Not sure that DW has really changed much in regards to Gretsch. The imports still come from wherever they come from and the high end stuff all still comes from the same plant it's been made in since around 1985. You don't fix what isn't broken and that seems to be the case here. I suppose DW now handles the distribution, warehousing of the imports, customer & artist relations, and advertising. The "real" Gretsch drums are still being made by the same people in the same place on the same machines as they have been for a long time. DW may control the overall strategy and any R & D (although major change seems to not sit well with most Gretsch lovers). They can sell them faster than they can make them...you don't mess with that formula.

Slingerland is a different scenario because there isn't a current successful company that they can just allow to continue. Someone needs to figure out what direction to take the brand in and how to do it, recreate the past, create new cutting edge drums, somewhere in between? It will be interesting to see.

Wow! Your friend has some high expectations of how long he will live.Cool1

I had a Gretsch Catalina jazz kit, they were ok, but I wouldn't buy another and I like Gretsch drums. I have a rb 22" kick that sounds incredible.

I don't know anything about the Catalinas myself...only what I've been told by people who usually know what they are talking about. I can't wait to try his kit out when he gets them, but I wouldn't buy any new drum sets myself. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure it's easier for someone like him to just buy everything new and then not have to worry about having to fix something that he might get at a pawn shop or on Ebay. Even to re-head an entire used kit with decent drumheads is truly expensive these days. I thought it looked like a good kit for the price. But a real set of drums and cymbals and everything is just way out of his budget.

PICTURE YOURSELF IN A BOAT ON A RIVER,.....no,no,..idiot,....

PICTURE YOURSELF BEHIND AN AUTHENTIC SLINGERLAND BUDDY RICH SNARE DRUM FOR YOUR DRUM KIT. AVAILABLE NOW, THE EXACT MODEL BUDDY SETTLED WITH BEFORE HE PASSED. IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE WORLDS GREATEST, IT WILL WORK FOR YOU TOO. THIS ONE OF A KIND MODEL HAS BEEN RETIRED AND IS NOW BEING PUT ON THE ASSEMBLY LINE AGAIN. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SNARE IS THE WAY BUDDY WANTED IT. IT COMES WITH A PERSONALIZED (DW) BADGE AND CERTIFICATE OF SLINGERLAND AUTHENTICITY.

This add is from the future. (no Sir John's or Beatles were hurt making this add)

DW already sorta did that a long time ago. They made some Buddy Rich tribute sets and even made a BR snare with Buddy's picture on it. I never quite got the connection, I guess it was either Buddy would have played us if he'd lived (maybe if enough $ were involved), we revere Buddy and this is our tribute, or we paid Cathy a bunch of money and she said we could. She pulled the plug on it fairly quickly.

And here they are. I suspect the new Slingerlands will be made, uhh, born in the same DW Taiwan factory.

You only brought up resale value because you are a flipper of drums, this is all you seem to know and bring to the table here year after year. Like someone else said a couple of pages back on this thread....I'd like to see you hold onto a kit longer than a month too.

Ok, I've been holding back on my opinion of the whole DW buying the Slingerland name thing, but its time to voice it wheather I get negativity from one or two people here, whatever.

First, I am a lifelong Ludwig guy. I like their new stuff as well as vintage. I like vintage Rogers pre-XP8 era drums. I also like that the new owners of Rogers are actually doing something great with the name now rather than just rebadging cheap import drums as Rogers like Brook Mays and Yamaha were doing. I like the fact that you can buy a new Leedy snare drum if you want it. I owned one for a while and they do sound nice.

I like the fact that Dunnett resurrected the George H Way name and offer some nice drums today under that name. I like the fact that you can spec out a Gretsch kit today and have it sound and look the same as a vintage RB kit if you so desire.

So how can DW buying Slingerland out of oblivian from Gibson possibly be a bad thing? New Radio King snare drums? Brand new replacement Zoomatic strainers? The ideas are limitless.

I for one think its a good idea and nothing but good (no pun intended) can come from it. I myself am not a fan of the current crop of DW's regular line of drums either. It has nothing to do with being over priced, or quality or too many choices or any other such nonsense that others have stated, but it has to do with the sound of them. Now, I have heard some of the original DW drums with the Keller shells and those sound good to my ears. I've heard the DW Jazz series and both the Grestch inspired ones and the Slingerland inspired ones sound close to what they are supposed to sound like to my ears. But if I want the sound of Gretsch I'd go buy Gretsch. When Slingerland was dead, DW was a viable option if you wanted that sound. Now that they own Slingerland, it just makes sense.

The only ones worried about this being a bad thing are the drum flippers. All about resale value. In case most of you weren't paying attention, Slingerlands have little resale value these days, unless it's a Radio King or was owned by an endorser. Slingerlands regularly trade hands online for the prices paid for used mid-level Japanese import kits from the 80's and 90's, a fraction of what Rogers, Ludwig, and Gretsch trade hands for. So, sorry flippers, your theory of resale value tanking because of this is out the window. And as far as others not being able to tell the new from the old....that's been a problem all along with all drums, not just Slingerland.

So to recap.......DW buys Slingerland=good. Negativity towards the deal=bad.

A couple of naysayers on a vintage drum forum are not going to mean a thing to DW, as they believe a market must be there for the old name. My hats off to DW for even considering resurrecting an old name. Now if only they could get the Camco name back......

Why does it seem to bother you that I buy drums, tire of them and then sell? It's not like I go out hunting for drums to buy just to flip. I know guys who do that and it can be a good source of income, but it's not what I do.

Hey, we all have opinions, now wouldn't the world be a boreing place if we all thought the same?Coffee Break2

Btw, when this DW/Slingerland deal crashes and burns, I'll be the first to say, I told you so.Violin