The Slingerland drum company ceased to exist decades ago in case you didn't know. I think you need to get over it.
No kidding? That must be why I haven't received any new catologs since 1980.LoLoLoLo
They must not like you. I get a new catalog every year.
For me, there are sweet spots for Slingerland drums during their long history. Although I love the old 1930's and 1940's looks and sound of Slingies, my favorites are the drums that I yearned to own, and eventually did own. Those are the Slingerland drums made from about 1957 through 1968. If I had known about them at the time, I probably would have wanted Slinger/Leedy drums because of the drop dead gorgeous lugs. If I had to reduce my drum stash to only one drum set and a spare snare drum, those drums would be my 1963 Slinger/Leedy Shelly Manne set in Black Diamond Pearl with matching Shelly Manne snare drum. The spare snare drum would be my other Shelly Manne snare drum in Pink Glass Glitter. If DW made new issues of that era of Slingerland drums, I think that they would be a hit at prices to compete with USA-made Gretsch.
So now DW owns Slingerland and distributes Gretsch...who own Leedy (Fred Gretsch cannily kept the Leedy trademark when he sold Slingerland). So maybe, just maybe, some Slinger-Leedy drums could happen. Whether they'd be worth buying is another matter. I guess all this will come down to the construction features. But I have to agree, those Leedy lugs are attractive.
I would love to see a promo kit based on N.Peart's Slingerland tubs! I would love to purchase a RK snare in my favorite wrap, blackchrome!
Here's a nice video of the acquisition of Slingerland by DW. This should make the skeptics feel a little better. It looks like a win-win for everyone so far -
https://reverb.com/news/dw-announces-acquisition-of-slingerland-from-gibson
Leedy was sold by Fred Gretsch a while back. The new owners of the name have been making very nice snare drums, and that's about all. I agree that Slinger/Leedy (circa mid 60's) drum sets would be wonderful. However, there are very few people who would even consider buying them. on the other hand, i think that there is a small--yet wide enough--niche for mid 20th century Slingerland reissue drum sets.
Leedy was sold by Fred Gretsch a while back. The new owners of the name have been making very nice snare drums, and that's about all. I agree that Slinger/Leedy (circa mid 60's) drum sets would be wonderful. However, there are very few people who would even consider buying them. on the other hand, i think that there is a small--yet wide enough--niche for mid 20th century Slingerland reissue drum sets.
Did he actually sell the name or just license it? He's usually pretty smart in that regard. Licensing the name for a fee and a piece of the action rather than getting one lump sum. He's done this with the Leedy name more than once with people building snares with that name on them. Supposedly Tres Cool offered him a bunch of money to buy the Leedy name outright and Fred wouldn't sell. But that was several years ago so maybe he has changed his mind.
He does essentially the same thing with the Gretsch name. Letting someone else worry about all the production details while retaining ultimate ownership of the brand.
Since I seem to be in the minority on this issue I'll make one last statement and leave it alone.
I've heard all the reasonings in favor of this move, but I still can't help asking, why? I ask this because there are a lot of drummers, believe it or not, who have never heard of Slingerland. I'm afraid once these drums are in the public and guys start to sell them off, they will be passed off as original Slingerland drums to youngsters with not much knowledge. Now guys like us will know the difference immediately, but there are tons of drummers who will not. I know this can happen, I was once offered a Ludwig reissue physc red kit that turned out to be a kit built with Keller shells and had nothing to do with Ludwig other than the hardware. It had been passed off as a Ludwig reissue for ten years, I even saw it advertised as being authentic on one of the previous owners web site. So, it can happen and that's one of my concerns with a "New" Slingerland hitting the market. When Gibson had their run with Slingerland I only saw one kit at a drum shop, I don't think they sold many, when dw starts I'm sure they will be flooding the market with the new Slingerlands, so eventually there will be many in circulation. Brook Mays did the same thing with Rogers, I still see them around and have owned a few, nice drums, but nothing like vintage Rogers.
Anyway I'll just leave it at that and hope for the best.
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