TL;DR Saw the Signets in person. I liked the sound, I'm not blown away by the aesthetics, but I think this is a good move by Ludwig.
Long version:
So I stopped at the local GC yesterday to take a look at the Signet drums and I have to take back some of what I said earlier. They had a Gigabeat configuration in Alpine Blue that were stacked up so I couldn't really play them, but I picked up the rack tom and tapped on it a bit. It sounded
really nice even with the stock head and the minimal tuning that they applied to it.
I must admit that I was surprised at how
light the drum was. I picked up the tom with my fingers under the sides of the top rim, and my hands happened to be at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions with the mount at the 12 o'clock. The whole drum tilted dramatically toward the mount, and almost fell out of my hands! I would guess that the mount weighed as much as the whole rest of the drum. It looked like a variation of the ATLAS mount that bolts into the shell with bolts + washers. The bolts used a drum lug head and I hope the idea of using those instead of Phillips head bolts catches on. I personally would just as soon put the tom on a snare stand instead of attaching the mount.
The finish looks much better in person than in the pictures, but it didn't "grab me" right away. It looks like what it is, an outer ply of something that you might use as a veneer over other wood. They didn't have any other finish so I can't speak to the Teak or the Ebony. They might look better than this one. I guess we are conditioned to expect a high-gloss lacquer or a good sparkle wrap on even mid-range shells, much less on a high-end shell. The more I think about it, the more it grows on me, however.
The overall aesthetic is very "un-Ludwig", and because the Alpine Blue finish is so "busy", I had to spin the drum around a couple of times to see the
very tiny badge. I have shirts with larger buttons that that little badge. I didn't look on the other tom or the bass drum so I don't know if the badges are bigger on therm.
The idea of a near-Classic Maple shell at a price that I and other weekend warriors can afford really appeals to me, but the finish turned me off. I would have liked to see a bigger badge than the tiny little dot on the side, more "Ludwig-esque" if you get my meaning. Still, getting an "almost CM" shell pack for only $150 more than a Yamaha Stage Custom feels like stealing money straight out of Ludwig's pocket. I kinda wish I could talk my wife into letting me get a another kit.