drummermarkAnyone who knows much about Todd Sucherman's gear knows that even while playing other brands, Todd has used Sonor Signature and Phonic Hi Hat stands on tour. Apparently, the life expectancy of that era of Sonor HiHat enduring the rigors of the road seems to be about 40 years. That really says a lot about the engineering and manufacturing of the time. Even Phil Rudd was using his tried and true Signature HiHat(s) the last time he toured with AC/DC.
In a recent interview, Todd says that he still hasn't gotten used to the 600 Series hihat stand after so many decades with the older ones.
In a recent interview, Tal Bergman spoke candidly wishing Sonor still made a heavier hardware series. He was speaking of the series in general, not specifically the HiHat.
The last year that the Signature was in the catalog was 1994 with a retail price of $700. I can't find a 1995 price list, but from 1996-2002 the 5000 series (through 2 distinct phases) held steady at $425. Presumably, all production was still done in Germany on the 5000 series at that time, but I cannot attest to that. What changes were made to production and/or manufacturing to facilitate such a price reduction? I was a dealer while the first generation was in production. The HiHats weren't held in high regard among owners of the Signature/Phonic series.
In 2003, the 600 Series became the 'flagship' Sonor hardware. In addition to slightly scaling the bulk of the hardware down, the production and plating of the component parts was transitioned to JMT (a KHS owned manufacturing company) with assembly completed in Germany. This allowed Sonor to avoid escalating labor and environmental protection costs. The 600 Series hi hat hit the 2003 price list at a modest retail of $279.00.
Here is an exploded view of the Sonor Signature Hi Hat stand as well as inner workings of Phonic Hi Hat stands, which I am relatively confident were common to the Signature series as well. There were obviously lots of parts, and the assembly of these was likely very laborious, comparative to what you would expect with the 600 series.
(Photo credits: sonormuseum.de)
In closing; will Sonor realize the virtue of releasing n modern ho hat stand with the fluidity and endurance of the older models that are held in such high esteem? When it comes to Sonor; "They don't make 'em like they used to" is not a term I like having to agree with.