Hi, I play a WFL set. Great sounding drums! I understand that Ludwig has reissued the 3 ply mahogany / poplar / mahogany, 50's era shells. These are expensive drums. You can buy WFL drums for a lot less, so I guess my question is why are the Legacy Mahogany outfits so expensive and why are people buying them when they can get the original 50's shells for less?
Thank You.
I would guess they are expensive because they are new Ludwigs made in America. As for why people buy them, well, it's a new kit with modern hardware and you can order whatever finish you like, it's not that easy finding a WFL kit in mint condition in the finish you want. I owned a black diamond pearl kit and it was really faded, still sounded good, but it had issues. I personally would never buy a new kit from any company, but, some guys want new drums.
I would guess they are expensive because they are new Ludwigs made in America. As for why people buy them, well, it's a new kit with modern hardware and you can order whatever finish you like, it's not that easy finding a WFL kit in mint condition in the finish you want. I owned a black diamond pearl kit and it was really faded, still sounded good, but it had issues. I personally would never buy a new kit from any company, but, some guys want new drums.
It must be a bling thing. I'll take the faded / yellowed vintage set any day. For me the vintage set has more character. It would be interesting to do a blindfold test on some people to see what they really like. With cymbals too.
I would guess they are expensive because they are new Ludwigs made in America. As for why people buy them, well, it's a new kit with modern hardware and you can order whatever finish you like, it's not that easy finding a WFL kit in mint condition in the finish you want. I owned a black diamond pearl kit and it was really faded, still sounded good, but it had issues. I personally would never buy a new kit from any company, but, some guys want new drums.
You know, i've asked myself that same question many times..But it's like Chromeo says, some guys just want new drums with a vintage vibe.. However, the hardware on the Legacy Mahogany is the same as the original vintage ones, with classic brackets (with rubber gaskets) and spurs,(with classic T-wing nuts, unlike the ones found on the vintage ones).
I personally wouldn't shell out 5K for a new kit when i could easily pick up a vintage one for less than half of that amount..But once again as Chromeo stated, you can order the LM in any finish, and finding an original WFL kit in excellent to mint condition is getting harder to find, but some always pop up from time to time..
But it's like Chromeo says, some guys just want new drums with a vintage vibe.But once again as Chromeo stated, you can order the LM in any finish, and finding an original WFL kit in excellent to mint condition is getting harder to find.
FYI I said all that....thank you very much.
It's not a "bling thing".
I own a half dozen WFL sets and a new mahogany set.
The new set is built well, the drums ring forever and are easy to tune, unlike my old WFL sets.
And, the new drums don't come with big diamond plates on the side of the rack tom and difficult to maintain spring loaded legs, and tone controls on the toms.
And I like the new bass drum legs more than the WFL legs.
And, I dig the new wrap on my new set.
It's not a "bling thing". I own a half dozen WFL sets and a new mahogany set. The new set is built well, the drums ring forever and are easy to tune, unlike my old WFL sets. And, the new drums don't come with big diamond plates on the side of the rack tom and difficult to maintain spring loaded legs, and tone controls on the toms.And I like the new bass drum legs more than the WFL legs. And, I dig the new wrap on my new set.
I watched Steve Maxwell talk about them, but he didn't go into too much detail, just mentioned they were a newer version of the 50's shells. I guess if they sorted out that bump in the bearing edge where the wrap overlaps and goes inside the drum then I can imagine the drums would ring forever. This would make it a very different drum to the WFL where you have that area where there is a lot of contact between the head on the bearing edge which dries out the drum a lot, but that's part of the charm of the vintage shells. They have their own vibe. Agreed that vintage hardware is not always ideal for playing out. A lot of it anyway. The rail consolette on my WFL 14 x 20 is factory installed by the looks of it and it's in the 10 o'clock position. Drum can tip over if tom is mounted in a certain position. Less than ideal. I use a hoop mounted tom holder instead. I do like the Spur-Lok hi Hat stands though. never any issues for me and they're light weight which is nice.
Here's a comparison with a vintage Ludwig, Slingerland and the new Legacy. Not a whole lot of difference between them.
[ame]http://youtu.be/2MtHwMOCllg[/ame]
[QUOTE=johnnyringo;365551]Here's a comparison with a vintage Ludwig, Slingerland and the new Legacy. Not a whole lot of difference between them.
Cool!
Thanks!
Here's a comparison with a vintage Ludwig, Slingerland and the new Legacy. Not a whole lot of difference between them.http://youtu.be/2MtHwMOCllg
Good to hear nice, honest sound files of each set. The B/O badge drums are great under mics.
