teverson-sr,

You have posed a very interesting question. I think people may be a bit reluctant to reply because of the "political correctness" issue. I am only offering an opinion. I believe that you are right in that there should be a distinction between "Made in America" and "Made in America with Parts Manufactured Abroad". Perhaps "Assembled in America" and "Made in America with American Parts" might clarify things. You seem to be a very altruistic person who takes into account wages of third country employees. I applaud you, sir! In this day and age, most manufactures outsource. It's all about profit. Drums. Cars. Motorcycles. Appliances. Electronics. Clothing. Most everything. For years, I rode only Harley-Davidson. Carbs. Lower legs. Tires. Not American. Cars? Had to be American! Guess where many parts were made? Japan. I once bought a little Chevy Sprint. Cool car. Yep. Engine made in Japan. T,V.'s? You know where they are made. Etc. Etc. Okay. It's 2015. The world is becoming smaller. Maybe we should not place a lot of emphasis on country of origin. If the product is of good quality and the manufacturers and the employees are content then, so what? Maybe we should start to look at each other, not as American, Canadians, Japanese , Chinese, Whites, Blacks, Christians, Muslims, pink, magenta or purple but, as people sharing this little blue planet. Just an opinion, sir.

Brian

When it comes to new drums, I certainly like to support and purchase products from companies that provide manufacturing jobs for my fellow Americans, but I am not going to worry too much if shells or hardware are actually made here. I can understand why American companies would get parts from overseas to assemble drums, or even have the drums made in other countries, due to cost and our EPA restrictions on things like chrome plating and painting.

We want our products purchased by other countries, and they want the same.

As long as the quality is high, I am ok with assembled in America, and I have definitely bought drums made entirely elsewhere that were at least as good as American made.

I believe it would be best for pride in our country if some products America uses, like our military aircraft and space exploration vehicles, were made right here, but it is a global market as far as percussion products are concerned.

These American companies that have parts made in other countries because of cost will move the plants back here if they are made to pay a higher tax on imported items. Sure, they will cost more being made here, but it will keep more Americans working. It's a nice thought to help third world countries, but like anything else, we cannot fix all the worlds problems, especially when we have so many Americans out of work. Just my:2Cents:

I remember coming across a picture of a factory in the vicinity of Ludwig which makes the metal shells. I believe they manufacture Black Beauty, Supraphonic, and similar shells...but not the "import" metal shells.

Alas, I didn't store the factory name away. In one of the photos of the shop floor there was a photo which included the familiar Ludwig boxes. Hopefully somebody else remembers the name of the factory or has a link to the picture.

Not true. Ludwig makes no metal anything. they don't have a foundry at the plant. the shells are all out sourced. They never would or will tell me where they come from.

Thank you for agreeing with me. That's why I mentioned it is a different factory and I don't know the name. Although the boxes were shown in the photo taken at the mystery factory there was no explicit mention of Ludwig on their client list.

When ludwig gets their shells they come in bulk. not individually boxed, Ludwig then performs the finishing work on them. polishing, assembly and badge the shells, then they are bagged and boxed at the Ludwig factory.

I familiar with the process you describe. I'm sure Ludwig buys their snare shells in bulk. And I believe we are in agreement that the manufacturing of the shells is outsourced.

What I'm talking about is having seen a photo of shelves in the shipping area of the mystery factory which included a number of different boxes. Not all boxes said Ludwig. But among these boxes pictured were some with the familiar Ludwig logo on them. I'm not saying they were individual snare sized boxes, although I can't rule out that individual sized boxes might be used to protect each shell (separately) when they get shipped back to Ludwig as a bulk order.

You are making me regret not having the factory name or the picture stored away. I thought it was an interesting piece of information, but I didn't think it was a big deal or that the name of the factory was a deep dark secret. Pity.

I hope this time I've written clearly enough so my message gets through. I can see where I needed to be more explicit that "the factory" was a different company from Ludwig. I mistakenly used the word "they" to refer to the mystery company and others might read it as "they" referred to Ludwig. Sorry if it seemed like I was saying Ludwig made the metal shells. That wasn't my intention. Just to say that the shells were made in the USA and perhaps in North Carolina. My vague memory of the "mystery factory" web site was that it was North Carolina though perhaps not Monroe.

Sorry if it seemed like I was saying Ludwig made the metal shells. That wasn't my intention. Just to say that the shells were made in the USA and perhaps in North Carolina.

What does this mean?