Ludwig
We haven't received an official press-release from Ludwig Drums at the time of writing, but they put a couple of pictures up on Facebook showing Vinnie behind a Natural Wood finish kit and a set with Black Galaxy sparkle finish.

Also, Vinnie's website is displaying the Ludwig logo. So it's pretty obvious: Vinnie Colaiuta is now endorsing Ludwig drums. And that's not the only new endorsement for the legendary musician, arguably one of the greatest drummers alive.

Paiste
After an extensive period of researching and auditioning Paiste's instruments, Vinnie began officially playing Paiste on a recent tour with Sting, with a set of cymbals consisting mostly of Formula 602 models.

In the near future Vinnie intends to use predominantly Signature Traditionals models on an upcoming tour with Herbie Hancock.

By way of departing from the more traditional news release format, Paiste chooses instead to herewith provide Vinnie's own unedited and deeply personal narrative regarding his decision to join Paiste:

"This has been a long process; it hasn't happened overnight. It started at least a year ago. One day I was walking through the warehouse where my drums were. There was a cymbal stand with a ride cymbal on it, and a hi-hat stand with hi-hats. I walked over and tapped the cymbal and said to the drum technician, 'what is this?' He said, 'that is a Paiste Traditional ride'. It sounded great. I said, 'a what'? I had no idea that Paiste made them. I thought, 'how did I not know that these existed, and never heard them'? I had a notion of Paiste cymbals that was limited, so I was now curious to know more about these cymbals."

Then, by chance just after NAMM 2011 Vinnie heard a Twenty Masters series 22" Dark Ride. Again, he thought 'Paiste is making this now?' And again he saw an entire range of cymbals that he didn't know about. Vinnie:

"I played just about all of them, and I was exposed to this vast range of sounds. I noticed that the 2002's 'felt' different than I thought they would. Then there were the Giant Beat's. Then the Twenty's. And the Dark Energy's. And of course, the Traditionals. Then the 602's re-emerged. I thought, 'they re-introduced the 602's again?'"

Vinnie thought it was a brilliant thing to do. To him, that reflected a concern and commitment to sound. Continues the drummer:

"Because, the 602's are all about sound. A pure sounding cymbal. Simple, yet just a purely great sounding cymbal. I like the fact that it merely said, 'medium ride'. That's all. Maybe 'medium', 'thin', and 'heavy' are what I remember when they were available many years ago. Just different sizes and weights, but the fundamental cymbal was what it was. Nothing more, nothing less. And a pure tone. Paiste has shown a commitment to sound, consistency, and quality, as well as looking forward."

Another thing that Vinnie likes is that he‘s able to categorize the various cymbals in his mind because they are grouped into 'families', which all have a sound function in mind, yet they also overlap. He says he can easily mix and match knowing exactly what his objective is. Vinnie:

"I noticed that, for example, the Traditionals had the warm and dark tone that sounds great, but the cymbal never gets away from you. It just gets louder, to a point. And the articulation is always there. Microphones like that. Because of that, in a live situation I was able to lower the overhead mics, and turn them up so that I could hear the entire kit better in the overheads, instead of having to only hear the kit from close mics. The sound became more holistic, more integrated. And, the cymbals themselves didn't control the sound engineer; it was the other way around. “

When the drummer heard the vast array of Paiste cymbals right in front of him on a lot of cymbal stands, he realized that they all sounded great, and that none of them were special selected. Says the new Paiste endorser:

"You could walk to the shelf blindfolded and grab another and be satisfied. This is quite important for me. I wouldn't want to have something happen to one of my cymbals thinking that I couldn't get another one. I can. If I need cymbals somewhere and I can't bring my own, I know exactly what to get, and I know what they will sound like. For someone like me who is all over the map, this is important. Basically, it all distilled to, 'the most amount of usable 'sound-great' cymbals, the most amount of occasions, the most consistent sound and quality'. Paiste fits the bill perfectly. And I like looking forward to playing them."

On behalf of the Paiste company Erik Paiste states they are deeply honored to welcome Vinnie to their artist family:

"Vinnie is one of the most important drummers of our time. We are pleased that he chose us for his cymbals, and for all the right reasons. That in itself is a humbling validation for our basic mission, to create sound of the highest possible fidelity and reliability to satisfy the world's most brilliant and uncompromising musicians. We very much look forward to working with Vinnie; the creative challenges and future possibilities of collaborating with him will be highly invigorating."

Vinnie Colaiuta was a long-time Zildjian cymbal and drumstick endorser. In 1990 he assisted the company with creating their A Custom line of cymbals, based on the A Zildjian cymbals.