Ha..pretty good, thank you...Yourself?

Also good here. Do you know that our friend from Houston has moved to Maine?

Would you drive a Cadillac? No? Maybe? It's not for everybody but some people drive them. And Also, you should check out the new Gretsch stuff. They are under the DW banner, maybe that is more up your alley... Just sayin'.

I'm lucky that I can probably buy anything DW markets at a discount, and perhaps Gretsch drums as well. I've never asked my AR guy. Thing is, I still have zero interest in owning Gretsch drums. I don't have the resources to just shell out for a high end Gretsch drumset on speculation, even with my artist discount.

I do, however, have a serious interest in owning new Slingerland drums when they are released, and will probably start with a Radio King snare.

I have found that in most cases, drummers are attracted to certain brands and don't care about others. I never cared about Camco, Premier, or Ludwig, for that matter. The only reason I have a set of Burgundy Sparkle Ludwigs is because one of my drumming heroes, Dino Danelli, played them and I adore the finish. Now that I have vintage Ludwigs, I have grown extremely fond of them. They sound and look incredible, but I don't want another Ludwig set. One is enough.

I was always a Slingerland, Leedy and Rogers fan back in the day, and still am. Add DW to that list. I have three Slingerland sets and would own more if I had space.

Well I, for one, get them. I think a lot of our preferences go back to the famous drummers over the years that we like and the equipment they used rather than some esoteric discriminations about types of wood and ply arrangements and a 30 degree vs 45 degree bearing edge, etc etc. I mean look at how collectible and desirable original Vistalites have become and they are made of plastic fer cryin out loud. But we love Bonham. I love Keith Moon and I'd buy Premier for that reason. The first time I saw Buddy Rich on TV he was paying white Slingerlands and I was blown away and I've had my white Slingerlands for almost 40 years now and can't break them no matter how hard I try. So when I finally grew up and felt like I needed to treat myself to a new modern drum kit, I went back to the well of my top 5 admired drummers and Charlie Watts is high on the list, and he plays Gretsch. This was 2015 and the made in the USA Brooklyn line was created so I looked into those (Ludwig Classics and DW were also in the running) and wound up getting a 5 piece in Smoke Gray Oyster with a matching snare. These things are so solid, so pretty, so detailed and well-built. The kick is so satisfying to stomp on, the toms are focused and easy to tune. The snare is as good as any you'll find. They have only left the house twice to gig with, I treat them more as functional furniture in my drum room than a players kit. The big Slingys still get most of the rock and roll duty, along with my Roland Vdrums when those make sense. But I do *get* Gretsch, a venerable and respected American brand.

I get all drums.

I really get all well built- professional standard- drums.

The extremes on either end I don't dwell much with.

I have a strange sense of foreboding that we may be the last generation that even cares about ANY of this stuff. Whether it's the next generation or the one beyond....a lot of these things that we love and fuss over, may not transfer into the future. Analog life may be going away and replaced by SAMPLES of old drum kits and riffs by the famous drummers...Oh wait...that's already happening! ;) That great Gretsch sound might only be found on a sampler one day!

Drums are drums, but different brands and woods do sound different. Slingerland was my first set, so I'm attracted to the lug design which is similar to Gretsch. For me it's about lug design, sound, and color choices. Gretsch has a certain sustain resonance that makes the toms sing to me. All this crap about jazz or rock drums makes no sense. Most rock drummers use big drums, and not all jazz drummers use smaller drums. Play what you like!

I like them drums..

I was perusing the internet and found this guy's page....thought it might help explain the Gretsch sound...He has a lot of Gretsch videos and I think he's a really nice player.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8FPeA_DE-A"]FRANCO DAL MONEGO PLAYS GRETSCH ROUNDBADGE VINTAGE 60's SILVER SPARKLE JAZZ SET 18/12/14 - YouTube[/ame]