Very true. Buddy gave a set to Johnny Carson at one point. He'd then call Bill Ludwig and order a new set. It was usually Bill Ludwig, someone Buddy never liked.
Based on what Bill Ludwig has to say in his autobiography I believe the feeling was mutual.
About what I said about DWs in my earlier post. I have used DW backline sets on a few occasions and they always sounded very good. I can certainly see why people like them...they just don't happen to trip my trigger is all. I do like and use their pedals though and I have a bunch of their hardware and at least one DW snare drum.
I actually won a DW set thru Classic Drummer magazine a few years back. They were the Performance series drums which had just been introduced. They were stunning to look at (a cherry red stain) and sounded great but they weren't the sizes I favor. At about the same time a kid posted on DFO about a set his grandfather had gifted to him. He didn't know the brand and he didn't like the sizes. They were a green sparkle set of "bop" sized Nashville Slingerlands. I half jokingly suggested that we trade sets and he excitedly accepted. We shipped each other the drums. I was able to use the original shipping containers which I still had (the drums all still had the tags on them and were essentially showroom new). He had to improvise and as a result the bass drum reso head got destroyed during shipment but that was, luckily, the full extent of the damage. The Nashvilles were like new and had obviously never been gigged. I know the kid just had them set up in his bedroom and I suspect the grandfather had only used them in his basement or living room. The DWs sounded and looked great but I have never regretted the trade. About a year later I saw that he had the DW kit I traded him up for sale, so maybe drumming just wasn't his thing. I did keep all the top of the line DW stands that came with the DW set, except for the tom stand which had to go with the drums. I also kept the set of Supernatural cymbals which were included as part of the prize. I currently use the two crashes as part of my gigging set for rock gigs. All in all a sweet deal for free. My brief stint as a DW owner.
