Are the 150th Anniversary shell set offerings too limited?

[Jules]

In a recent Coffee with Jules, I commented or questioned the fact that (at least in the States), the 150th Shell Sets were not selling out quickly. One viewer commented that it is the high prices preventing sales. I countered with the fact the Bronze snare drums sold out before even being available, and that I thought there was more to it than that. My next question to him was whether that was the drum set that he would buy if he had the money. He said no, because there is no 18" or 8" available, which I felt like lended to making my point.

I have interviewed 2 men that have bought the Signature Fusion, and would love to interview anyone who has bought any of these shell sets, or even the Bronze snare, for that matter. But, I wonder why the Signature Heritage and SonorLite sets do not appear to be moving as quickly. Personally, for a company with such a finicky customer base (we are all very fanatical and opinionated), I originally felt like Sonor had a nice marriage of old vs. new.

But, did they miss the mark on some of the configurations? The Signature Fusion makes good sense. Create a shell really close to the original. Fit the drums with the most state of the art hardware known to man and offer it in more modern shell depths and configuration. The 10/12/14/16/22 is probably, overwhelmingly the prominent configuration from the majority of major companies these days.

But, was that the right configuration for the revival of the Heritage Signatures? Would they see more interest if in the more traditional 12/13/16/22? In addition, they could have made some 8/10/14T/14F/16 add ons. Those add ons could have been delivered without badges (ala Sonor Jubilee snare) and the badges could be sent with serialization matching the shell sets purchased.

Lots of speculation, and a bit of a moot point, admittedly. There ARE people out there who can afford to buy the drums. There are a number of really expensive options from several drum companies, and while they don't fly off the shelves, they sell enough for companies to keep hitting those price points. So, there has to be SOMETHING stopping serious Sonor buyers from pulling the trigger.

As to the SonorLites, I can't even speak to that at all. I would love a set of Sonorlite in the Heritage sizes as offered. But, I may be alone in that as sales would seem to indicate.

So, here is the question... why aren't YOU buying the 150th Anniversary Series?

[DaveInNZ]

I think I'd go Heritage spec for both for what it's worth...

It's just money for me really. They discontinued my finish for the Vintage Series a few months before the 150th releases and I had to order the rest of that kit while I could. That plus a 150th snare wiped me out. Had they still been offering the black slate finish on the Vintage two years from now, I'd have bought a 150th kit, and then the Vintage too (I think).

[SonorBart]

I already own Scandinavian Birch Sonorlites in the Heritage kit configuration (plus a 20 BD & 8 tom). I also owned Bubinga Signatures in the early 00's and eventually sold them because the deep thick toms were too dry for my taste, but I really liked the BD. So, when I bought SQ2's 8 years ago, I got a heavy beech BD and medium beech toms. The 150th Anniversary kits are great, but don't appeal to me. Been there with Sigs and still doing it with Lites.

[Gabematt74]

I have the full collection of Force 3000’s minus the 18x15 bass drum. If I were to get a kit like this I would want more size options. I primarily play 20” bass drums so the current shell options don’t have the options I would want to have for my preferred kit. I do love the finishes but not a fan of the shell options. I like square size floor toms but prefer shallow mounted toms. Again, this is not an option with the new sigs. For the money, I would prefer a custom kit in the sizes more specific to my playing style.