kevins - OK, so a store label manufactured on the drum along side the manufacturer’s name is a “Private Label” and a store label and no manufacturers label is a “Stencil”. Sounds good to me.

This stuff though was here in the USA (and maybe other countries too) long before we started importing inexpensive drums from Japan. Think about Walberg & Auge and then certain stores like Sears and others here in America. I have a feeling that way back a company that had enough money could have “The Privilege” of having a quality American company produce a “stencil” for them to sell. Or if they were a store that sold a lot of product the best drum companies could produce a “Private Label” as a perc for that store’s good reputation.

I do think your distinction does work here in our drum world. No stigma necessary! Thank you for making this clear!

:)

Well, close. I didn't say that a Stencil has a store label without the manufacturers' name on it. All the names on the badges on the stencil drums were just names... not models, not stores, not companies. Just some made up name to put on them. I have a stencil snare with a "KEVIN - Made in Japan" label on it.

See the difference?

Yeah, what I meant too was the company's own brand that someone (often a store) was selling the drums under. I know what you mean, but I think now the Wikipedia definition of “Private Label” does encompass what your saying.

Also after rereading your earlier explanation, I have a feeling that you feel “stencil” means “copy”. If so, I’m under a different impression, and that is that “stencil” has been used in the drum world as like “stenciling” your brand on a drum. Although not a literal stencil. Like when you literally stencil your band name on the road case. The word stencil seems to be used to represent the branding of the drums for your company that doesn’t produce them. You've seen those cardboard stencils for painting and tracing letters on stuff. I think that is where this term has come from.

Sorry my words here may not be working well.

:)

In the world of fashion and sports gear you always hear the term "knock-offs"...Why is it not used in the world of drum gear?...Look at the stands,pedals,throws,...how about cymbals??

You are traveling a different path of perception than I intended my words to have pointed you toward.

It is beyond my abilities to explain my ideas any clearer than I have.

Sorry that I have failed in the communication of my thoughts to you.

Peace

Kevin

wayne - Thanks for your response! I can see and agree with your point! I think sometimes the term stencil is actually being used or confused with “Knock Off”. I feel a copied set is a knock off, and a stencil set is a branding of a set, whether a copy or not, produced by some manufacturer other than the company that owns the brand.

kevins - I'm sorry too! I really thought I had it the first time. Maybe when I see folks here use these terms more maybe I'll get a better understanding of the difference. Thanks for trying though.

Clapping Happy2

You started this thread stating you didn't know the difference. Not really sure why a day later you're claiming expertise that is counter to the information you've received here.

A stencil is an unlicensed copy, a knock-off, of a brand-name set's hardware. Its true manufacturer is typically not identified, but that alone does not differentiate it. Many honorable companies sell things they don't make, but they buy them from the original manufacturer. That is the difference. Stencil sets emanate from a company that copied another original manufacturer without paying for the privilege.

An example of private label would be the Geo Prism, which was in fact a Toyota Corolla, for the most part. Rogers R-360 and 380 drums made by Yamaha would be "private label."

For years I worked for a manufacturer of pre-engineered steel buildings. While we had several brands of our own, we supplied buildings to various companies that sold them under their own trade names. All drawings, peak cap brand name, etc. carried the name of our customer. Sometimes, the customer required certain features or design criteria for their "brand."

I think stencil brand is more on the line of "A" supplier has this product; you want it?--we'll put a sticker with your name on it.

Still, the difference is marginal.

I don't think that is what happened with the influx of Japanese drums into the American market in the sixties and seventies.

There is a supplier ..... Tama, or Hoshino, or Pearl, but they didn't put stickers with another companies' name on the drums. There weren't any other companies. They didn't exist. They just labeled their own drums with whatever name, be it Majestic, or Tempro or Kevin or whatever. There is no company named Majestic, or Tempro, or Kevin..... it's just a name.