Andrew R Stewart 

The brazing process for a socket drop out might be slightly easier then a tabbed one (with a ring insert you only have to heat till flow out happens). But the actual brazing is only one aspect and not the most important one in making a frame most times. The alignment of the dropouts is much more the challenge. Specificly the same lengths for the chain and seat stays. it seems easy to think that making the stays the same length is "no big deal" but many will dissagree. So using a design that has an allowence for the stays being a touch off is the "easier" one for a newbie. (The same goes for tube wall thicknesses and other design aspects...). With traditional (or track if no deraillures) drops the slot is mostly horizontal and makes the chain stay length accuracy less critical. With a tabbed style drop/stay junction one can slide the tab further or less in the seat stay to make up that plane of difference. Of course this is after the other tab/stay junction has been done and the remaining stay's slot is cut purposely a bit deeper the the first, allowing for the adjusting of length. Even with "pro" jigs the rear wheel alignment is, perhaps, the hardest to get right. Lot's of experience with your tools and methods helps make this much more predictible. But that's not who you are yet... Vertical drops remove the range of fudging where the axle sits, without doing a bunch of filing of the dropout. Not a deal breaker but a sign of sloppy craftmanship. Really if you can't do an acceptible brazing of a tabbed drop out then I will question your other brazing on the rest of the frame. Are you practicing? With bronze? Or are you buying into Silver's myth? Learn bronze first is my recommendation. Andy.