D'Addario aquires Pro Mark

[gretsch-o-rama]

Anyone hear anything about Vic Firth getting picked up by Zildjian?

Actually I heard that Vic Firth is now making the Zildjian sticks which would be a good thing. I heard it from the Hoppe's at Cadence Drums in Rochester, NY.

[deseipel]

wow, this IS a good thing if it's true. I've always thought the Zildjian sticks were very low quality wood.

[YamahaPlayer]

I believe VicFirth has always made Zildjian sticks. From what I understand Zildjians QC specs aren't as stringent as VicFith's, hence why the perceived lesser quality.

VicFirth would never sell his company to anyone, besides the fact such a purchase would be massive. They have the whole culinary side of things too, awesome mills by the way.

[Mike Meyers]

I think the purchase of ProMark by D'Addario can only help the quality of the product. They've done a great job with Evans drumheads. I would love to see non warped ProMark sticks!

Mike

[Tom Reschke]

I like this. I love Evans heads, and am hoping that D'Addario does their thing with Pro Mark as well. Their "thing" is awesome customer service, which has been my experience with the company.

[willyz]

I believe VicFirth has always made Zildjian sticks. From what I understand Zildjians QC specs aren't as stringent as VicFith's, hence why the perceived lesser quality.

I don't get that. Why would you have a better company make your sticks... but have lower quality control? Anyway, I'd love to see this fixed, because I love the Tony Williams stick, but every pair I've picked up is warped and unmatched.

[DSOP]

I love the Tony Williams stick, but every pair I've picked up is warped and unmatched.

I didn't even know that Zildjian made a Tony Williams stick. I used to use(and love) the Gretsch Tony Williams stick over 20 years ago, but Gretsch stopped making sticks shortly thereafter. I'll have to check them out.

[willyz]

I love the Tony Williams stick, but every pair I've picked up is warped and unmatched.

I didn't even know that Zildjian made a Tony Williams stick. I used to use(and love) the Gretsch Tony Williams stick over 20 years ago, but Gretsch stopped making sticks shortly thereafter. I'll have to check them out.

http://zildjian.com/Products/Drumsticks-and-Mallets/Artist-Series/Artist-Series-Tony-Williams

I'm not sure how much this is like the original Gretsch stick, but it's a good one, regardless.

[Clint Hopkins]

I heard that VF was making sticks for Zildjian now, but that hasn't always been the case. Zildjian purchased a lumber yard a few miles south of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and made sticks for a number of years until the place shut down. I think it was at this point, VF (or someone else) started producing them for Zildjian.

[Matus]

I don't know about VF making them, but I can pretty much say Zildjian sticks have always been worthless. Poor quality, warped wood for the most part, you always had to throw away half the box. It's a shame because they had cool models like Vinnie's or Sonny Emmory's, but they're not reliable at all.
About D'Addario acquiring ProMark, it's good news. They've been on the "bad" quality side for a number of years to me. Poor, rough finishes and likeliness to break sooner than other brands aren't what I'm looking for. And I was a real fan of the Simon Phillips model, but at some point you start looking for other sort of quality in your sticks.