jjeffeory Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) oh and some horns as well.... I thought Scottish Drumming was something like Fantasia on the Dargason from Star 1989, which I saw on Youtube? Edited January 4, 2012 by jjeffeory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TastyWaves Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Sorry, but Premier and Ludwig are still jokes. Have you ever tried to contact either one of these companies? Even if the gear was up to par, try buying a spare part or getting customer service. Not worth it. That being said, as soon as either company signs a big name the sheep will follow. Some tops lines seem to like to play whatever deal they get that beats the old deal. I'll stay tuned to see who ends up making the switch...if anyone. I tend to completely agree with you. I was teaching drum corps in 2003/04 which unfortunately inherited Premier equipment. They were unbelievably difficult to work with and the quality of the equipment was awful. Ludwig on the other hand was only guilty of not being named "pearl" or "yamaha". I marched on Ludwig equipment my first year in the US Marine Drum and Bugle Corps. I think we put our equipment through more punishment than anyone out there and those drums sounded great and really help up well. Particularly the snares and bass drums. The tenor drums I wasnt crazy about, but ALL companies have issues. That being said, this was a VERY long time ago for both companies. I like to think that anyone is capable of improving themselves by putting in the time money and effort and perhaps these new incarnations of drums will work out well! What really surprises me is the amount of players trying to jump into a tough business in a tough economy. I think the "Big 3" have to still be Pearl/Adams, Yamaha, and Dynasty in the marching world. Ludwig/Musser is also a player in the game with a good quality line (Especially of mallet equipment). Not so much in drum corps but in HS or College groups. To that we added Mapex/Majestic a few years ago who are very viable and now Tama are making drums which are apparently very good and Premier back in the fold. Its either brilliant or suicide. On one hand, its a niche market for a niche activity. The real money is in the HS/College/University bands so you have to try to crack that group. There is not a lot of money out there and unless a lot of schools have a good reason to switch, most tend to just stick to what they know. On the other hand, the "big 3" have not done much in the way of giving better pricing during the economic down times so maybe these other companies will hit the phones hard and just seriously under bid the big 3. The problem is a lot of schools (and obviously drum corps) want to keep everything uniform. Pearl/Adams is a "one stop shop" where you can get all drums, concert, front ensemble gear and hardware. Pretty much everything except cymbals or "international drums". I think this is where Ludwig/musser can make a splash. The schools arent just buying for their marching band, but for the music rooms as well. I think Tama is going to have a tough time landing a "big player" without a line of Front Ensemble or any major tie ins for price breaks. sorry to get on a tangent!lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSU GRAD 82 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 And Ludwig is coming back big with Al Murray being given carte blanche to bring the company's marching and concert lines back to prominence. Expect great things, as Al has a record of achieving big market share inroads from very little. Can't happen soon enough. We really need an AMERICAN based drum company. Ludwig used to be so dominant in the 70's/80's. GEAUX TIGERS! P.S. Tiger Band is playing at half-time of the Saints playoff game Saturday night, but I doubt if there will be one split second of air time unless they are used to advertise the National Championship game Monday.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSU GRAD 82 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 If you're into Scottish drumming, Premier absolutely owns the market. Their pipe drums are well and above the most customizable drums available to tweak just about every facet of the sound the drums make. That's no longer true. Pearl has gained considerable ground in recent years and many Pipe Band drumlines have switched to Pearl, not to mention Jim Kilpatrick leaving Premier to endorse Pearl. Pearls also have a much better warranty, are more durable and don't have all the customer service issues that Premier does. The Premiers still sound good but have durability/hardware issues ever since they shifted their manufacture from the UK to China/Taiwan. Can't believe that Premier actually builds their Pipe Band Drums in the Far East now. That's ridiculous! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
actucker Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Can't happen soon enough. We really need an AMERICAN based drum company. Ummm... Dynasty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 The company's based here, but manufacturing happens overseas. Not sure about their percussion, I know that they were doing brass manufacturing at the Weril plant in Brazil but I think it's moved since then. Ludwig is American-based and, last I heard, made in North Carolina. The problem is that manufacturing costs in the US have gone up significantly--not just payroll, but the overall cost of doing business makes manufacturing anything difficult to turn a profit in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Hey Jeff, I got the proto type snare that Pitt was considering from Stingray.A free floater with gold sparkle body and blue power rings.Anyone want to buy it :) If I see a Stingray drum again...ever...it'll be too soon. The hell we went through to make them sound good.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 If I see a Stingray drum again...ever...it'll be too soon. The hell we went through to make them sound good.... You made Stringray drums sound good?! You are an expert in the field of marching percussion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobrien Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) The company's based here, but manufacturing happens overseas. Not sure about their percussion, I know that they were doing brass manufacturing at the Weril plant in Brazil but I think it's moved since then. Ludwig is American-based and, last I heard, made in North Carolina. Ludwig (and everyone else except for DW...) has their entry level gear made in Asia. When you get into the semi-pro and professional gear, Ludwig's drums are built in NC. Musser is still based in the Chicago-area, though they'll be moving the LaGrange plant to NC in the near future (I just hope they're smart enough to move the tuners from LaGrange with them, since that's a hard skill to teach from scratch). In terms of it being too expensive to manufacture in the US, I'd disagree - we've just become too used to paying too little for everything we own. An upper level set of Ludwig drums in 1970 cost about $700. Adjusted for inflation, that same set would be $3800 today - which is actually a bit MORE than 2011 street price on an American-built Ludwig Classic Maple set - and the new set would be vastly superior in terms of build quality. Edited January 6, 2012 by mobrien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff danchik Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 If I see a Stingray drum again...ever...it'll be too soon. The hell we went through to make them sound good.... Well if you are Judging over this way,I'll set one up in the middle of the floor during our performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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