View source for Drumstick Collector Wiki:About

[[File:sticklot.jpg|400px|right]]This website is to showcase {{age|2002|07|31}}-year-old Robbie's budding drumstick collection and future challenging bid to the World Record largest drumstick collection. 
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=='''Have any Drumsticks to get rid of? CONTACT US'''==
'''SENT ME YOUR STICKS!'''

I forget which auction I saw this listed on, but the description mentioned something along the lines of ''"I caught this stick at a concert 15 years ago and kept it in my personal collection but now I want to pass it on to be enjoyed by someone else."'' Sounds great to us, but I don't think I would be able to do that. Catching a drumstick at a concert is pretty rare. Think of how many sticks get tossed, and how many people are in attendance. Your odds are pretty low, even lower the farther back and out of tossing range you are. '''My sticks will not make their way to eBay!'''

'''But I would love to add any of your authentic concert used, autographed, signature model drum sticks to my monster drumstick collection. If you are a professional drummer endorsed by a drumstick manufacturer and have hundreds of used sticks kicking around you received for free, I'd love to have a pair or two to add to my collection!'''

Or any other drumsticks! Let us know - '''robbie @ drumstickcollector . com'''

THANKS!
Rob and Robbie

===What do I want?===
Beggars can't be choosers... but if you are asking...

Number one choice would be 2 pairs of your signature model drumsticks... one new, one personally used by you either in concert (date and venue if known) or during practice, with each of the individual sticks personally autographed in Sharpie.

Number two choice, 1 pair of your signature model drumsticks, new or used, each of the individual sticks personally autographed in Sharpie.

Number three choice, 1 drumstick of your signature model, new or used, personally autographed in Sharpie.

* Exception, if you do not have signature model drumsticks, signed generic sticks will work, especially if you write the band name on it or something.

'''Payment'''

If you want to send me your sticks as a personal gift to add to my collection, please feel free to contact me to make arrangements!

If you would like us to cover normal shipping charges (we don't need expedited or additional premium shipping), we can usually accommodate this most of the time, please feel free to contact me to make arrangements.

If you require payment for the sticks and shipping, please contact us so we can add you to our shopping list (probably the top) and we will get arrangements made as soon as I have enough allowance money saved up :) . THANKS!

===Who do I want?===
I am a heavy metal drummer and mostly play classic rock to death metal songs. But my drum teacher is a funk/jazz drummer, and I am a member of the multi-genre Drumeo online drum lessons website. So although I would tend to specialize in metal drummers, I have a good appreciation of all drum styles. I attend drum clinics from ALL styles (jazz, fusion, rock, latin, metal, etc...) and try to learn from every drummer I see.

That being said, I am an equal opportunity drumstick collector, and from what you can scan on my '''[[Drumstick Collection]]''' list, I have or will have drumsticks from drummers of all styles of music. '''If you are a drummer, YES I want to add your autographed sticks to my collection!'''

==The First Drumstick==
His collection started by accident in May 2013 when I was searching on eBay for '''[[Mike Portnoy]]''', one of Robbie's favorite drummers. I stumbled across what was listed as '''"Portnoy Vintage Used Pre-1994 Drumstick Dream Theater Images and Words Tour"''' (181137993185) with a description of ''"Purchased a lot of sticks and this one was included.  Early Portnoy stick believed to be from 1993 Images and Words tour.  Original seller had ticket stub as proof.  This appears to be legitimate as the wear and use appears consistent with a similar stick documented on a '''[http://www.neilpeartdrumsticks.com/‎ Neil Peart drumstick collectors site]'''. I have no affiliation with that site.  For you Portnoy fans this is an amazing piece of Dream Theater / Portnoy memorabilia."''

Needless to say, I was slightly skeptical but I have been around the collecting block several times. I have collected various things over the past 35 years from baseball cards, to Starting Lineup sports figures, comic books, many CCGs such as Magic the Gathering cards, business cards, foreign coins... probably other collections I have since forgotten and abandoned... I am also a rather experienced eBay user, engaging in many sniper sessions and bid wars over the years.

