My DW saga just keeps going and going...

I am sorry if I was wrong about that. I may have read that in a post somewhere, I was wrong on that part. Oops. Reguardless, that really has no bearing, its his reputation, and ultimately the company's, so he might as well be. Either the rest of what I said stands. I made a mistake. I'll be ok. Besides, it was more of an implication that if I were a CEO (or anyone who happens to be the main focus of the company).
 
To the best of my knowledge, John Good is senior vice president of DW and I believe Lombardi is the founder and CEO of the company. This could have changed over the years, but I believe I'm correct.

Dennis
 
I'm just going to reiterate that Mapex sent me a replacement lug due to some poor plating and I received it in days. I mailed them a pic, it hit the post that day. This was on my £700 Meridian Maple kit. If Mapex can do that on an intermediate line, wtf is the problem with DW?

Slightly off topic, but I have found that Korg UK who import Mapex into the UK are brilliant. I had an issue with a hi-hat stand and they sent me the parts I needed the same day at no charge. Perhaps they would let DW come and train with them?
 
It has been a while since I have posted on here, and I thought I would throw a little more wood in the fire for all of the nay sayers who seem to not care if they get what they pay for.

We all know that regardless of the company and the product, there will always be lemons. There will always be the occasional unit that leaves the factory in less that perfect condition. Occasional. I am a huge Yamaha fan but since they discontinued the color I wanted, I had to look elsewhere. I still stand behind Yamaha. Why? Because for the better part of a year now, every time I go to my favorite music store, if there is a new set on the floor, I have inspected it, measured it, and looked for any fault at all. Those on this site that have read most of my posts know I am pretty harsh in what I expect for the money I shell out. Having said that, every single kit I have inspected, Stage Custom (mid level kit) and above had been flawless. PERFECT bearing edges top and bottom. A glass lacquer finish. Perfect joints/seams on the shell. I'm not exaggerating. I wanted a running tally on what I was going to be purchasing in the future. A guard of the consistency of their quality.

I have seen the few kits made in Indonesia at other stores and have seen some defects. The Gig Maker, the Rock Tour, and the Tour custom. Any made in China or Japan were flawless, meaning, measuring for roundness you would need a micrometer to see any variation. Not a single dent, knick, scratch or burr.

Due to Yamaha discontinuing my color, I had to start this process all over again. I looked at DW, Pacific, Pearl, Mapex, Ludwig, Gretch, Sonor, and Tama. The Pacifics were in better shape over all that the DWs. Both had shoddy seams/joints. So did the Pearls, even the high ends. The Mapex were not too bad, but overall could use a little better QC. The Sonor kits were well done, but even the stores tell me beware due to parts availability and service times for defects or repairs and replacements. I was unwilling to take that chance.The Gretch sets were pretty good as were the Ludwigs, though in my opinion Gretch is a bit over priced. So far I was willing to look at Ludwig out of all of those kits mid to high end. Tama crossed my mind a few times, but I remembered seeing some kits from them that were really underwhelming. Then it hit me. All of those kits that had those issue I had seen were either starter kits or mid level with a wrap finish. So I went to looking at Tama. I was extremely impressed. The more I looked, the better they were.

I now have one of my kits here, a Tama Silverstar in Transparent Blue Burst, (a mid level kit, price wise anyway) and naturally, I went completely OCD on this thing. I found nothing. Not one blemish in the finish. Not one fault in the bearing edge. Not one issue with the bass drum hoops, which were also in perfect round, as are all the shells. I have more coming, and I actually feel like I can relax for once and not have to worry about how shitty of condition my new drums might end up coming in.

Bottom line. It is possible to put out a perfect product, (meaning any flaws would be so minute, you would need some serious tools and technology to find them) consistently. There are a few companies that still give a damn what their product is like going out the door. I've looked at more drum kits than I care to count, and of all levels, over an extended period of time, in a huge store with a vast amount of kits on the floor, and a high turnover rate from sales. I'm there often enough that I see almost every floor kit come and go. Take from this what you will, but you aren't likely to find many people that pay that close of attention to detail, and care enough to do all of that searching, looking, feeling, and measuring. If you don't care what you get for your money, piss it away, I don't care. Some of us still expect to get what we pay for and have the company back it up. They are few, but they are out there, and they treat the art of making beautiful instruments as they should; with care and pride, by experienced craftsman, that love what they do. To those that go the extra mile for your customers, thank you. We appreciate you as much as you appreciate our business, and you will have us as customers for life.
 
Back
Top