mingusmonk Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Kevlar heads were the end of Ludwig's ability to stay relevant. Ludwig was so far behind the game when kevlar came out, it was simply the final nail in the coffin. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobrien Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Sorry....I don't see Allan being able to do anything near what you speak of here. Ludwig/Musser line won't depend on Sales and Marketing. It WILL depend on quality craftsmanship, extensive R&D and affordable costs. All of which drum corps and marching bands are receiving from many OTHER vendors. No one else has quite dialed in keyboard instruments the way Musser has. Yes, Ludwig's marching drums have been pretty sad the last 15 or 20 years, but they recognized that the two Japanese companies were already miles ahead on that market, and that there were other fish that could be fried more successfully. Meanwhile there was ANOTHER whole market made up of 5th graders who needed bell kits and practice pads, and band directors who needed cost-effective snare drums, tympani, and bass drums, and they've done an excellent job there. But about two years ago, the Selmer powers-that-be decided to give a few guys in the Ludwig division the chance to try and reclaim the brand's past reputation. They started with drum sets, and have done an EXCELLENT job of bringing some new high quality American-made pro and semi-pro sets to the market, at prices that have forced DW (among others) to re-evaluate how they're approaching that same market. If Al Murray can have the same latitude to try and make Ludwig a combination of old-school sound with new-school technology, and find a few key people at the drum corps level to get behind the approach, it might be that the market can be moved to embracing a new sound yet again. It's going to be tough, but should be interesting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Interesting, but I don't see why it would make a difference. If Ludwig was really interested in this market then why wouldn't they just have examined the other successful products on the market (Pearl, Yamaha, etc...) and come up with a similar design with a similar level of quality. Doesn't seem like rocket science to me. You still need someone like Al Murray on board to pull it all together. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 No one else has quite dialed in keyboard instruments the way Musser has. Yes, Ludwig's marching drums have been pretty sad the last 15 or 20 years, but they recognized that the two Japanese companies were already miles ahead on that market, and that there were other fish that could be fried more successfully. Meanwhile there was ANOTHER whole market made up of 5th graders who needed bell kits and practice pads, and band directors who needed cost-effective snare drums, tympani, and bass drums, and they've done an excellent job there. But about two years ago, the Selmer powers-that-be decided to give a few guys in the Ludwig division the chance to try and reclaim the brand's past reputation. They started with drum sets, and have done an EXCELLENT job of bringing some new high quality American-made pro and semi-pro sets to the market, at prices that have forced DW (among others) to re-evaluate how they're approaching that same market. If Al Murray can have the same latitude to try and make Ludwig a combination of old-school sound with new-school technology, and find a few key people at the drum corps level to get behind the approach, it might be that the market can be moved to embracing a new sound yet again. It's going to be tough, but should be interesting. To countless band directors, the names Ludwig and Musser are golden. It's all they have had for decades in their band rooms. If the company can capture a new generation, there's no telling how far it can go with this. See that Al Murray created something from scratch already and now has a chance to build upon product names that still have recognition, I agree it should be interesting. Mike (who has a Musser marimba and vibraphone at home, in addition to a Deagan xylophone and bells...and that's a name we haven't seen around for a long time) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BozzlyB Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 You still need someone like Al Murray on board to pull it all together. That makes sense but wouldn't you need him in the design dept to really benefit from his talents? (I really don't know jack about business) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 You still need someone like Al Murray on board to pull it all together. no disrespect to Al, who i love dearly, but he isn't R&D. I'd love to see him be the guy to lead the charge, but the R&D guys need to create the product to sell. Al could sell ice to eskimos. I'm a career sales guy and I bow to Al's sales abilities. Look at what he did for Dynasty before the product started to suck and the heads of the company put their heads up their #####. but when Dynasty took off with Al leading the charge, it was because of the R&D guys. What Al needs to do, if allowed, is to get some names in marching percussion to go and play with R&D to tinker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindap Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Horn (brass instrument) is from a company, the mouthpiece may come from another, 2 max. Drums may come from a company, the heads another, the sticks another, at least 3 elements in percussion. The putting it together is complex, imo. I remember a comment from ladies night out last year of FMM's of the 70's. Wendy said "I'll only march a parade if I can have a cowbell!" All the best Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrunchyTenor Posted December 7, 2010 Author Share Posted December 7, 2010 no disrespect to Al, who i love dearly, but he isn't R&D. I'd love to see him be the guy to lead the charge, but the R&D guys need to create the product to sell. Al could sell ice to eskimos. I'm a career sales guy and I bow to Al's sales abilities. Look at what he did for Dynasty before the product started to suck and the heads of the company put their heads up their #####. but when Dynasty took off with Al leading the charge, it was because of the R&D guys. What Al needs to do, if allowed, is to get some names in marching percussion to go and play with R&D to tinker Al did the R&D of the new generation drums when he got to Dynasty. He didn't just do sales. He used to send me design concepts, and it was exciting seeing something new coming down the pipe...and even more exciting to see it before anyone else did, outside of the Dynasty family. Trust me, Al already has some design ideas in mind. And I'm betting you have seen the end of the line for the "USA" snare drum. Garry in Vegas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 no disrespect to Al, who i love dearly, but he isn't R&D.. ... Someone forgot to tell him that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doylejd Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 (edited) No one else has quite dialed in keyboard instruments the way Musser has. I respectfully disagree. Musser's synthetic boards sound absolutely terrible when compared to the lines that are being put out by Yamaha and Majestic. And while I love the sound of the rosewood Grand Studio marimba, it is a horrible thing to actually play on due to its monstrous size and 1/2" spacing between notes on the low octave. If Musser is serious about taking the market again, they need to ditch the Kelon bars they are using and develop something at least comparable to the Acoustalons from Yamaha. p.s. I love me some M55 vibes though. You'll never hear a complaint about those instruments from me. [edit] edited for clarity Edited December 7, 2010 by doylejd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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