Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps
Subject: Re: Snare Technology
From: <MHUGHES@MIAMIU.BITNET>
Date: Monday, 9 Nov 1992 10:19:17 EST
Organization: Miami University - Academic Computer Service

In article <1992Nov7.052931.9167@vela.acs.oakland.edu>,
bfhalls@vela.acs.oakland.edu (HALLS BRADLEY F) says:
>
>In article <1992Nov6.020651.16305@cgrg.ohio-state.edu>
>flip@cgrg.ohio-state.edu
>(Flip Phillips) writes:
>
>>what is state of the art these days? i notice that premier and pearl are
>>becoming more prevalant, and my old standbys ludwig and slingerland, have
>>disappeard... premier have these interesting looking things that look like
>>multi-head snares and I was just curiois about them.
>
>OK. Here's the low-down. I'll try to keep it brief. If anyone wants to
>add, feel free...
>
>Slingerland went out of business quite a few years ago. Even getting parts
>for those drums now is a nightmare.
 
The Slingerland name is still in existence, but like Ludwig, have been
bought out by some other manufacturing company that knows next to nothing
about percussion or marching percussion.  Slingerland has advertised in
several music magazines (DCW included, if I'm not mistaken) quite recently,
but their product line is very limited.
 
> ..............  The two major Japanese companies, Yamaha and
>Pearl, now pretty much dominate the market. Premier, who is based in England
>and made these great scotch drums for years, was bought out by Yamaha some
>time in the late '80s.
 
Correction....Pearl is an American red-white-and-blue company, based in
Nashville, Tennessee.  Also, while Yamaha did dominate the market in the
mid to late 1980s, their share has been steadily dropping for the past 2-3
years, mainly due to what caused the demise of Ludwig....product advancement.
Yamaha's first field snare had these gawd-awful batter hoops with very
high-profiles....to, as they said, "awlays leave hoop available for rimshots".
There was only two problems with this...  1) with a new head applied to the
drum, the rim stuck up so high that it affected the natural stick position
of the player, and  2) there wasn't a plastic head in existence that could
stretch enough to bring the hoop down to a reasonable level before breaking.
Another problem was that these first drums had very long lug casings, with
short lugs.  It was entirely possible to torque a head down to the point
the rim was hugging the lug casings (but those confounded high-profile hoops
were still sticking up).  When BD went to Yahama in 1986, they had to handle
these problems by cannibalizing their old Ludwig drums, applying the Ludwig
hoops and lug casings to the Yamaha shells. (I have photos to prove this).
Yamaha was very slow in modifying the design.  They are in the same boat
now with the free-floating snare design....both Pearl and Premier have had
FF shell snares on the market for 2 years or more, and Yamaha just
test-bedded their designs with the Cavies and Scouts last summer....they
aren't even available yet.
 
This is all, of course, oblivious to the sound of Yamaha's tenors, which I
still cannot bear to listen to.  They are the definition of boxy, dead sound.
With the current advent of manufacturers going to deeper shells on their
tenors (hell, even Ludwig has!), it looks as though Yamaha is going to be
left in the dust on this one, too.
 
Think of the top 12 corps marching Yamaha....Cavies, Madison, BD.  Hardly a
cornerstone of the market.  Rather, today we see much more parity among
drum manufacturers....Pearl, Premier, Yamaha, Ludwig, Remo.  And there are
small new companies that might gain some share, also...Stingray, Dynasty.
 
Mike Hughes
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps