DRUMMER CAFE

I had no idea until I ordered this new set from Musician's Friend for the Pat Travers show! Oh and let me add that the folks at MF nearly screwed me! Well they DID kind of! Ya see I ordered classic clear reso heads for the entire kit. So MF send me classic clear 12" & 14" heads and classic clear BLACK heads for the 10" & 16"!!!! Which looks STUPID! But I didn't have time to ship them back...so I had to eat THEIR goof! On top of that MF didn't have a 12" Performance II in stock so it was back ordered! So I went to a local store and bought a "Made In America" 12" Aquarian Performance II. So the logos don't match! LOL  Yes that right ladies and gents. If you look at your Aquarian drum heads the denote "Made In USA" and the logo and that statement have a boarder around them. The Mexican version do not! Also, I've found the Mexican heads to be harder to tune....OK THAT COULD be just me being stupid... but it SEEMED that way! All in all I was NOT happy with that $200.00 purchase at MF!

Does the country of origin matter?
 

Yes, my only bug bear is that it is somehow assumed by many that Mexican or Asian products are lower quality by default. The proof of the pudding is in the eating I guess.

And I thought that hearing that DW drums weren't ACTUALLY made in the USA was bad enough...

EDIT:  MF aka, the branch of GC...  Both have been secretely bought out by the owners of Toys R' Us, so some things may be different both online and at the store.... such as, GC no longer allows floor deals if none of yall have found that out by now...

Hi Greg.  I order my heads way in advance and always keep a few in my personal "stock"- especially in the summer months when I get busier.  Buying heads from MF?  YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER    Gawd, buying from a big corp. like guitar center then whining cause aquarian is doing what all corps are doing- outsourcing cheap labor!

As far as Aquarians being made in Mexico.  I'm indifferent.  Aquarian wishes to make more money.   Everyone wants to make more money, especially if one wants to stay in business and make *gasp* a bigger profit if not become more competitive.  I'm sure some of the technology started and or has remained in U.S.A. 

How many Americans really want to work in a vacuum forming shop?  I've worked in them- it is hot and sometimes smokey work.  Most Americans don't want to "work work" as I call it anyways.  So I don't see it as taking jobs out of America.  Mexican/Latino labor is usually excellent although there is higher turnover typically in the plants/factories.  It probably made more sense to make some of the products south of the border. 

Doesn't bother me a bit.  If I feel the heads suffer in quality (which I don't) I'll quit playing them.  They are just drumheads anyways.  Low tech stuff if you ask me.

People in Mexico (and other countries) need jobs just as badly as we do, if not moreso.  If these jobs move to Mexico because they are 'low tech' or 'dirty' then that implies that we are better at the 'high tech' and 'clean' jobs which will migrate to the US. Everyone does what they are best at, it is the most logical method of manufacturing.

Its a competitive job market internationally and if we want jobs, then we have to give good reason to have them. Either accept lower wage and not enjoy our comfortable 'American' lifestyle that we do, or provide superior work for the money we expect.  I've worked in a few offices where most people work fewer than 4 hours a day when it gets down to it.
 
Aquarian made a business decision to save money.  We can't complain about losing those jobs unless we're willing to make ourselves more marketable to the companies worldwide and give those companies a reason to put jobs inside the borders of the US.

Thanks Chris! I was actually going to make that comment with my very first post, but didn't want anyone to feel like they were getting political.

Yes please, keep to the topic without getting into political/governmental comments. Your post may be harmless, but it may be just the button needed to set someone off ... and then it all escalates. The best thing to do is steer clear of the discussion as much as possible.

I concur. I will always try to not add fuel to a fire... or a spark.

Plus some USA made products have very dubious quality (not only in the music equipment field).
Well I'm not a patriotic person. I'm an inhabitant of the global village.
It's most definitely positive for musicians to support their local scene and local makers.
I'm not so keen on dissing foreign products though.
I hope that isn't political.