What killed off Slingerland?

My first kit was a Slingerland. Not sure what era, as I got it used. According to this website, it's late 70's early 80's?
http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/slingerland_badges.html
It was a student model kit. Mahogany shells, with a candy apple red wrap. Currently it's owned by one of my former students.

I miss Slingerland, and because it was my first it will always have a special place in my heart. Had they not gone under, or been overpriced and tossed aside by Gibson, I'd probably still play them today.
 
Saw a new 5 piece kit back in the mid 90's and it was like $3400.
So yeah,expensive to say the least

Wow that is still expensive now let alone for 25 years ago. I would not mind purchasing one if I could find 22 inch 2 up and 2 down. With that high price back then is probably why every used one I see is the basic 2 up 1 down configuration.
 
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I've seen several of the wrapped Gibson Slingerland kits with wrap issues. A few of them were at the Gibson store in Nashville.
 
I was already playing at the time so, ´though I wasn´t related to the company or anything of the kind, I could say it happened what happened to all the american companies at the time.

In the 70¨s the japanese drums enter STONGLY in th WORLD market. I could get in detail (but I don´t want).

Pearl was the first.
Tama inmediatelly second getting Billy Cobham as endorser, the most popular drummer at the time.
Later Yamaha making Steve Gadd their endorser, the most popular drummer at the time (a couple of years after Billy Cobham).

Suddenly you saw no more Slingerland, Rogers, Ludwig, Gretsch at least in other countries out of the USA. US has the drumlines, etc. (that don¨t exist in most countries, in more than 98% of the countries) and that might have helped them for a while...

I¨m not sure but I think all the american companies were sold during that decade, look no further.

This is my view, of a drummer who has been active since 1971.
 
I was already playing at the time so, ´though I wasn´t related to the company or anything of the kind, I could say it happened what happened to all the american companies at the time.

In the 70¨s the japanese drums enter STONGLY in th WORLD market. I could get in detail (but I don´t want).

Pearl was the first.
Tama inmediatelly second getting Billy Cobham as endorser, the most popular drummer at the time.
Later Yamaha making Steve Gadd their endorser, the most popular drummer at the time (a couple of years after Billy Cobham).

Suddenly you saw no more Slingerland, Rogers, Ludwig, Gretsch at least in other countries out of the USA. US has the drumlines, etc. (that don¨t exist in most countries, in more than 98% of the countries) and that might have helped them for a while...

I¨m not sure but I think all the american companies were sold during that decade, look no further.

This is my view, of a drummer who has been active since 1971.

I think that sounds pretty spot on. Yamaha, I believe, made a good dent in school marching band, etc market. In high school, I noticed our band and other HS bands were using Yamaha Bass drums at least (with big logos). This was 30 + years ago.
 
That's weird about the tom holder and hardware not being up to date. I had a Slingy Spirit 1000 kit for my first set. The tom arms were almost identical to the Pearl arms. The spurs on the kick left something to be desired though. I loved that kit, it sounded awesome and the quality was way better than any budget kit of the time, and some today even. My sister has it now.
 
As a total aside...I remember seeing Chicago on the 17 tour, in 1984. I remember seeing Danny's double bass Slingerland kit...with the logo on the bass drum heads, and thinking it just looked so classy and cool...
 
I think you have no idea about what you are talking about, you definetely belong to this forum, hahahah.

Then what are you doing here if you are so enlightened? Way to insult the whole forum.

I never said 70s. I mentioned the tom holder, that's it. And the Spirit 1000 came out in 1980.
 

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Actually Slingerland was the first to have a more modern tom holder than their american counter parts (the tom holder was the real SPOT PROBLEM of the american companies), of all the american companies!

This was a great innovation:


Alex Sanguinetti

Actually Rogers drums (an American drum company) had a 'modern tom holder' by the late 60's. It is later very much copied by Yamaha and Tama. Look up any late 60's early 70's Rogers holiday kit, and you see the basic mechanism copied by many. Rogers beefed up even more in the middle 70's.
 
I’m not trying to throw more fuel in the fire, but Rogers was definitely the first modern tom holder with the Swivomatic. It was light years ahead of the rail consolette system. If it wasn’t super functional, then why did Ringo have his “Ed Sullivan” downbeat kit and both of his later black oyster Super Classics modified with the Swivomatic tom holders? I’ve attached an image from Gary Astridge’s site, “Ringo’s Beatle Kits”
 

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Slingerland made wonderful drums, but a number of factors led to their demise.
Some of which are :
Bud Slingerland sold the company - Bud was a smart businessman and ran the Company well. He was the decision maker too. If they needed new machinery etc. Bud could ok it immediately. This changed when CCM took Slingerland over. Budgets became tight.

