Man I hope not! I really like the Broadcaster line. Hope to have/afford one day. That great DW sound?? Dang. Hmmmm

Another nail in coffin of our "free market" system.

saw this on the DFO yesterday ! I am a DW fan so we'll see how this pans out.

More information ....

KMC Music Inc., the subsidiary of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, sold all of it's percussion divisions to DW Drums.

[INDENT]Gibraltar Hardware

Gretsch Drums

Kat Percussion

LP Music

Percussion Plus

Protection Racket

Sabian

Toca[/INDENT]

Ovation guitars was also part of the transaction.

http://spotlight.fender.com/newsroom/news/459/

-Tim

Here is another posting of it also ! http://musicincmag.com/News/2015/150106/150106_KMS.html

PDP drums are made in Ensenada, Mexico. I bet non-USA Gretsch drum production could move to this manufacturing facility to reduce costs. Non-USA Fender guitars are also made Ensenada, Mexico.

-Tim

DW acquires KMC licensed and owned brands including Gretsch

I wanted to take a moment to address the recent news that DW has acquired several of the licensed and owned brands of KMC. I have been getting calls and emails from customers wondering what this means for Gretsch, and since we are such a large Gretsch dealer I wanted to weigh in here and give you my thoughts. And, I will preface it all with this comment: Everyone can relax. It will be fine. Here’s why:

I am in an interesting position here because I know many of the people involved (Fred Gretsch, who owns Gretsch; the wonderful folks at KMC who have been the licensed distributor, and I know and respect Don Lombardi. And, although I do not know Chris Lombardi, DW’s CEO, I know that he appreciates the legacy of Gretsch as much as he does the Legacy of the DW brand). I also have a somewhat unique perspective here because before I started my drum shops I spent thirty two years running large businesses of other types and spent the last ten of those years doing Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). So, I know the people involved and I am very familiar with the M&A process.

In my view, an acquisition of this type is typically made because the acquirer knows and values the brands being acquired. And, when an investment of this type is made, it is in everyone’s best interest to preserve the integrity of the acquired brands and to help grow them. In all my years of involvement in M&A, no one ever went into that process saying “Let’s spend a bunch of money and trash the business”. Knowing the people involved here, I am confident that the intent is to nurture and grow the already excellent Gretsch brand.

As I mentioned above, Gretsch is family owned. Fred owns the company and KMC owned the license for distribution. DW will now handle the distribution license. The good people at DW will, in my opinion, assist in helping to grow and expand the already excellent Gretsch brand. Keep in mind that I certainly am not a party to the details of this in any way, but am simply stating my opinion as to what I feel will take place here. There are always bumps in the road when an acquisition occurs, but there are bumps in ANY road and they get handled and things move on. I would suggest that the drums produced by Gretsch today will likely be built in the same place and by the same people, and that the DW team will be keenly focused on ways to grow and expand that brand, and my guess would be that they will also look to retain key people within that organization who have the knowledge and expertise with the brand.

Anyhow, in general, that’s how the M&A process works, and in my view this transaction will work out very well. Trust me, with as much Gretsch business as I do, if I thought this would be a debacle I would be the first guy out the door. But I am not. I am poised to order more, a lot more.

Steve

This from Steve Maxwell

Gretsch hands down makes the best quality and most affordable drums today. Just my opinion. they're really raised the bar in terms of quality over the last few years. Nobody touches them. My Gretsch Renown 57 kit is an amazing thing of beauty. Practically USA-made except assembly, I got this for a steal brand new. Anyway, my 2 pennies :)

The Drum community is tight. I reckon If DW chooses to run Gretsch into the ground then that will be the end of DW too. However I believe John Goode is a drum nut and will be excited by this acquisition and make the most of it. Fingers crossed!