why play a copy, for the asking price of new leedy, you can have a conn era leedy

I wouldn't call it a copy, more of a tribute to the Leedy of the past, or a continuation series.

Outside the USA the Leedy name has been used on a cheap chinese Pearl knockoff of a kit. In the USA the name is owned by Gretsch and they are made here in the US. The custom produced snare drums are made by Steve Maxwell, the "regular production" Leedy snare drums are made by Gretsch. I own one of the latter and I must tell you that it sounds great and is a high quality drum. However, with that said, it does not sound like a vintage Leedy Broadway snare. It sounds more like a more sensitive Gretsch snare, as it should having the extended length snares and a Gretsch shell as its basis. BTW, the kit Tre' Cool is playing is a custom built kit made by Professional Drum Shop in Hollywood, CA using hardware supplied by Gretsch and using Keller shells. It is a one of a kind and they probably will not end up making them in any great quantity. Even as we speak, the number of Leedy dealers has dwindled down to just two. Something tells me Fred Gretsch has decided that the Leedy name hasn't caught on and may be deciding that it was a failed experiment and to quit while he can. Thats just my opinion and I hope I'm wrong because they really are great sounding drums and it is great to see an old name back again......at least its a better attempt to revive an old name with a quality product, much unlike what Yamaha has done to Rogers.....

Yeah. I understand what Yamaha is doing with Rogers though. If they put all of that money into making repro 60's kits there would just not be enough buyers at the price they would need to charge and since the production would be low the kits would be REALLY expensive. Even the buyers that there WOULD be (possibly me!) would be driven away because they could get a real vintage Rogers kit for less money.

Makes sense to start with an entry level line and build the name back up a little bit with the younger players before getting into high end drums again. I wouldn't want them to just be offering Yamaha shells with a Rogers badge just for the sake of making nice drums that say Rogers on them either. At least they are offering one sorta cool finish now, and I think in the next year or so we will see other small improvements.

I have faith that Yamaha will do something good with the Rogers line in the future. I am sure it will be baby steps though.

As far as the Leedy stuff goes. Thanks for the input. Seems to make sense to try to find a good old one. I am definitely not in the market for a Leedy snare to sound modern....so I think I will just hold on to my bucks and look for an old one at a reasonable price.

Thanks!

Adam

saw a nice one on Chicago craigslist.