jesseleite
Member
Hi All,
Back in November I ordered a set of Ludwig Centennials in green sparkle from my local Ludwig dealer. They said it would be about 8 weeks as they needed to build my order (maybe the Centennials are built to order kits? or maybe just the green sparkle was not in stock at the time?). Anyway they just came in before Christmas but I didn't have a chance to set them up until this week.
First, let me say that the green sparkle finish is stunning! It being a laquer finish, the heavy-flake-sparkle has a lot of depth to it. It's really a beautiful looking kit (see pictures below). They also sound GREAT, and that says a lot considering I am still using the stock skins; I expect they will sound even better once I put Remo Coated Emperors on them!
Although I am in love with my new Centennials, it's not all good news... This is my first Ludwig kit. It was between this and Gretsch Catalinas or Renowns for me. I ended up choosing Ludwig because of their fantastic history and their beautiful sparkle laquer finish. The kit got decent reviews all around too, but sadly I am on the fence about whether I would recommend Ludwig now. The 18" floor tom I received had some bad tear-out or chipping on the top bearing edge. What is worse is that it had been fixed in the factory with some sort of poly-fill or wood-filler. I can't believe they would send me a damaged drum! The fact that it had been "fixed" with wood filler makes me feel like I got a bad factory second. The shape of the bearing edge seems okay, but cosmetically it's UGLY (see last 2 pictures for closeups of the damage)! Anyway, I brought the tom back to my dealer and they said they would replace it for me. But wait, there's more...
The classic mini lugs on this kit have black plastic gaskets mounted underneath them. I assume this is to prevent the paint from chipping or scuffing underneath the lugs. The bass drum was MISSING a gasket under one of the lugs! Why?
Did I just get a lemon or does Ludwig have poor quality control nowadays? Some might say it's because the Centennials are made in Taiwan... but that shouldn't matter. I just paid a total of $1900 for this shell pack with the extra toms. I expected better from Ludwig.
Disappointed and confused.
Jesse
Back in November I ordered a set of Ludwig Centennials in green sparkle from my local Ludwig dealer. They said it would be about 8 weeks as they needed to build my order (maybe the Centennials are built to order kits? or maybe just the green sparkle was not in stock at the time?). Anyway they just came in before Christmas but I didn't have a chance to set them up until this week.
First, let me say that the green sparkle finish is stunning! It being a laquer finish, the heavy-flake-sparkle has a lot of depth to it. It's really a beautiful looking kit (see pictures below). They also sound GREAT, and that says a lot considering I am still using the stock skins; I expect they will sound even better once I put Remo Coated Emperors on them!
Although I am in love with my new Centennials, it's not all good news... This is my first Ludwig kit. It was between this and Gretsch Catalinas or Renowns for me. I ended up choosing Ludwig because of their fantastic history and their beautiful sparkle laquer finish. The kit got decent reviews all around too, but sadly I am on the fence about whether I would recommend Ludwig now. The 18" floor tom I received had some bad tear-out or chipping on the top bearing edge. What is worse is that it had been fixed in the factory with some sort of poly-fill or wood-filler. I can't believe they would send me a damaged drum! The fact that it had been "fixed" with wood filler makes me feel like I got a bad factory second. The shape of the bearing edge seems okay, but cosmetically it's UGLY (see last 2 pictures for closeups of the damage)! Anyway, I brought the tom back to my dealer and they said they would replace it for me. But wait, there's more...
The classic mini lugs on this kit have black plastic gaskets mounted underneath them. I assume this is to prevent the paint from chipping or scuffing underneath the lugs. The bass drum was MISSING a gasket under one of the lugs! Why?
Did I just get a lemon or does Ludwig have poor quality control nowadays? Some might say it's because the Centennials are made in Taiwan... but that shouldn't matter. I just paid a total of $1900 for this shell pack with the extra toms. I expected better from Ludwig.
Disappointed and confused.
Jesse