Pork Pie or Ludwig?

drummingman

Gold Member
I just got an offer to buy a high end Pork Pie kit. I'm trying to decide between this kit or a Ludwig Centennial kit.

Which between the 2 kits has the best sound, quality? Which of the 2 companies do you think is best and why?

These 2 kits are truly my top 2 choices so it's very important to me that I make the right choice for the long term.
 
Pork Pie - professional line drums- beautiful lacquer finishes, perfect bearing edges-100% Keller Rock maple shells from North America

Ludwig Centennial - Mid-price kit - Chinese maple shells - you will need to change all the heads immediately after you buy them.

nuff said ?
 
Pork Pie - professional line drums- beautiful lacquer finishes, perfect bearing edges-100% Keller Rock maple shells from North America

Ludwig Centennial - Mid-price kit - Chinese maple shells - you will need to change all the heads immediately after you buy them.

nuff said ?

The Centennials are 100% North American Maple - just manufactured in Asia. They sound great.

However, I would still probably go for the Pork Pies. I know that no detail goes unnoticed with them.
 
If it IS a high end, USA Pork Pie, I'd get that over a Centennial....and I have 4 Ludwig kits that I love.
Centennials are 100% American Maple, the same wood in the Classic Maple, but in this case, the PP's would win out.

I've played a couple PP Maple (US Custom, not GC) kits with the Brass lugs, and I was blown away on how great they sounded.
Bill's edges and finishes are fantastic too.

Over the long haul, IMO, a US Pork Pie will command higher re-sale than a Centennial, even though it say's Ludwig on it.

Good luck!
 
Send me a pic of the kit and I will let you know what it is. If you are able to get a serial number from the inside, I would be able to let you know the date they were made, original color, and who I made them for. I have a book that has info on every drum I have made.

Send the info to [email protected]. That is my personal email.

B
 
Go Pork Pie.

Bill himself is helping you out right on this thread so customer servicer proves itself before you even buy a product.

I have (3) of his snares and had my 80's Gretsch edges done by him a few years back. Great work on all.

Snares are killer and the rest of the drums are waterfalls of tone,

Jim

BTW: I love my Acrolite snare for recording. However, I play my USA maple 6 x 13 Pork Pie every week at my church gig. Last night's rehearsal as a matter of fact! :)
 
You've just done this on the Ddrum thread.

Make a decision for christ sake. ;-)

I see that you ,like myself ,have somewhat reached a saturation level.Another 15-16 year old asks for advice,and just goes in completely different direction,dispite being given advice that you just couldn't even pay for.Have a Fosters mate,and I'll have a Spatten,cheers

Steve B
 
Pork Pie! Wait...........choose Mapex.
 
Pork Pie! Wait...........choose Mapex.

lol!!!

Standby for the next thread in the "Ludwig versus ????" series. Tune in next week.....same bat time.....same bat channel. Will our heroes deal on a Pork Pie kit.....will they roll with a Ludwig......will Mapex save the day or will a decision never be made?? The saga continues........
 
I WILL BE WATCHING!!! Go Ludwig!
 
Between a high-end Pork Pie and a Ludwig Centennial? That is a major NO-BRAINER: Pork Pie every time.

If you were talking Classic Maples or Legacy Classics, then the debate would be more difficult. But going on quality of the kit, bearing edges, and reputation, the Pork Pie custom kit slays the Centennial easily.

The Centennials are manufactured in Asia and do not have the same kind of quality control checks that the CMs and LCs do, and certainly nowhere near the QC that Bill Detamore puts into his PP kits.

If the Pork Pie kit is a Little Squealer kit, then you are on even ground, for the Little Squealer kits are Asian made as well, I believe, and are on par with the Centennials.
 
lol!!!

Standby for the next thread in the "Ludwig versus ????" series. Tune in next week.....same bat time.....same bat channel. Will our heroes deal on a Pork Pie kit.....will they roll with a Ludwig......will Mapex save the day or will a decision never be made?? The saga continues........

LOL! Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a matter of fact my last kit was a Mapex. HA!
 
Can't say for the Pork Pie, but I have a Centennial kit myself. The good is that the shells are well built, the sparkle lacquer is beautiful, and the tone is great! In my opinion the Centennial kits are like a poor man's Classic Maple kit. They just keep the costs down by manufacturing in Asia.

Now for the bad side of my story... when I pulled my kit out of the boxes I noticed that my 18" floor tom was defective. There was some wood chip out on the bearing edge and it appeared to have wood filler as a quick fix from the factory (you can search out my post on this if you want to see pictures). I really don't know how that got past quality control, and in my opinion that's unacceptable. Nevertheless, they did offer to replace my drum shell at no cost with a new one.

While I felt the quality control in my particular situation was below par, I LOVE this kit. It's got the look and sound of a Classic Maple, but it's quite a bit cheaper. The sparkle lacquer finish is absolutely stunning in person too; pictures don't do it justice. So take it as you will. I ran into a quality control problem, however I could be 1 in 5000 with a horror story like this...who knows. It's just important that they take care of you if something like this goes wrong.
 
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