DW and Gretsch

DW bought the percussion arm of Fender Musical Instruments which includes Gretsch Drums, Gibraltar Hardware, Toco and LP, and the distribution rights to Sabian for the US.
 
Wow. DW t-shirts for everyone regardless of what they play!
 
Wow. DW owns Gretsch now. Interesting to see if anything changes with Gretsch.

DW could kill it if they wanted.
 
End of an era I wonder?

Dwetsch wildbill, too funny.
 
Wow. DW owns Gretsch now. Interesting to see if anything changes with Gretsch.

DW could kill it if they wanted.

I think it'd be dumb to kill Gretsch. It's a big name and everything they sell will also be benefitting DW anyway. DW just owns these names now, I doubt there will be a change in how each does its business, at least in the short term. Hopefully they won't repeat what CBS did when they bought Fender, but stranger things have happened in businesses, right?
 
This is HUGE, but in the short term anyway, there's hope for some improvements in the marketing of GRETSCH, and the ability to get spares will probably be boosted.

And the new badge will look like?


Wonder if we'll see John Good hanging at the GRETSCH booth at NAMM?
 

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DW could kill it if they wanted.

If he was an idiot, he could. Somehow John Good has never struck me as being one though. If Gretsch were a dud, then it would be feasible. But why kill something that still sells like hotcakes?

You'd be surprised by how many leading brands that are supposedly in competition with one another for the almighty dollar, are actually owned by the same parent company. As long as the profits all lead to Rome (and the shareholder), then what does the company care if people are brand loyal? All bases are covered anyway.
 
I get the feeling that the ripples will be felt throughout the other brands as well. I keep thinking about DW's failures in companies its acquired in the past (and subsequently sold).

Like when Johnny Rabb's stick brand was sold to DW, then re-branded as 3 Drumsticks. 3 Drumsticks didn't do well, and Johnny Rabb said that DW allowed him to buy the company back.

Remember when they bought Gon Bops? They did a marketing blitz for a brief period, seemed to not know what to do with them, then sold the company off to Sabian.

DW purchased Collarlock hardware (who made racks and rack-type add-ons for existing cymbal stands) in either the late 80s or early 90s. Early marketing lauded Collarlock as the rack and premium hardware solution for DW players until about the mid 1990s. By mid-to-late 90s? They turned it into a precursor for what would eventually become Pacific/PDP, branding lots of cheap Taiwanese/Chinese drums with the Collarlock name, before completely killing the brand off entirely.
 
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Now all John needs is Ludwig MUHAHAHAH!
 
Worked correctly, this move makes perfect sense. Keep all existing brands and product lines mostly intact. There's a lot of legacy equity in the brands, & that's arguably the most valuable part of the business. One real physical/financial benefit lies in consolidating Asian outsourcing of all the metal parts, & that brings real economy of scale improvements. There may also be a model for DW to build Gretsch shells through expansion of DW's shell shop. Again, economies of scale, with little impact on the customer product perception. I'm pretty sure you'll see a real effort to maintain product & brand differentiation, irrespective of what happens in supply chain behind the scenes.
 
I think all this does is give DW a bigger portfolio. I don't think DW will mess with Gretsch History. If they do I will have a Renown set for sale cheap. They have been doing it for 135 years to DWs 30 some.
 
I don't think anything will change. As others have said, you may not like DW drums - but John Good isn't an idiot; passionate, an extremely successful businessman in this area, a drummer. Better this than a guitar company at the helm….I think.
Unless he gets greedy with wanting his name on everything. Anything "Gretsch by DW" would be be nasty.

Neal
 
Public opinion will be strong on this. I am very interested to see exactly what JG does with Gretsch. Gretsch is an institution with many diehard devotees.

Don't be messin wit no Gretsch dog.
 
The Gretsch/LP/Toca/Gibralter display was still in the Fender area at NAMM.

But the employees all had "Oxnard, CA" on bottom of their badge.

One long time Latin Percussion employee's badge actually said "Drum Workshop" on it.

The overall booth was about 1/2 the size of last year's booth, although it was mostly Gibraltar products that were removed to make the booth smaller, and last year Gretsch had Phill Collins' tour kit on display, while this year they skipped that.
 
I don't think anything will change. As others have said, you may not like DW drums - but John Good isn't an idiot; passionate, an extremely successful businessman in this area, a drummer. Better this than a guitar company at the helm….I think. Unless he gets greedy with wanting his name on everything. Anything "Gretsch by DW" would be be nasty.
Neal

Sadly it's been my experience that the first thing the acquiring company tells you is that "nothing will change", but of course everything does change. It'll be interesting to check back in a year.

WARNING UNINFORMED SPECULATION AHEAD>>> While I don't see a point to this buyout, if I worked for Gretch USA, I'd start learning Chinese.
 
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