DW buys Slingerland!
- Thread starter Lee-Bro
- Start date
RickP
Gold Member
Might be too little too late sadly . The brand has been out of mind for too long . It made me sad to type this as I was a long time Slingerland fan .
One idea I would have for DW would be to use the Classic Series shells for the proposed restart of Slingerland . I truly hope they can revive this iconic and legendary brand name . I do have my doubts though.
One idea I would have for DW would be to use the Classic Series shells for the proposed restart of Slingerland . I truly hope they can revive this iconic and legendary brand name . I do have my doubts though.
MrInsanePolack
Platinum Member
As a former Slingy owner, I'm both excited and not. It would be great to see Slingerland resurrected and be relevant once again. Yet I'm afraid they will be another DW product. Wrong lugs, wrong hoops, wrong price tag. I hope not.
Lee-Bro
Senior Member
I've long coveted the idea of putting together a group of investors and buying Slingerland. It was a pie-in-the-sky idea, but I'm glad someone is pulling it out of mothballs.
I'm already figuring out which gear I'll part with to make room for a set -given everything is up to snuff of course.
I'm already figuring out which gear I'll part with to make room for a set -given everything is up to snuff of course.
Jeremy Bender
Platinum Member
Will they sound like Slingerlands did ?
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justadrummer
Junior Member
DW has the expertise to pull this off, I can't think of a company better positioned to do this.
The DW Classic Series shell is already a recreation of 1940s-1950s Slingerlands. They did a run of Buddy Rich drums several years back that had Slingerland style lugs. It would not take a lot to make the Classics into a suitable Slingerland product.
I currently own two vintage Slingerland kits, two vintage Gretsch kits, a set of DW Collector's Series, and a modern set of Gretsch USA Customs.
I am their target audience for sure!
Am I willing to plunk down several thousand dollars on a new set of Slingerlands? Oh yeah!
The DW Classic Series shell is already a recreation of 1940s-1950s Slingerlands. They did a run of Buddy Rich drums several years back that had Slingerland style lugs. It would not take a lot to make the Classics into a suitable Slingerland product.
I currently own two vintage Slingerland kits, two vintage Gretsch kits, a set of DW Collector's Series, and a modern set of Gretsch USA Customs.
I am their target audience for sure!
Am I willing to plunk down several thousand dollars on a new set of Slingerlands? Oh yeah!
johnwesley
Silver Member
Nothing will replace or replicate the Radio King of the 30s-40s. NOT even the overrated DW folks. I'm sure John Good will have to put his $.25 worth of input into the "new" Slingerland line to secure his fantasized legacy as Royal Poobah of drums. Like exotic veneer wraps and coding the shells with the proper pitch or other chromatic smoke and mirrors. Maybe even "sliding air vents" to help in perfecting transient accoustics. Be nice if DW just took original blue prints, schematics, etc., and manufactured REAL Slingerlands as they were designed. One can only hope. I'm sure they have the talent.
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Living Dead Drummer
Platinum Member
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I'm sorry, maybe in the minority but I'm not a fan of DW for a variety of reasons. Now they own two of the three "classic" American brands? Yuck!
My first kit was a Slingerland, and so I have a real big soft spot for them. I recently acquired a Ridgeland era kit and have been using it on smaller gigs around town. My mother owns a 1950 kit that briefly belonged to her father. So Slingerland's been a "thing" with me and while I'm happy they will be making a comeback, it's painful to seen them with DW.
I'm sorry, maybe in the minority but I'm not a fan of DW for a variety of reasons. Now they own two of the three "classic" American brands? Yuck!
My first kit was a Slingerland, and so I have a real big soft spot for them. I recently acquired a Ridgeland era kit and have been using it on smaller gigs around town. My mother owns a 1950 kit that briefly belonged to her father. So Slingerland's been a "thing" with me and while I'm happy they will be making a comeback, it's painful to seen them with DW.
harryconway
Platinum Member
I think it could be a big plus. Gretsch certainly hasn't been hurt by it. And considering where Slingerland is right now ..... why NOT DW. At least DW can put together a web site that works.
I remember a few months, or it may well have been years, ago there was a discussion on here about the value of brands and I raised Stone Custom Drums in that thread. A man with a passion for a drum company who bought the actual moulds and tools who has taken all of the detail that fans of the original recognise and updated the package for the 21st Century without throwing the baby out with the bath water versus a business arrangement where someone buys the name and attaches that to the display head. In fairness to DW I doubt they’ll do just that and I’m sure they’ll make a financial success of it, the point I made all that time ago is that there are once great names from the past being attached to mass produced kits with no link or commonalities to the original.But this guy has the original Niles Slingerland molds.
