This has been running through my mind for a long time... It seems that the drums of the world started off as bad, got better, and are now getting worse...
I got a chance to talk to some veteran drummers... guys that had been playing pro since the 50's..... and many of them used 40's and earlier gear for awhile. Although there's a fun vintage vibe with the old stuff, it's easy to pick out the design flops... The earliest flat bottom cymbal stands weren't that stable, snapped very easily, tom mounts bent and failed easily, shells split under the mounts, lugs broke at the casings... just all kinds of nightmares. Hell, the shells would warp under the stress of a tom being mounted.
I got to hear a great story from Carmine Appice, when I met him at a clinic. At the early years of his pro career, he was a Ludwig endorser.. and repeatedly, when things would break, he'd send them back with a note, and over a few years, heavier duty stuff began to appear. Build quality went up and up and I really think hit a peak for Ludwig in the 70's... and for SONOR... in the 80's with the super duty Phonic series. Having a Phonic plus gives me great confidence that it's not going to fall apart when I need it to perform... from the thick screws in the hardware, to the very durable shells, I can count on it to hold up through great usage. The 70's Luds I saw at a friends drum shop confirmed my findings... very strong shells, a large quantity of tuning lugs, and super duty hardware...
It seems that in the 90's we started backsliding to cheaper stuff that wears out... it angers me some that what was once the pinnacle of build quality is now being thrown out the window and we are going back to worse hardware, worse shells, and thumbing our nose at durability.
Any thoughts?
