Custom veneer

Great looking kit!! You should put some wooden hoops on your toms as well.

You did a fine job, I'd love to see a video of this kit in action

-Jonathan
 
That trying to export from the UK is very, very difficult given the strength of the Pound.

I don't know if you've noticed, but the pound is a hell of a lot weaker than it used to be, in fact since 2008 people in this country have benefitted greatly from the drop in the pound in terms of exports. In 2007 it hit a bit of a peak with 1 pound able to buy 2 US dollars and about 1.3 euros. Now it's 1.6 dollars and 1.13 euros. So no i don't think there is a particular problem at the moment in terms of the pound being too strong for exports.
 
I don't know if you've noticed, but the pound is a hell of a lot weaker than it used to be, in fact since 2008 people in this country have benefitted greatly from the drop in the pound in terms of exports. In 2007 it hit a bit of a peak with 1 pound able to buy 2 US dollars and about 1.3 euros. Now it's 1.6 dollars and 1.13 euros. So no i don't think there is a particular problem at the moment in terms of the pound being too strong for exports.

England has long had a troubled economy and suffered a loss of its manufacturing base, like many industrialized nations. So it is good to see an English drum company. I have Hardcases, which are made in England, and I like English made stuff in general.
 
I don't know if you've noticed, but the pound is a hell of a lot weaker than it used to be, in fact since 2008 people in this country have benefitted greatly from the drop in the pound in terms of exports. In 2007 it hit a bit of a peak with 1 pound able to buy 2 US dollars and about 1.3 euros. Now it's 1.6 dollars and 1.13 euros. So no i don't think there is a particular problem at the moment in terms of the pound being too strong for exports.

Eddie, I do follow the markets and I used them to my advantage a couple of years ago.

The fact is, the Pound is still strong enough to make Exports difficult. The loss of manufacturing base has affected many things and one of them is the viability of English exports - and that's not just to do with the Pound (although much of it is) but everything else that has been happening in the economy for the last forty of so years. Exports are reasonable now, but the drum market is highly saturated with cheaper options.

So, Premier have historically struggled to make their high-end kits for foreign markets. I love Premier drums, but it's not an easy time for them.
 
Eddie, I do follow the markets and I used them to my advantage a couple of years ago.

The fact is, the Pound is still strong enough to make Exports difficult. The loss of manufacturing base has affected many things and one of them is the viability of English exports - and that's not just to do with the Pound (although much of it is) but everything else that has been happening in the economy for the last forty of so years. Exports are reasonable now, but the drum market is highly saturated with cheaper options.

So, Premier have historically struggled to make their high-end kits for foreign markets. I love Premier drums, but it's not an easy time for them.

What and you think I haven't? The fact is that all western nations have suffered because of things like "workers rights" getting in the way of making things for as cheaply as possible for export. Yes, the costs of producing something in the uk are slightly more than a lot of other western countries but i think all that pales in comparison with the difference in production costs between here and somewhere like china for example.
People have this misconception that nothing is made in Britain any more- which couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, it's not 1900 any more but the fact is that for many premium and high value goods such as upmarket and custom drums can still be built viably in England and the massive drop in the pound over the last few years has been a big boom for exports.
 
England has long had a troubled economy and suffered a loss of its manufacturing base, like many industrialized nations. So it is good to see an English drum company. I have Hardcases, which are made in England, and I like English made stuff in general.

That's my point. All western industrialised economies have suffered in terms of manufacturing because of higher wages and more working regulations (no working people 16 hours a day for 1$) than places like china, india, taiwan etc. Anyway i think this is a pretty juvenile argument lol.
 
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That's my point. All western industrialised economies have suffered in terms of manufacturing because of higher wages and more working regulations (no working people 16 hours a day for 1$) than places like china, india, taiwan etc. Anyway i think this is a pretty juvenile argument lol.

England has been called the "sick man of Europe" because its economy has been in the tank like forever, more than most industrialized nations. I think this is a great thing to discuss.
 
England has been called the "sick man of Europe" because its economy has been in the tank like forever, more than most industrialized nations. I think this is a great thing to discuss.

Well i don't know if you've noticed but we have not had to have a bail-out yet unlike Ireland and Greece, and i don't think we will either. If we do then we know who is to blame anyway. I think a lot of our "deficit" bollocks is just wrong. It's a lot less (In terms of % gdp) than in the 1940s and 50s. Of course the news just concentrates on the fact that it's the biggest amount ever! Yes well, there is a lot more money in the economy now so of course any deficit we have is going to be a lot more in terms of money. That's why we use % gdp in the first place lol.
 