As a UK resident I’m aware of Slingerland but they weren’t as big a name over here. So I don’t know if the Slingerland name is so ingrained in the culture that people will make a grab for them, or if the Slingerland name is known more to drummmers in the know who will see this as a branding exercise and no matter how good the kits are won’t be buying. The recent Sakae relaunch is a much better case in point. Sakae means a great deal to knowledgeable drummers as the manufacturers of Yamaha’s Recording Custom but the brand means nothing to the more casual observer. So relaunching Sakae as a more generic drum supplier to an audience that don’t even recognise the name still doesn’t make sense to me.
All this being said, DW know what they’re doing in business. They’ll have costed what they need to make and do to differentiate Slingerland from other kits out there and I can’t imagine they’d have done this without identifying a niche or currently untapped market and creating a business plan showing there’s a profit to be made.
Edit: I’ve only just read the link that Lee-Bro posted. I think it has to be better that DW curate the Slingerland name rather than have it sitting on a shelf gathering dust at Gibson. Or worse getting stuck onto a budget line of Taiwanese made shells.
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Rattlin' Bones
Gold Member
It WILL BE another DW product. There hasn't been a real Slingerland around for a long time. It's only a name and a brand. Nothing more. You could buy the name and make Slingerland toaster ovens or Slingerland cars. They'd have as much relevance as modern Slingerland drums.
QUOTE="MrInsanePolack, post: 1665166, member: 109550"]
As a former Slingy owner, I'm both excited and not. It would be great to see Slingerland resurrected and be relevant once again. Yet I'm afraid they will be another DW product. Wrong lugs, wrong hoops, wrong price tag. I hope not.
[/QUOTE]
QUOTE="MrInsanePolack, post: 1665166, member: 109550"]
As a former Slingy owner, I'm both excited and not. It would be great to see Slingerland resurrected and be relevant once again. Yet I'm afraid they will be another DW product. Wrong lugs, wrong hoops, wrong price tag. I hope not.
[/QUOTE]
MrInsanePolack
Platinum Member
I get that. I'm more concerned that the overall esthetic will be lost also. I mean, I can put a Slingerland reso on a Pearl kit, and by lugs alone you can tell it's wrong. And visa-versa. I just hope the overall look remains correct. And I won't be buying one. My next Slingy kit will have a Niles badge. It may be a long time out, but that's what I had and fell in love with. Until then, I'm sticking with Pearl.
CommanderRoss
Silver Member
Same here.
All this means to me is the price will be through the roof for anyone wanting a kit.
Oh well...
AzHeat
Platinum Member
Well, DW didn't totally screw the pooch with Gretsch and prices have remained the same. There haven't been any crazy promotions either. They did provide far better equipment to build on and both quality and marketshare went up. That said, while Gretsch was dying, they weren't dead. If DW brings back Slingerland and stays true to their build and history, I can't see that as a bad thing. Will it be a true Slingerland? Don't know...if it's built to the same specs, using the same type shells, style hardware, hoops, etc.... I don't see this as a bad thing. DW is dying in many respects. They just don't rule the market like they used to, so reviving another brand people loved makes sense to me.
Lee-Bro
Senior Member
So what would it mean for a drum made today to be a "true Slingerland?" Are we talking about the old molds and tooling? Is that what makes a drum a "true" something? What if a company upgrades/replaces their tooling and molds? Are the new ones no longer true? Is it the wood source, the hardware sourcing?
Is a DW Design kit not a true DW kit because it's made in Taiwan? Is my 90s Tama MIJ kit any more true than those made elsewhere? Is the standard the condition/status of being and how things were done when we were younger or first encountered a brand? Nostalgia, is that what makes something true? I'm not being antagonistic, I'm genuinely curious as to the standard of what we're calling a product "true" to be.
Is a DW Design kit not a true DW kit because it's made in Taiwan? Is my 90s Tama MIJ kit any more true than those made elsewhere? Is the standard the condition/status of being and how things were done when we were younger or first encountered a brand? Nostalgia, is that what makes something true? I'm not being antagonistic, I'm genuinely curious as to the standard of what we're calling a product "true" to be.