3000 Series Hardware; Chinese production effect on pricing...

[Jules]

Here is a comparison of the impact that moving the 3000 series to JMT (KHS owned) in China in the late 90's/2000. The consensus has always seemed the be that there was no shift in quality other then the snare basket not getting a rivet in early Chinese production which led to some users having a problem with the center piece of the basket popping off and rendering the stand useless until corrected. If memory serves; the rivet returned to the production models at some point.

Another point is that I am using price lists from sonormuseum.com and the latest available with German made 3000 hardware is 1997, and the earliest with the Chinese counterparts is 200o. HOWEVER, the 5000 series had NO price changes within these years (and it is possible that no price lists were published in the interim if there was no new product released) so this comparison is accurate even with the 3 year gap.

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Item                          5000 Series (1997)   3000 Series (1997)   3000 Series (2000)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Snare Drum Stand              265                  300                  130
Hi Hat Stand (swivel fb 3000) 425                  360                  175
Cymbal Stand                  275                  195                  99
Cymbal Boom Stand             340                  240                  120
Cymbal Tom Stand              425                  285                  185
Double Tom Stand              425                  265                  160
Double Cymbal Stand           455                  310                  210

[SonorBart]

I've got one 3000 cymbal stand made in Germany and three double cymbal stands, two cymbal stands, a snare stand, and hi hat stand from China. There's no difference in quality.

[Jules]

Thanks for the input. And I'll add that I have never heard otherwise, even from the old school crowd.

I failed to mention that the 3000 Series Item Numbers didn't even change.

One change that DID occur, is the the bass drum pedal and hi hat stand footboards were widened, but this was a design change that also occurred on the 5000 series, and was not unique to the production location shift.