The machinery and fittings became old and Corporate Ownership did not want to make the expense to gear up to match the heavier duty hardware coming out of the upstart Japanese Companies like Tama, Yamaha and Pearl.

The Ringo factor - even though some great players endorsed Slingerland ( Seraphine, Bevan, Ehart, etc) they could not overcome the popularity of Ringo and the Beatles. Everyone wanted Ludwig drums like Ringo. This is ironic since Ludwig went through the same issue with Gene Krupa’s influence on Drummers in the 30’s and 40’s and Ludwig could not keep up with Slingerland.

Slingerland did not stay innovative, their drums got dated looking.

Gibson purchased Slingerland priced the wonderful Nashville Slingerland kits far too high. They were wonderful sounding and looking drums but the price was exorbitant and most people could not afford them.

Then the name was dragged through the mud putting out literally low end kits early in this new century.
 
I don¨t think you own one like I did, because if you had you would know that it didn¨t work well. I own one, and had to replace it (like eveyone I know).


Could you answer me sincerely, please, have you OWN one?

Best regards!

I have not personally owned one, but I got the opportunity to play on one through my private lessons instructor. The only modification made to it was removing the Swivo mounts from the tom shells and putting them on RIMS. Other than that it was all original Swivo, even down to the tom arms. As far as I can remember, it stayed solid as a rock and never moved! Also, the Pearl arms were a big innovation in tom arms, but the Rogers style ball arms are also still being used today with Tama and Yamaha's drums and came out first. The Pearl's you're talking about were probably much more solid than the Rogers arms were, but they came out a few years later than the Rogers did. I'm sorry to engage the debating in this thread anymore, and hope that the thread gets a bit more back on track!
 
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I don¨t think you own one like I did, because if you had you would know that it didn¨t work well. I own one, and had to replace it (like eveyone I know).


Could you answer me sincerely, please, have you OWN one?

Best regards!

I have not personally owned one, but I got the opportunity to play on one through my private lessons instructor. The only modification made to it was removing the Swivo mounts from the tom shells and putting them on RIMS. Other than that it was all original Swivo, even down to the tom arms. As far as I can remember, it stayed solid as a rock and never moved!
 
I’m not trying to throw more fuel in the fire, but Rogers was definitely the first modern tom holder with the Swivomatic. It was light years ahead of the rail consolette system. If it wasn’t super functional, then why did Ringo have his “Ed Sullivan” downbeat kit and both of his later black oyster Super Classics modified with the Swivomatic tom holders? I’ve attached an image from Gary Astridge’s site, “Ringo’s Beatle Kits”

Rogers swivomatic was the first ball & socket system offered ... everyone knew it was lightyears ahead of every mounting system available at the time

Ringo , Bonham, Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon ... etc etc ... all had swivo mounts on their non Rogers kits

Rogers swivomatic hardware is better than just about anything available up to this very day
 
Thanks Tony, it was getting a bit ugly yesterday. Alex deleted all of his posts threatening other users and telling me that surely I’ve never played or owned the Rogers drums because I don’t think that the mounting system sucks. I didn’t know about Bonham using a Swivo, so that’s my fun fact of the day!
 
Great education here

After my mother died my father brought home a 70's Chrome over Maple Slingerland kit. I learned how to play on that thing. Fastforward to 2018, in Baltimore I had to visit Bills Music and found what seems to be the kit. Same snare, hi hat stand, Ludwig speed king and two 80's Tama boom stands. Same cut out Slingerland coated heads on the rest side. I bought it, its in my basement and Im going through it. Everything looks good but I am missing the Kick legs and the Tom mount is in pieces :(


Cheers
-Ian
 

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Great education here

After my mother died my father brought home a 70's Chrome over Maple Slingerland kit. I learned how to play on that thing. Fastforward to 2018, in Baltimore I had to visit Bills Music and found what seems to be the kit. Same snare, hi hat stand, Ludwig speed king and two 80's Tama boom stands. Same cut out Slingerland coated heads on the rest side. I bought it, its in my basement and Im going through it. Everything looks good but I am missing the Kick legs and the Tom mount is in pieces :(


Cheers
-Ian

Alex, bye Felicia.
Hewhoisamonstertruck, do you mean you bought your kit back years later?
 
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