What and you think I haven't? The fact is that all western nations have suffered because of things like "workers rights" getting in the way of making things for as cheaply as possible for export. Yes, the costs of producing something in the uk are slightly more than a lot of other western countries but i think all that pales in comparison with the difference in production costs between here and somewhere like china for example.
People have this misconception that nothing is made in Britain any more- which couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, it's not 1900 any more but the fact is that for many premium and high value goods such as upmarket and custom drums can still be built viably in England and the massive drop in the pound over the last few years has been a big boom for exports.

'Workers' Rights' which you appear to condemn are actually incredibly important and you just have to look at the working conditions of Countries that do not support similar rights to know that sometimes it is worth paying the extra to support humane working conditions. Competitive manufacturing in the UK is now the domain of a specialised, educated and technologically informed workers and companies - it is no longer commercially viable for many companies to mass-produce for export.

Is that a result of rising costs? Absolutely. Are those costs as result of improved working conditions? Partially, but it's an inevitable part of economic development. South Korea is one example of a rapidly developing, specialised economy that is moving away from general production and into developing of technology and sooner or later, South Korea will be in a similar position to the UK, whereby manufacturing becomes a highly specialised sector as the workforce become more educated and specialised themselves.

Trade Unions, humanitarianists and environmentalists are not just a group of blue-sky idealists. They exist for a reason - and whilst we may all complain about the inevitable inconvenience of their lobbying and the regulation that is imposed as a result, the fact remains that they actually do very important work trying to improve the quality of conditions and health of those within their auspices. If that is a problem for you, then you really need to stop focussing so much on the bottom line.

Does that mean I always buy from a developed country? No. But it is becoming an increasing concern for me and I support companies that make high-quality goods.
 
What gave you the impression that i was condeming workers' rights? I'm just saying that if you want to be able to make things for as cheap as they are now, then inevitably that cost saving is going to come from somewhere, and that usually involves the people who have to make them. Not saying whether that is right or wrong, after all this is a discussion about economics, not ethics or human rights.

Is that a result of rising costs? Absolutely. Are those costs as result of improved working conditions? Partially, but it's an inevitable part of economic development. South Korea is one example of a rapidly developing, specialised economy that is moving away from general production and into developing of technology and sooner or later, South Korea will be in a similar position to the UK, whereby manufacturing becomes a highly specialised sector as the workforce become more educated and specialised themselves.

The bottom line costs determine what the best products to make in a particular location are, and the amount you can pay workers determines much of what those costs will be. So the improving of conditions and people's wages in countries like ours means that it costs a lot more to build certain items, making it impossible to build certain products in the UK. At the end of the day, the increasing costs of hiring workforces in the UK as well as other western industrialised nations is the main driving force behind the increasing costs of producing goods in this country and therefore the moving of these productions to far eastern locations as manufacturers realised that it is actually cheaper to deliver many things from halfway across the world than to pay people the larger amount of money that it would require to produce it in the location where it is to be sold.

Trade Unions, humanitarianists and environmentalists are not just a group of blue-sky idealists. They exist for a reason - and whilst we may all complain about the inevitable inconvenience of their lobbying and the regulation that is imposed as a result, the fact remains that they actually do very important work trying to improve the quality of conditions and health of those within their auspices. If that is a problem for you, then you really need to stop focussing so much on the bottom line.

Does that mean I always buy from a developed country? No. But it is becoming an increasing concern for me and I support companies that make high-quality goods.

As i already said, I have not expressed an opinion one way or the other on the importance on workers' rights. This isn't really a discussion about the rights and wrongs of working conditions as they are, more about the consequences of the working conditions and regulations of certain nations and how that affects the costs of production. Probably best to see what someone is actually trying to say before making posts like this in the future...
 
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EddieHimself said:
...The fact is that all western nations have suffered because of things like "workers rights" getting in the way...

That reads very negatively. That's where you expressed an opinion.
 
That reads very negatively. That's where you expressed an opinion.

That's where you think i expressed an opinion. All i was saying was that the increased cost of hiring workers has hit the manufacturing base of western companies, again this is not a discussion about the merits of workers' rights and that is not what i was discussing.
 
That's where I thought you expressed an opinion because that is how it reads. Especially with the sarcastic use of quotation marks.
 
Depends on the context you use them in. If you use the words 'suffer' and 'getting in the way' in the same sentence, then it certainly does look like a sarcastic use of quotation marks.
 
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