I'm with ya Mark. It's not a DW thing with me. It's a Jimmy thing. I honestly have no respect for the person. That's where I was coming from, anyway. Can't speak for the others.

It is of course all good. I sold my Dw's I can always get more probably never will, don't really care for modern drum kit sounds . but never will my Ludwig's or Radio Kings.

OK, so I have to ask; why the disdain for Jimmy Chamberlin?

Maybe because he was (is?) a junkie?

Hmmmm

I suppose if we threw every musician who had or has a drug or alcohol problem under the bus, our list of heros would be somewhat shortened. I have no dog in the fight and only recently even knew who Jimmy Chamberlin is. It's a very unfortunate side effect for many in this business who do not anticipate the availability of excess nor the consequences thereof. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from someone else's.

We all have those we respect and those we do not. We have our own internal instruments with which we measure all that is around us. We are also drummers and most of us have the internal mechanisms in place. We watch each other. We are all fruit inspectors.

That's all there is to this one. Nothing more nothing less.

That would be a rough thread to read ... "name the drummers you do NOT respect"

Serious fights all up in that one.

That would indeed be a fiery thread. Having said that, I can respect Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorious, John Bonham, etc. as musicians without respecting their lifestyle choices. Besides, a guy that cites Elvin Jones, Lenny White, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Tony Williams as major influences can't be all bad. (To be honest, all I know about Jimmy Chamberlin is what I read in his Drummerworld and Wikipedia bio when I was researching a kit of his for sale on eBay last week. It's funny that this thread with his name came up when it did.)

That is enough said on that particular subject. Now back to the quality of new vs. vintage drums.

As I have said before, I like them both. I think delving into the concept that wood drums (and wooden instruments in general) thend to improve with age is the most interesting point to all of this. To throw out some fodder for attack, I would find it hard to say that current manufactured drums are of lesser quality than vintage drums. I really only have various Ludwig and Slingerland drums from the 60's and 70's as well as a Premier Olympic kit to go by, but when I look at those vs.my modern kits, I do not see them as a better manufactured piece of equipment.

As a point, why did manufacturers such as Gretsch (silver sealer) Ludwig (white paint and "Granitone"), Rogers (I don't recall their brand name but I am sure Roger or Ploughman will chime in) and Slingerland (light brown paint) start painting the interior of their shells? I am certain that that was a means to seal the shell and eventually became popular, such as was the case for Hayman, to increase the volume and projection of the drum. If that was the case, couldn't that have been done with a clear finish and maintain the appearance of the natural wood? I would think so, but I would bet that paint was used as it was much quicker and hid a multitude of sins in the manufacturing process. I don't see high end manufacturers doing that today.

When you look at the finish plys of non-wrapped drums today, you do see furniture grade finishes and very detailed finishes at that. When I think of vintage drums in natural finishes, I think of duco's and a few simple stains. When I compare those finishes with what guitars looked like in the 50's and 60's, they kind of pale in comparison. Certainly there were exceptions such as Billy Gladstone, but by and large manufacturers were not spending that kind of money on finishes because the market did not support it. I recall seeing some sonor kits back in the 70's that really caught my eye due to their natural finishes, but then I saw the price tag...

Before we start bashing the quality of modern drums, ask yourself this: if one of the major manufacturers in the 60's had manufactured a kit with a finish like the kit Jimmy was displaying, how desirable would that be in great condition? We get excited about mahogany cortex, and our favorite manufacturers came up with fantastic ideas like butcher block and denim finishes.

Not trying to start a fight, but wanting to present another side to this discussion. I, for one, love my vintage kits for their warmer tone and nostalgic appeal. I like modern drum kits because I perceive the evolution of the art and, quite honestly, I can't make any money in the particular market in which I work with vintage gear, with the exception of snare drums.

I would give the innards of three cats to have a kit as beautifully finished as the kit Jummy was whacking on. Absolutely stunning! No doubt.

I like the recurring "cat" humor thing! Running gags are great. :-)

I received a DW Workshop series snare with an old Ludwig kit I picked up years ago. It was a beautiful natural maple finish. Gotta tell you, it sounded great. I've got vintage snares that also sound phenomenal, but that doesn't take away from the incredible tones and sensitivity I got from that one snare. The DW toms sound cold to my ears, but that snare was amazing. I'd own another if I could find it cheap enough.

Here's a mildly interesting and topical story.

My wife gave me unlimited dough to purchase a snare for one of my college degrees. I went to the store in Florida where I was teaching drums at the time. I tested every decent drum in the store. I had the DW Cravioto in my hand ... but put it back when I played on an unreal Premier deep Resonator Brass shell snare drum that had that wood Resonator shell inside. oh my goodness. That drum was absolutely incredible. It was Vintage and flat out one of the best I've ever put a stick to. It's the one I purchased.