Pork Pie Hip Pig Opinions?

BertTheDrummer

Gold Member
I might have an opportunity to pick up a natural finished Hip Pig (22/13/16) new for a good price, not as great as when GC had the Duco ones for like $599 but pretty close. Just tried to do some searching and didn't find a whole bunch except maybe when these came out. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts about it.
 
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I had one of the Duco kits from GC (the $599 sale) and I thought it felt like a very quality kit! It sounded good and I had zero complaints about it.

Sold it, because I'm a gear whore. But there was really no reason to sell it.
 
Sold it, because I'm a gear whore. But there was really no reason to sell it.
I understand that. I know that is, I tend to change gear quite a bit as well. Sometimes because some life event has caused it, or sometimes I just want/need something different.
 
I've had this kit since May of 2018 and gig with it regularly. I have absolutely zero complaints or issues with it. I've had multiple kits over the years (Ludwig Classic Maple, Mapex Saturn, Gretsch Renown, etc.) and the Pork Pie sounds as good as any of them..no joke. I don't think you would be disappointed.
 
I have purchased numerous Pork Pie snares. Most from Asia. One custom made for me in USA. They have all been super-high quality and sounded fantastic. I would not hesitate to buy any of their products. Love their lugs. On their snares the maple shells Asian or USA I can tune them easily to my sounds which are either medium-low tuning with more loose reso and loose snares for a trashy sorta old blues sound, but then when our trio plays a gig with more jazz on the set list I tune them up a bit higher. The Pork Pie's do this great. Only snares I find comparable are older 60's maple or mahogany shells either one ply or 3 ply and with re-rings.
 
I have two USA kits, and they are stellar. With that said, I tend to use my Pearl MCX snare for everything. PP snares are just really loud to my ears, so I go with the Pearl for now.

Never played a Hip Pig, but I'd like to one day.
 
Hmmm...I had the opposite experience lol - I locked into PP snares because I could play them more softly on a lot of jazz and blues we do unmic'd. Similar to the 60's snares I have. I tune the PP fairly low on batter just enough to get enough rebound on stick, but reso I tune a lot lower and snares I keep fairly loose. They have not been loud at all tuned like that. Maybe at a higher tuning they come off louder?

I have two USA kits, and they are stellar. With that said, I tend to use my Pearl MCX snare for everything. PP snares are just really loud to my ears, so I go with the Pearl for now.

Never played a Hip Pig, but I'd like to one day.
 
Hmmm...I had the opposite experience lol - I locked into PP snares because I could play them more softly on a lot of jazz and blues we do unmic'd. Similar to the 60's snares I have. I tune the PP fairly low on batter just enough to get enough rebound on stick, but reso I tune a lot lower and snares I keep fairly loose. They have not been loud at all tuned like that. Maybe at a higher tuning they come off louder?

Probably so.

Granted, I've only played/owned 13" PP snares. One was like 6.5" deep and the other is either 5" or 5.5" deep (I still own the shallower drum b/c it matches on of my kits). Maybe it had more to do with pitch than volume.

There are a few 14" snares I'd love to try out, especially ones that are ready for SPAM (Pork Pie's version of NAMM for those who don't know).
 
Probably so.

Granted, I've only played/owned 13" PP snares. One was like 6.5" deep and the other is either 5" or 5.5" deep (I still own the shallower drum b/c it matches on of my kits). Maybe it had more to do with pitch than volume.

There are a few 14" snares I'd love to try out, especially ones that are ready for SPAM (Pork Pie's version of NAMM for those who don't know).

I have a 14" Pork Pie snare, either 6" or 6.5" I don't remember off hand right now, but it is pretty versatile. Sounds great tuned up tight, sounds great tuned low. Works good low or higher volumes both.

Anyway, thanks all for the replies. I'm really considering the Hip Pig, though I might have a line on some vintage Slingerlands for a good price so that might be the direction end up going. We will see I guess.
 
Slingerland or any of the others from the 60's-early 70's. Won't have to spend a lot of money and you'll get a great sounding snare.

I prefer the 3 ply thin shells with reinforcement rings to solid shells of that era I think they vibrate more and sound more musical.

I saw an absolute mint 1960's Ludwig Pioneer go for $350 shipped last weekend. That was high - many of these snares are initially priced way over their value and end up selling for a lot less. Do an advanced search on eBay on Ludwig Pioneer and you'll see excellent condition examples selling for $200 or less. Jazz Festivals a bit more. Same with Slingerland and Rogers. I'd recommend against the Rogers Luxor model with the standard B&B lugs because the lugs have a very high likelihood of cracking.

I have a 14" Pork Pie snare, either 6" or 6.5" I don't remember off hand right now, but it is pretty versatile. Sounds great tuned up tight, sounds great tuned low. Works good low or higher volumes both.

Anyway, thanks all for the replies. I'm really considering the Hip Pig, though I might have a line on some vintage Slingerlands for a good price so that might be the direction end up going. We will see I guess.
 
Slingerland or any of the others from the 60's-early 70's. Won't have to spend a lot of money and you'll get a great sounding snare.

I prefer the 3 ply thin shells with reinforcement rings to solid shells of that era I think they vibrate more and sound more musical.

I saw an absolute mint 1960's Ludwig Pioneer go for $350 shipped last weekend. That was high - many of these snares are initially priced way over their value and end up selling for a lot less. Do an advanced search on eBay on Ludwig Pioneer and you'll see excellent condition examples selling for $200 or less. Jazz Festivals a bit more. Same with Slingerland and Rogers. I'd recommend against the Rogers Luxor model with the standard B&B lugs because the lugs have a very high likelihood of cracking.

I was actually talking about a whole kit not snares on that one, but thanks for the advice. I'll keep an eye out on that.
 
I bought one and I love it. The kit reminds me of a Ludwig set that I had back in the 60s. The build quality is even with any of the drums that I have. I believe that the kit is made of Nyatoh, which is an Asian hardwood. My kit really reminds me of the old mahogany kits from the 60s-70s. I originally intended these to be a practice/jam kit but now they're the only kit that leaves the house. I ordered a 14" floor tom to recreate that old kit. It was inexpensive and Bill Dettamore at Pork Pie and Barry Knain at SoundPure made sure that everything went smoothly. These are great drums with world class support.
 
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