THe Conway Slingerlands have been Rescued

SLINGERLANDGUY

Junior Member
I wanted to share with the drum community that we have acquired the remainder of the Conway Slingerland drums (yes...those) Im honored! We are going to respectfully introduce them into the market in the near future stay tuned!!!! #radioking #studioking #krupa all still new in the box

Ill post some pics soon as well. Cheers!
 
Cool find but are you aware of the quality control issues from Slingerland/Gibson on the Conway era drums?

The drums from this period are well renowned for being very hit and miss.

Hopefully for you though you got some good ones.
 
I wanted to share with the drum community that we have acquired the remainder of the Conway Slingerland drums (yes...those) Im honored! We are going to respectfully introduce them into the market in the near future stay tuned!!!! #radioking #studioking #krupa all still new in the box

Ill post some pics soon as well. Cheers!

Welcome to the forum, Slingerlandguy.

Question: Who is "we?" Are you a company? Individual? Partnership?

How do you intend to make the drums available for purchase?

Does this include complete drum kits?

Approximately how many kits and individual drums have you acquired?

Are all of the drums finished, in need of assembly, or both?

I live about 45 minutes from the original Conway factory. Are the drums still in Arkansas? Will they be sold from there?

I've heard for years about the questionable quality of the Conway drums, but can't find any specifics about them. Are the quality issues real, or the advent of another internet myth?

If the drums are still in the Conway area and you need some help of some kind, let me know. I'm retired now, used to work in MI, and would love something to do related to drums.

GeeDeeEmm
 
I've heard for years about the questionable quality of the Conway drums, but can't find any specifics about them. Are the quality issues real, or the advent of another internet myth?

Here’s an article from Not So Modern Drummer. It’s not an internet myth, just google Conway Slingerland and you’ll find quite a few examples. It was also common knowledge at the time.

Taken from the article

Gibson moved the machinery from Nashville, where immaculate sets were produced in the nineties by Sam Bacco and Patrick Foley, to Conway where the piano builders and woodworkers had little drum building experience and made lots of mistakes.

https://www.notsomoderndrummer.com/not-so-modern-drummer/2016/8/2/slingerland-studio-king-drum-set-conway-arkansas-cloud-badge

I apologise to Slingerlandguy as I don’t mean to ‘be that guy’ as it’s great there are some boxed/like new Slingerlands are out there, it’s definitely worth noting and very valid though for anyone maybe unaware.

Like I said earlier in the thread hopefully these drums are some of the good ones from this period and I’d also love to know more about the drums in question.
 
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Thank you for your concerns , to my understanding (but by all means correct me if I am wrong) the biggest problem was with the wraps, not the drum itself. At this point it really doesn't concern me too much. Each Drum weve unboxed has been Pristine. I will post some pictures soon were still overwhelmingly busy. Should make for a lot of excitement !! Hope everyone has an amazing day!!
 
Unboxed these for my personal collection of music gear!!!! Absolutely Stunning! ( All hardware is there just not installed)
 

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Thank you for your concerns , to my understanding (but by all means correct me if I am wrong) the biggest problem was with the wraps, not the drum itself. At this point it really doesn't concern me too much. Each Drum weve unboxed has been Pristine. I will post some pictures soon were still overwhelmingly busy. Should make for a lot of excitement !! Hope everyone has an amazing day!!

Also noted issues with lugs/rims/bearing edges as the final production on the shells were all done the Conway plant.

Obviously if you’ve inspected them and can’t see anything that’s very positive news.

I’ll look forward to seeing some photos.
 
Hi SG and welcome to DW. From the picture you posted it looks like Niles or possible Imported badges on the kit. In the 80's and to very early 90's Slingerland had three types of Imported badges and one even said U.S.A. on it. From what I remember the Conway made kit had a light bronzish color cloud badge. I could be wrong but that's what I remember of the badges at that time and what Gibson was showing on their site. Also the tom holder does not look right for that time frame. Could you show a picture of the tom mount from the outside and inside of the shell and badge?

Very nice looking drums. How do they sound?
 
Some of the language sounds like the last spoofy email I got from a Nigerian wanting me to help him with his money problem and I'd receive a million dollars for my trouble:

"I wanted to share with you my good fortune of having made acquaintance with a Mr. James Livingood (yes him) of London I had the honor but of passing through former to Lagos and without proper papers for said deposits. Having acquired your name am respectfully asking for your assistance, and on completion be yours truly assured of receiving one million dollars for your troubles."

"I wanted to share with the drum community that we have acquired the remainder of the Conway Slingerland drums (yes...those) Im honored! We are going to respectfully introduce them into the market in the near future stay tuned!!!!"

The word "respectfully" is an often used word in overseas fraud schemes. Also note a few punctuation errors and slightly skewed grammar.

"Each Drum weve unboxed has been Pristine. I will post some pictures soon were still overwhelmingly busy. Should make for a lot of excitement !! Hope everyone has an amazing day!!"

Another example of what looks like improper use of grammar, language, and punctuation typical of fraud schemes.

I'm a bit skeptical.
 
The Krupa kits have the oval badge. The Jazz kits have the cloud badge as well as the Radio kings and Super radio kings
 

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Some of the language sounds like the last spoofy email I got from a Nigerian wanting me to help him with his money problem and I'd receive a million dollars for my trouble:

"I wanted to share with you my good fortune of having made acquaintance with a Mr. James Livingood (yes him) of London I had the honor but of passing through former to Lagos and without proper papers for said deposits. Having acquired your name am respectfully asking for your assistance, and on completion be yours truly assured of receiving one million dollars for your troubles."

"I wanted to share with the drum community that we have acquired the remainder of the Conway Slingerland drums (yes...those) Im honored! We are going to respectfully introduce them into the market in the near future stay tuned!!!!"

The word "respectfully" is an often used word in overseas fraud schemes. Also note a few punctuation errors and slightly skewed grammar.

"Each Drum weve unboxed has been Pristine. I will post some pictures soon were still overwhelmingly busy. Should make for a lot of excitement !! Hope everyone has an amazing day!!"

Another example of what looks like improper use of grammar, language, and punctuation typical of fraud schemes.

I'm a bit skeptical.

It's easy to understand the skepticism, but this one is for real. I spoke to John on the phone yesterday, and he has invited me to meet him and see the drums tomorrow. He's a real gentleman, and his love for drumming and drums is clearly evident. I'm looking forward to meeting him, and will report back here on what I saw - with pics if I'm allowed at this early stage of the process.

GeeDeeEmm
 
Hey SG. What you have from Gibson is a signature series Gene Krupa kit. Built in 1998. The other was a Buddy Rich signature series. Both are very rare. The wrap colors are some what different from each. Nice find. Remember let us know how they sound. Again, nice or should I say great find.

Force3005
 
How many of the Krupa kits do you ave available ? Do you have a cost on thrse yet ?

I'm curious as to this as well. If memory serves me, the Gibson slingys we're stupid expensive.
 
I'm curious as to this as well. If memory serves me, the Gibson slingys we're stupid expensive.

The Slingerland kits in the early 2000's were going for between $3000-5000 plus. That's why most, not all drum shops did not carry them. If you were a Gibson guitar dealer, you had to buy one kit per year if you still wanted to be a Gibson dealer.
 
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