Nope, O-Lugs hit the nail on the head. What I was driving at was who, back in the "heyday" was considered the Caddilac or the Mercedes, if you will. I had heard that Rogers and Gretsch were considered the high-end (back then) and were thought to be of higher quality, whether that was the case or not. As for figuring out what they are worth now...who cares?? I've been playing Ludwigs since I was 11 (although my first snare drum was a slingerland) and I haven't played anything else since. So I know which drums are the best ;) and what they're worth.

Slingerland - Valiant

Rogers - Corvair

Gretsch - F-85 DeLuxe

Ludwig - Falcon

MIJ - Datsun

I was alive and buying drums in the 60s. What I remember is there were two groups 1. Japanese and 2. US. Gretsch cost the most but not by much, but I don't remember anyone thinking or saying they were the high end of high end. The 4 brands were pretty close in price with Ludwig being cheapest IIRC. People just bought what appealed to them which was, unfortunately (IMO) often what Ringo played.

Dave

Well, to be completely fair, they all had their strong points and their weak points.

For example(s): Ludwig was likely the least expensive of the Big Four because they sold so many drums so successfully. That ability afforded them the ability to lower their price and...you guessed it....sell more drums. The SpeedKing bass drum pedal was another enduring example of successful Ludwig design and engineering. They also have some well-known QC flaws like lumpy shells.

Rogers was really innovative and made their success on it. Swiv-O-Matic hardware was incredibly ahead of it's time. But they just couldn't survive in a business sense.

Gretsch had their own certain target market appeal in terms of their drum division and that was mostly the jazzers. Gretsch was a guitar company and they also built drums, in my opinion. So it's hard to say compare them to the other companies in that sense.

Slingerland and Ludwig essentially played the same game of drum building. They both built good drums and they both competed with each other tooth and nail for school contracts and had big marching band divisions and all that. They built orchestral drums and tympani and several other "ancillary" types of things. I never ever saw any schools outfitted with Rogers or Gretsch drums. Maybe they existed, but I never saw them. Because of the sheer numbers of Slingerlands and Ludwig drums, most drummers played them and built their sound on those drums. In turn, those drums became the voices of what we have come to know and recognize as sounding "good" regardless of how they were viewed under the microscope....

...in my opinion.Keep on Pl

Rather than car comparsons, how about guitar comparisons?

Ludwigs and Slingerlands would be the Fender Startocasters and Telecasters of the drum world.

Rogers would be the Gibson Les Paul of the drum world.

And Gretsch would be the....Gretschs of the drum world!Eye Ball

I lived through the 60's too, that's when I started.

Amongst the group of people I grew up around we thought that Ludwig, Slingerland, Camco, Premier and Rogers were all good but Gretsch was the special one.

I still think that way, always have and by the eBay prices it looks like others agree.