That would be nice, though I just looked up the average income in '65 and it was $6,450. Anyone have a time machine? We could pick up a ton of mint kits and bring em back!

I can't add much, but I did stumble on a couple of cool things. There's a very interesting interview in PDF format on the web. I downloaded it but it's a bit too large to upload here. The site is HERE. It will download the pdf when you click on it.

An odd read, to be sure. Roy speaks on the pull back to Ludwig from Slingerland. He doesn't go into the detail you are requesting, but it's a strange bit of recollection.

I also located a snippet from a book where Roy speaks of the drum size to car trunk variable. I laughed. The site is HERE. Hope this helps a bit.

These links are bothersome. You have to delete the www.vintagedrumforum.com from the url. It will work after you do that.

Yes. Thanks. That was interesting. The article was quite long and it took me awhile to find the section about Slingerland and Ludwig. It just reinforces my feeling that the competitiveness between Slingerland and Ludwig was fairly fierce. And it seems like Roy Haynes knew this and played them both to his advantage.

Because of the years involved and because of this competitiveness, I really believe that each company (Slingerland and Ludwig) were specifically tailoring their own individual small drum set models to get Haynes and (possibly) try to lure some of the Gretsch crowd over, too.

That's another thing...When Haynes became available as a potential endorser, most of the jazz guys were Gretsch guys. And Roy Haynes is a big name in jazz, so to land him would really bolster that particular facet of whichever drum company got him.

Would it have been worth the investment to design a small drum set primarily to Haynes' specs? Well, at the time, Ludwig had the Ringo association, so they had money to burn (in a sense). If ever they were going to take a stab, that would have been a good time to develop it.

And Slingerland didn't have the Ringo association, but needed a popular endorser. For the cost of replacing some wood hoops with metal tom rims in order to shorten the overall depth of the shell, The Jet set would have been a fairly effective way to fit the bill for Haynes. But Ludwig went a step further and reduced the entire size of the drum, kept the more classic look of the wood hoops and t-rods and installed the railmount at the top of the shell.

From reading the PDF, it doesn't seem like Roy was ever to keen on the details of the solution. He seems more concerned with who was willing to wait on him hand and foot. Ludwig had more money at the time, so they lavished more attention to his wants. And the whole "Come onto my yacht and drink champagne" thing was much better PR than what Bud slingerland could have provided for Haynes.

I suppose without having the ability to ask Haynes or Slingerland or Ludwig, directly, these theories of mine are just that -theories. But, I feel pretty strongly that there is information "between the lines" of both the Jet and Jazzette drum sets.

Thanks for the helpful information!

That's actually a fairly brilliant bit of reasoning. It definitely follows the logical path of reasoning. It also stays within the character of each party involved. Metal hoops and no hot dog to make it more compact for the jazzers. Unreal. When you consider the depth of fight these two gentlemen had towards each others company and the fact that jazzers needed more compact drums and the comments made by Haynes and the intent of each of those kits and the drive to put a known and respected jazzer on the roster....I honestly believe you have something here. Very cool.

Thanks, man.

I guess it's a novel as opposed to true-to-life, but, still...

Even the names of the kits -"Jet" and "Jazzette" Jazzette....I dunno...I'm grasping at straws, here, but, hey, so what? One company could sell you a Jet set and the other company could sell you a Jazzette!

Maybe it went something like this.....*wavy lines*

Roy Haynes: "I want someone to build a set that will fit into my new sports car. I already customized my bass drum by replacing the front hoop with a tom tom rim. Who's going to do one better for me?"

Bud Slingerland: "Well, Roy, let's go with your idea and we'll weld a tab onto the batter side rim so you can clip a pedal on it."

Bill Ludwig: "Roy, you don't want that cheap solution! I'll spend some of our Ringo money and 'shrink' the entire bass drum down to fit into your sports car. It will have the classic bass drum look that way. Now, let's pop the cork on this bottle of champagne and go for a ride on my yacht!"

Roy Haynes: "It was nice knowing you, Bud...It was nice knowing you, Bud....It was nice knowing you, Bud...knowing you, Bud..."

*wavy lines*

:)

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I noticed the Jet set ran from the 1965 Slingerland catalog, up until somewhere around 1972.