They are all quite different from each other!

I would start with some Luddies, Slingo's, Sonor's & Premiers, and then see how your 3 Greatest brands compare...

Cheers

DOH

exactly, all those were great too, but rogers werent the cadillac of drums for nothin!

I don't think you can simply say Rogers, Gretsch and Camco were unarguably the best. All great drums but these are still opinions. Everyone has specific tastes and what works for one drummer may not work for another. You would be hard pressed to not at least include Ludwig, Premier and Sonor in lists of greatest drums from the 50's-60's.

In my opinion Rogers manufactured the best hardware at the time and you will find most would agree. I also think Premier manufactured the most artistic design aesthetic. I am not aware of another manufacturer that attempted to raise the design of stands and lugs to true artistic expression. Specifically the LokFast stands.

Don't forget the Premier thrones with the upholstery tacks going around them......

Same thing...they put some thought into the design of even their thrones!

Oops. And Slingerland.

I love gretsch & is the bulk of what i own. Unfortunately there hardware was crap until the late 70/80 tech-ware.But in todays world the hardware is unlimited to what you want to do.

There will be all kinds of opinions here.

It does not matter what we think the truth is Rogers were the best in all aspects during the Cleveland era their lugs, hardware, shells and finish who else had glass glitter, in addition to regular sparkles? they invented the modern hardware that is still in use today and their quality was second to none, those are facts... now most of the other brand names had one or two of those attributes but none but rogers had them all....

yes i second that mike !