I don't think it's a matter of having nads to make a post or not....I just think the vintage community doesn't care enough about DW drums to bring them up as a subject for discussion. There was maybe one minute I liked DW drums.....but I just couldn't appreciate the round lug look. Same thing for Camco....didn't like the look. Subsequently, I learned that DW drums were mostly hype....Then there was the tone-matching drum shell thing....nope.

But I do like their pedals and still have my Turbo 5000.

I think the answer is in the age of the drummer making the "Vintage" comment (e.g. to an 18 year old, a 25 year old DW is vintage).

I also think that "hype" is an unfortunate result of a vicious buyers market. In the 60's, no fat and happy American drum company could comprehend that Japan would make serious in-roads in market share (a lot of that via blatant patent infringement) 10 to 15 years later. I remember as a kid that the "exotic", foreign companies I was aware of then were Premier, Sonor and maybe Hayman.

Now, everybody is clamoring to edge-out everyone else in one manner or another.

BTW, I love my round turret lugs on my Oaklawn Camcos!!

-Kurt

In addition to my 60’s Round Badge Gretsch, 60’s Rogers and 70’s Ludwig kits, I bought a DW Collector Series kit in 2002. While different, these are really nice and great sounding drums that I enjoy and use in very specific rock and reggae circumstances. I’m not arguing for or against a vintage designation yet, but I can say that these are high-quality instruments. In my opinion, I think that whenever the acceptable time period occurs for the commonly acceptable label as “vintage American drums”, these will likely make the grade and be part of the mix.

I dunno, but I think "Vintage American Drums" are designated by the period in history in which they commadeered the market and had the best quality and innovations available. It was a period or development that would be very hard to repeat - before the period in which Japanese imports began to match (and in some cases exceed) American drum quality. At that point they took over the market and all but knocked out the American companies. That put the American drums into a bygone and thus "vintage" era. As an example of where the demarcation is clear, look at the Doobie Brothers using Pearl drums in 1982. It's sad to see, but was the reality of things.

DW, on the other hand, entered the market to compete with these off-shore leaders and reintroduced, as it were, an American product to compete. But even their own corporate history timeline doesn't show a shell of their own until 1997. Therefore, I don't think DW ever becomes a Vintage American Drum, though they surely can become an antique drum at some juncture by virtue of their age. Do we think that today's Pearl drums ever become Vinatage Japanese Drums? I don't think so. Vintage Japanese Drums are the ones that were in play when they were trying to catch up.

I second the vote that Camco lugs are visually very nice. I've had a least one Camco set and thought they looked great. Technologically they are not as good because they don't have a boss on the back to firmly locate them on the shell, or more critically, above drum wrap. Leedy lugs are also beautiful, but had the same issue. So you see the wrap being plowed when they loosen.

Nice "vintage" picture of you on your Camcos, leedybdp. I wish we had more of those kind of pictures around.

I have a mix of Leedy lugs on my little bop set made from orphan Leedy drums. Some of the lugs--older nickel lugs on a 1940s-1950s--little 7"x11" tom have bosses.

I have no idea why some manufacturers didn't use a boss on the lugs, but my guess would be cost. Maybe someone knows a different reason. Does anyone know if its use might have some negatives. I recall that the initial Rogers beavertail lugs had a problem splitting so they had to redesign them. Could it be that G. Way and whoever designed the Leedy lugs thought that was the negative - not enough meat to land the screw without breaking?

The movement of wrap is seen in the attached picture of a Leedy set. This example is extreme.

My opinion even though it means nut !

Is that I’d end the vintage period at the intro of the ss kits

that’s for Ludwig

earlier in slingys and the rest due to change In Operations ..and manufacturing

Even though everything is vintage something or other, I think that the consensus among drum collectors over the age of 40 has a cutoff year of 1969 for American-made drums classified as "vintage". I know that my only exception to that would be some early 70s Slingerland drums that retained the 60s features.