So when I found a 20-year-old concert used drumstick from a drumming icon, listed for $15 on eBay, no bids... although skeptical, I was rather intrigued. I looked up the mentioned '''[http://www.neilpeartdrumsticks.com/ Neal Peart website]''' and found a nearly identical one, same model, same bright purple color, same time frame. I figured for $15 and $13 shipping, I was OK with blowing about $28. The auction as scheduled to end on May 16, 2013 21:07:02 PDT, which of course is just after midnight on the east coast. I went to bed that night around 10 PM, but set my alarm for 12 AM because I was already starting to get that eBay excitement rush to purchase this stick for my son.

I wasn't really thinking about how much I was really willing to bid if I got into a bidding war. My initial bid was $20, so I had a few bucks of padding so I wouldn't get a $16 sniper at the last minute. So I got up and watched the time tick down, heart racing for the last 2 minutes hoping no one else would out bid me. The clock ran out and I PayPal'd the payment and went back to bed. That morning I told my son about the stick. I didn't want to say anything until after I won it so his hopes didn't go up and then lose the auction. He was really excited and wanted to know when he would get it. I told him it should only take a week priority mail from Portland, Oregon. Originally I thought $13 was a tad high for shipping, but was fine with it. The next day the seller messaged me and refunded me $7 after he got back from the post office and said the shipping was much less that he expected. He gave me the tracking number and we waited. 

During that time the seller's estimated delivery was Thu. May. 23. After about a week the seller was convinced the package was lost and refunded my money. He said hopefully it would eventually show up and if it did, we could keep the stick on him. For some reason the tracking did not update for 8 days, but eventually registered in San Francisco on May 25, finally arriving on May 30th two weeks later.

At the time I was more upset that a piece of vintage Dream Theater memorabilia was lost and my son was disappointed that it was taking so long and might not ever show up. But then it did, for free, and the inherited collecting bug had rubbed off to my son.

==The Second Stick==
The next drumstick on his radar was a '''[[Mike Mangini]]''', the current Dream Theater drummer. So we found an auction '''"Mike Mangini Autographed Drum Stick"''' (261216257371), a plain generic drumstick signed by Mike after a solo gig in 2005. This purchase was much less dramatic, there was a $10 bid already on it and the auction was set for free shipping. It was scheduled to end at May-22-13 15:43:10 PDT and I was able the place a $20 bid at May-22-13 15:42:55 PDT and win as a $16.50 last minute sniper. I hate jerks like me... :) This item arrived in a couple of days with no issues.

==The Third Stick and Beyond==
The collection has "drum rolled" from here. See the running list at '''[[Drumstick Collection]]'''. We try to get to every drum clinic or meet and greet within a couple hour radius. We would prefer autographed drumsticks right off of the bat, but will collect unsigned signature model or concert used sticks and hopefully get the opportunity to get them signed in the future.

==Why the Drumstick Collector website?==
Along the way, we started to try to research drumstick collecting, tips, tricks and came up pretty empty. The most obvious domain names '''http://www.DrumstickCollector.com''' and '''http://www.DrumstickCollecting.com''' were still available so we registered them and started to build this drumstick and drummer wiki to display Robbie's growing collection, hopefully gain some exposure in this hobby, attract some drummers that wish to donate their sticks to the collection, and pass on acquired knowledge to other potential drumstick collectors.

==Path to the next World Record?==
While researching on the net, we found '''[http://www.drumsticksabound.com/‎ Drumsticks Abound: Peter Lavinger]''', the one time holder of '''''"The World's Largest Autographed Drumstick Collection"''''' according to The Guinness Book of World Records (1999) with over 1302 drumsticks. We also found a more recent mention of some guy named Dave (ontour) who says he has over 1700 sticks, and the Neal Peart drumstick collectors site, who specializes in the Rush drummer, but has a ton of sticks from other famous drummers.

So here is the start of the next great drumstick collection. Starting at age 10, we will see how large his collection gets over the next several decades. All of the huge collections start with the first item. Then once they gain traction the sky is the limit.