailer brush and some automotive rubbing compound and polish the snot out of the chrome. Yeah, it's messy as hell, and the room will spin, and you will get bleary eyed, but when you are done, it will blind you in the outback...or whatever you call the sunny places in NZ...

Get some baby oil, and some steel wool, your screw gun and a lug driver from the internet, and run the T-rods in and out of the oiled steel wool. Now put the swivo-nuts on and polish them as well, running up and down the Ts,..just do it, don't ask why...it takes the crud and scale off, and lubes everything. Now while you have the springs out of tje lugs, wrap those rascals in a piece of old worn out cotton shirt, to isolate them, and now you can begin re-assembling everything. It shouldn't take more than 3 months to finish the whole deal...

Now, put some really nice heads on and tune them to a nice 60s sound, and Rock the F out!

They resonate like nothing else....now you have a great gigging kit, for not a lot of money, and you get the best of both worlds...a cool, clean looking kit, that sounds great, and you did it cheap...now you are ready to begin saving for the big time American Vintage kit, and still have this baby to gig, and save wear and tear on the Ludwigs once you can afford to buy a top liner. And you will still be able to gig both...but the intermediate challenge will be handled.