Actually the 3ply maple/poplar/maple shells are thin.The only real difference between Slingerland and Ludwig was the hardware, the shells were pretty much the same.

Oops, meant to say "thinner", not "thicker." But whether it's Ludwig or Slingerland, they just don't make 'em like they used to!

A big contributor to the sound, and it also affects guitar sound and pool cue feel, is the wood itself.

Old growth- big, fat old trees cut down after a hundred odd years- killed into boards and racked up in a barn or shed, to air dry for a couple years. As compared to maybe 20 year old trees, felled and processed in a couple days and then into the kiln for drying over a few hours.

Maple (sugar maple aka rock maple) in particular it is visible- air dried wood has a honey brown hue to it as compared to kiln dried that is more snowy white. That trapped sugar in the cells gives the color, but also so much more.

Density is higher. Sustain is longer. Ridgidity is higher. Nice old growth air dried cue shafts hit like a brick through a window and sing out when the ball is struck. You can feel the difference.

No they don’t make em like they used to but even if they did (and many try) getting the right wood is the real challenge.

Maybe it's the thicker, three ply wood with mahogony, poplar and maple... maybe it's the hand sanding of the bearing edges... the single ply heads. Maybe it's the glue, or the way the wood has aged.

My take is , as to all here they are right !

It’s the music grade wood as in mahogany for the real older drums that happens to be endangered today by the tree huggers, and rightly so, but still you still can’t beat it lol....

The original 4 all have something that makes me feel very good (as i never sat down behind a Camco kit so i wouldn't know) but right now i have a 60's Ludwig and a 50's Gretsch set up side by side and i keep going back and forth because they sound so good but very different. Same goes for Slingerland and Rogers but to me, old Ludwigs have a little bit of added sexyness...

I think drums in general are overrated. All you need is a good sounding snare and cymbals. Toms and bass drums? Who cares!

Ok, hang on, I’ll get my pitchfork!

I always knew about Ludwig's snares, but playing their kicks and toms are what sold me- and that was on a late 70s 6-ply kit. Easy to tune, or at least it was hard to make them sound bad.

I guess you’ve never had a nice kick