So what is the "HSS" period and what does the acronym stand for?

The HSS era is from 1990-1994. After extensive research, I've still never been able to find out exactly what HSS stands for! I do know that they were a musical distributor for more than just drums. As to the Slingerland drums, there were three categories:

Spirit Series, Artist Custom and Lite. The Lite series were all maple shells built by Jasper in the US.

The following quote was from an online article I found some years ago...

"The Artist Custom line, made in Taiwan using wood shipped from North America, was the middle line carried by HSS during the Gretsch period of Slingerland ownership. As a middle line the Artists were sandwiched between the Spirit economy line made in Taiwan and the top line Slingerland Lites made in South Carolina.

Artist Custom shells were 5-ply with Canadian maple inner and outer plies and three plies of mahogany in the middle. Besides the shell composition, matching lacquered wood bass drum hoops were a feature that differentiated the Artist line from the Spirits, which used metal bass drum hoops. Hardware fixtures were essentially the same on both the Spirits and Artist Customs.

Overall, the sound of the Artist Custom line bass drums and toms was held in high regard by many professional drummers."

-Mark

I believe HSS stands for Hohner-Sabian-Sonor.

That may very well be true! I've just never found anything to substantiate this. All Slingerland articles only mention HSS, with absolutely no mention as to what it stands for! Drives me crazy that I can't find this information!

-Mark

I believe jmcohen is correct. Very little info but there is this.

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/matth-hohner-ag-history/ HSS was the marketer and distributor of Slingerland drums during the Gretsch ownership period. Makes sense as Slingerland catalogs/fliers of the time feature Sabian cymbals and the Hohner name.

http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/images/slingerland_drum_sets/1992_slingerland_drumsets1.jpg

slingerfan!

Your first link really shows what jmcohen says! It does show this around the 1986 time frame. This is information I haven't been able to find. Thanks again!

-Mark

I believe it actually states it somewhere in Rob Cook’s The Slingerland Book, but it’s just mentioned deep in a paragraph somewhere. I remember reading it once upon a time but couldn’t find it this morning.

Josh

Hi Josh!

I have both editions of The Slingerland Book and couldn't find this info. But, as you mentioned, it's probably "deep in a paragraph somewhere"!

-Mark

That is completely correct.

While I agree that this is correct, I find absolutely no mention of Slingerland when reading the 80's and 90's section. You'd think this would be mentioned. Unless you read The Slingerland Book, anyone doing research into HSS may never know that they took over Slingerland!

-Mark