The two or three forums I frequent are usually about vintage stuff and there she is mentioned frequently (often negatively) because of her high prices on vintage stuff (she's running a business), apparently slow responses on ebay, the fact that she often seems to find the best stuff before everyone else and (difficult to substantiate) I suspect because she's a woman in an almost 100% male dominated field.

I've had only one dealing with her where I paid a relatively high price for something I really wanted and didn't think I would ever find. All points of the transaction were fine except for one internal damper which didn't ship - a small but important items in the world of vintage drums. After I pointed this out, the damper turned up - with an extra "spare" part I hadn't paid for or asked for, I'm presuming as some kind of recompense. So I'd say I have no complaints.

On the "own" brand, I have no idea buy some of the points above might explain the apparent silence.

Cheers,

David

Yes, you're right about the vintage stuff. I did a quick search on another site and got maybe eight hits across the last two years. Most of them were about her 14" c.o.b. hoops and a few of them about her lugs. None of them judgemental, just that Willoughcraft had them available. I was more curious about the snare drums I saw on the Willoughcraft site and across eBay; how they were built, how they sounded. There seems to be not a word on them. I'll keep looking. Somebody will know the story.

Did she inherit a massive estate of vintage drums that she is now slowly selling off? I seem to remember some story like that from a lonnnng time ago. Ever since, she has been "selling" (advertising) those mint drum kits. I must admit that I do enjoy looking at them. She had an old Premier bebop kit up awhile back that I would have sold half my collection to own...but, she wasn't interested in a trade and her cash price was....well, let's say...it was a bit off my budget! :(

I've gotten some hard to find gretsch parts from her, and have been very satisfied. I do know others that have been less so however. I did pay top dollar for the parts I got, but they were in mint condition, and were shipped out quickly and the transactions were smooth.

I have never seen her advertise her products besides her hoops other then her web site and Ebay. I have to assume it is a smaller part of her business so she puts limited funds into them..

She does have a web site for them, which I just found on Yahoo..

There was an article about her in NSMD and her drum business just being a web based business.

I also do not see an endorser section or any other promotion about her drums on the web site.

The question about quality is a good one, but since her vintage stuff ranks pretty high, one would have to assume her drums would be the same. She does pay attention to detail.

The one area that could be kicked up a few notches is her web sites which really do not help sell the products to their fullest potential.

Even the best drums that are displayed poorly will not impress any one. I think sound files and even video of the drums will help sell them on sound and quality..

So until we find someone actually playing or endorsing them we will never know!...

David

Thanks for the additional information David. I guess I wasn't crazy after all.