Iam also speaking from experience here first hand..Back in 1992 a kid came in to the shop with a brand new set of D.W's drum set [dad paid over 5,000.00 for the set..Guy said he could not get the sound he wanted out of them could we check the drums for him..We did removed the heads put the edges on a glass table every drum but 2 out of a 8 drums were bad we could put one to two credit cards between the glass table and edge of drum,We had to recut the adges to make the drums sound good..Mikey

Not sure what you're expecting, posting the question here. This is a forum of people who like vintage drums. So the responses, in summary, will be: "DWs are okay/horrible, they don't sound as good as my old Gretsch/Luddies/Radio Kings".

I’m gonna throw the cat among the pigeons here.

Judging a brand whatever it may be because of backline experiences is a risky call. I can think of many Yamaha kits that I have played on as part of a backline and disliked immensely. Would it be fair to use this as a judgement against Yamaha drums? I don’t think so – they aren’t set up or tuned to my liking at all. It would be like playing an out of tune guitar with old strings and making a call on its sound.

“Also...the whole George H Way/Camco thing really turns me off to DW because they use (or used) Camco's molds for their lugs and pedals. It just reminds me of one of the most forward thinking, kind, and genuine drum enthusiasts ever to build drums getting screwed over hard near the end of his life...and it makes me not want to support them. I know that is not really a justifiable reason against dw, but it still is how I feel in the back of my mind”

To my knowledge, Camco were in administration. DW and Tama bought the patents on auction. Had they not Camcos pedal designs would have fallen into history and never seen the life span they did and still do.

An interesting thought here: DW seems to get a lot of flack from the drum forums, of which I would guess a majority of the users are American. The guy started out as a teacher and built a company from scratch with hard work and perseverance. I’m surprised that a company from the states that has managed to compete with the big boys of Japan gets so shunned for it. They build good drums with their own sound, if it’s not the sound a player likes fair enough, but imo it seems to be the current trend to talk about how dw are just over priced and over hyped. So is fender, so is Gibson, so is Pearl, so is Tama so is Ludwig and all of the vintage companies. That’s marketing – it’s how you sell things.

Can anyone think of other custom drum companies that don’t cost as much?

Adam, I have a Tama Rockstar kit down at out jamhole. Everyone plays it and loves it. I have 5 toms on a pearl rack, with 5 cymbals and iron cobra hi hat and dw 5000 kick pedal. When I originally set these up 6 yrs ago I had put evans clear heads on them and they sounded decent. Well last saturday , on your recommendation, I put some brand new evans G2 heads on all the toms and a emad2 on the kick and a Evans ST Dry Coated Snare Drumhead on my new DW snare. It was unbelievable how much better they sounded. Thanks for the input on that. My point here is: Just about every factory head is a cheapo for some reason, and putting new quality heads makes a world of difference! I know this isnt a vintage discussion, unless we're comparing to vintage drums. I, for one dont plan on spending $4,500 on a drum kit, but I dam sure could if I wanted to! I was hesitant to spend $50 on a kick head, because some of the guys that play my tamas are animals. They turn the beater around so its plastic hitting the head and break it. I made a new rule. "DO NOT TURN THE BEATER AROUND"!!!!! hell, the dam thing is miked anyway. Our sound guy loves the way the new kick sounds now.

Im guessing the DW stage kits must have factory heads and arent tuned very well. I still like to believe that Americans are smarter than the rest of the world. Have you seen my thread on my premiers that are made of particle board? I'll Give DW the benefit of the doubt!

Out of essentially all of this crap that was discussed about dw drums, your post nails it right on the mark, I still don't really get the gw thing dw didn;t do it to him camco did it to him, and as you stated they only bought out a failing company!! this is the same old argument that ludwig and rogers had back in the day!! WELL DONE KUDOS!!!Bowing

Listen guys. You are taking my statements WAY out of context here and hi-fiving over something that is just not even an issue. Seriously. Take a second to understand what you are reading before you just fly off the handle with these responses...and I promise this will be my last post about this topic. It is hilarious how out of proportion this has gotten when all that was asked for was people's opinions about a drum company. CryBaby

1. I know it is irrational to not like DW because of Camco/GW. I stated that it is not a justifiable reason in my first post. Did you read that? I just said that the fact that DW uses Camco's molds REMINDS me of how Camco treated GW and further turns me off to DW. Got that? Turns ME off. I KNOW it has nothing to do with DW or the sound of their drums. I am not saying it is a logical or justifiable reason to dislike their product. My feelings about the sound and quality of DW's product is 100% based on my experiences playing their drums and hardware...not the history of another company. Seriously. Mind Blowi

2. I never said that my ONLY experience with DW was playing kits with stock heads in backline situations...So "judging a brand whatever it may be because of backline experiences is a risky call" doesn't even apply to this argument. It is made up. My comment about backlining was in response to Poppy wondering why he sees so many DW kits on tv...I went further and said that when I am forced to play their drums live I am embarrassed because people probably think I CHOOSE to play them. I dont. I have played plenty of their kits with a variety of head choices. New heads. Old heads. Thin. Thick. Coated. Clear..and yes STOCK. You name it. All of the kits have sounded canned to my ears. To me DW drums are like paying fine dining prices to eat at Applebees. Again JUST MY OPINION. It don't mean nothin!

3. Remember where I said I was excited to hear what the new solid shell DW drums sound like? I can see them being awesome. Sounds like Poppy totally digs his. That is reassuring, and I hope to check one out soon. I said that in the beginning of all of this as well, but all of a sudden people are acting like I said they suck without even hearing them or something. I don't get it.

It is my opinion that DW drums don't have any personality. Thats all. This thread is called "DW DRUMS. WHAT DO Y'ALL THINK OF THEM?". I am purely stating what I think of them. Who really cares if I don't like them anyway? Who really cares if you do? Its just a bunch of opinions, and honestly I was looking for someone to change my mind! Sounds like a lot of others have had negative experiences with them too. Way more negatives than positives from people that actually deal with them. Either way...this was supposed to be a friendly discussion...then people decided to get freaked out about what forum this should be on and got all offended that someone doesn't like their kit.

If you own em and love em Vintagemore...good! I am glad they work for you! Your kit is probably rad. Play the heck out of it and enjoy it. Thats what they are there for. I am sure there are other kits you hate that I love...or vice versa. Who cares? It all for the love of drums right!

Seriously guys...lets make up! Its all for the love of drums! Yes Sir

flower It's all good Y'all! The forum was getting a little dead. Its fun to stir up the pot occasionally huh? I have enjoyed all the responses to this thread and apologize to anyone that has not. It's a beautiful day in Lubbock, TX! Almost 70 degreesflowers2 and 2 more hours till miller timeExcited and more forum action!!!!!!!!!!!!Jump For Joy

Ludwig drums. What do you guys think of them. :) grin Eye Ball

The old ones are great, the new ones are not so great. I still have my first kit. '83 Ludwig with maple shells, I can't give 'em away, they sit not being played. Ordered a 2005 Maple classic, the toms would not tune at all. The kookiest overtones. Traded that kit for a USA Gretsch and I kiss 'em all the time because they couldn't sound any better.

I Bowing Ludwigs!!! I own 4 vintage kits ans one newer kit along with 8 more luddy snares!