A very tough, and personal subject to touch on here, but I'll give my viewpoints about this, and perhaps I'll "persuade" others to add in about their personal findings.

Back in the '60s when the Beatles rolled around onto the scene, well, Ludwig was the hot ticket. I felt this bug myself, and turned down a used Louis Bellson owned Rogers Set in 1966 for a new set of Ludwigs.

While Ludwig was a very fine Drumset, and great drum company I seemed to ignore companies like Slingerland, and Rogers for the first part in my childhood years drum playing.

Slingerland, with there what I felt more spartan average looking lugs just didn't appeal to me as much as the the look of the Ludwig Classic Lugs, and Supra Imperial Lugs on their Snare Drums.

As the few years went by, I began to recognize Rogers as much higher quality drums versus ludwig both in look, sound, and the cost pretty much reflected that.

I always swore that one day I would upgrade to Rogers, but unfortunately, that day never came.

I'm sure back in the day, companies like Rogers, and Slingerland were looking to appeal to young drummers, as that's were the market was back then, so they needed younger, popular players as endorsers of their drums. thus along came fellas like Danny Seraphine, Dave Clark.

I reckon the likes of drummers such as Louis Bellson, Bobby Rosengarden, Barrett Deems, Jake Hanna, Ed Thigpen, Roy Burns, and even Buddy Rich himself couldn't compete with the likes of Ringo Starr in popularity back in this time era.

Sad in a way that perhaps drums like Slingerland were looked over as not being as good a drum, as they were mighty fine drums. well built, and were said by many to have the best chrome plating in the business, as they did all chrome plating in house.

Competition was no doubt fierce back then, and the major three were all vying for the consumer's dollar.

The benefits we all reaped was many unique drums, in unique colors, wraps, finishes, features, Dual Bass Drums, Dual, and Triple Toms, experimental Strainer Systems, Newer, more versatile hardware, with more, and better features.

As the years passed, we have all gained what I call "maturity", in that we all now can pretty much look back, and recognize what the big three had done in the '60's, and there's certainly fan clubs/camps who have their own personal "Shrines" be it Ludwig, Rogers, or Slingerland.

Sure, there were many other great Drum companies during this time period. Sonor comes to mind quickly as one. Mark

The older drums are much lighter in weight. I lean towards 60's era Ludwigs as favorites because those drums felt different to play. I have owned and or played most all the brands of vintage American drums and they all had a different feel when compared to modern drums. I think this had a great deal to do with the type of drumheads that were being used at the time and also because of the shape of the bearing edge. But aside from those obvious things, the weight of vintage shells was much less. The famed 3-ply shells were light because they were formed mostly of poplar wood that was sandwiched between a thin veneer of mahogany and a thin veneer of maple.

Rogers shells were a bit denser and thus the Rogers drums projected a little more.

Gretcsh had a slightly denser shell with no re-rings and diecast hoops

Slingerland's shells were really lightweight, too...but the hardware was pretty plain-looking

The quality of the older drums wasn't always as good or consistent as the newer ones, but they had a certain "soul" that just can't be found in modern drums. Even when modern versions of vintage-STYLE shells are utilized, the sound is closer to modern.

I have a "clone" kit made from modern versions of Keller vintage mahogany shells and I have the "original" vintage kit...same configuration...everything. The modern shells are much heavier and the sound is much less warm and is much more focused, loud and sustaining.The vintage kit is warmer, softer and "looser" to play. You wouldn't think there would be that big of a difference, but there is. It also should be noted that I opt for used vintage Ludwig heads when I can get them. Even a 30-year old udsed Ludwig thermoline head is more comfortable and more...vintage-sounding than any modern head. When I can't use the original heads, I use Aquarian white coated single-ply...but they are a far cry from Thermoline.

thanks Mark and O Lugs for the insightful comments. O Lugs, when you described the sound of vintage drums, you described something I felt but couldn't articulate. That makes a lot of sense and seems to ring true for

me.

Mark

Louis Bellson owned Rogers Set in 1966 for a new set of Ludwigs

wow, that's something. I love the James Brown album with Louis on drums. Brown tells Louis to "use you key, use it" in the song, "I have your key" or something. Great comments and thanks.