I always wonder why everyone talks negatively about the hardware on many of these kits. I'm 35 now and I've been playing in bands for twenty years now. I play hard. I beat the crap out of my kits. I don't treat them like crap, I pretty much baby them in all other aspects and keep them in top shape. But i do play hard. I played fast punk for at least 5 years. I play more down tempo stuff now but I still play pretty hard. And I've always had vintage kits. 62 Slingerlands, 59 ludwigs, A club date kit. I even have some radio king kits that I occasionally use. And I haven't had too many issues. I think a lot of it has to do with misuse or abuse in most cases. Over tightening is a common problem. If you have to use a pair of pliers to tighten down a wing nut, theres another issue there. People drop them, toss them, kick them and generally treat them like hell. And then theres just the popularity of some hardware over other stuff. That damn pearl hardware plugging shotgun sized holes in everyones bass drums and toms I think was an act of fitting in. Spray paint the kits black and plow that hardware through the shells and there ya go! No one can tell it's vintage and it looks like a modern 80s pearl ****. I guess at this point I'm ranting.lol. Does some of this stuff fall apart? Absolutely! I'm just saying I don't think it's as bad as everybody says it is. From either company...I will say some hardware sucks in it's versatility.

It's just as well... We'd have nothing to do had it all been built to last forever...

Cheers

John

Sound King hardware, Set-O-Matic hardware, and rail consolettes have never failed me going all the way back to 1957. I have some 60's Slingerlands and SlingerLeedys that have all of their original hardware pieces that are fully functional.

Rail mounts have typically driven me to distraction and I have sold off all the kits that had one. Ludwig's wasn't as bad as the Walberg & Auge ones, but I probably would have put extra holes in for a swivo arm in the era when even the coveted "Ringo kit" got them. The rest is usually OK. Set-o-matic is the next best thing from that era (with the chrome plated steel plates), but not as good as swivo in my view.

My question is still...

Why did they cheap out on lug inserts/ft brackets/BD spur brackets/SOM aluminum tom mounts/BD plates?

Also..they would have a full page ad inside the front cover stressing their COB rims...then...going all COS on us!

In my humble opinion Slingerland after the late 1950's is essentially crap.

In fact, collectibility-wise, Slingerland & Ludwig change places around that time so that pre-60's Slingerland trumps Ludwig, and vice-versa 60's onward.

I'm sure I've done it now,

Chris

I've owned several Slingerland kits over the years and only once did I have a kick drum leg strip out. Of course it happened at a gig, so I stuck an old drum stick in to hold the kick in place. Other than that I've never had any problems with Slingerland hardware, including the rail mounts. I love the set-o-matic tom arm, it always held in place under some serious pounding.

Better gave hose clamps handy!

Hose clamps and duct tape will get you through any gig.