Well, this is bizarre. I don't see the connection between old world craftsmanship in metallurgy and the woodworking of stick manufacturing. Ahhhh, but Zildjian no longer has old world craftsmanship. It's all quick like a bunny speed banging to put out a cymbal. Now it's coming together. The lathing departments will blend into a single entity which will make for a much stronger stick ... and a much weaker cymbal.

All kidding aside, this is very reminiscent of the 1980's merger-fever that brought some of the most unusual business marriages. That failed, though.

hummmmm.....we shall see what we shall see.

First glance, it's not unusual. But consider, most non-proprietary stick manufacturing was done by drum builders. They were wood workers. This is definitely going to be an interesting watch from the sidelines.

I would venture the price of sticks or cymbals, or both, are going up.

Kevins, unfortunately that might be true. And Chinese made sticks and cymbals will still be a much, much cheaper and therefore viable alternative. Maybe we'll see more Dream dealers as an unintended byproduct of this kind of merger?

My son has been using Zildjian John Riley sticks for several years. The quality of Zildjian sticks had been very poor for a long time. He would sometimes have to check out 4 or 5 pairs to get one good one. A number of months ago we noted a marked improvement in the John Riley model. We went to Sam Ash in NJ and found 6 out of 6 pairs that were perfect. We recently purchased some additional pairs there just to keep in reserve. They opened a new brick for us to select from, and EVERY pair was perfect.

With this merger news, I now wonder if the recent marked improvement in Zildjian sticks is somehow related. Perhaps Vic Firth had already started making sticks for Zildjian. The quality was not only better, but the wood looked different. The older sticks were a paler color than the newer better quality ones. Hmmm

Actually, I recently had a music store employee whose been around a long time tell me exactly that... he said Vic Firth had been making Zildjian's stick for a while now. I don't know how long exactly, probably months, though.

That would make sense considering our experience.