Hi,

Here's another one for the collection. This snare drum has been, as my good friend John Aldridge says: "ridden hard and put up wet" and was very close to being relegated to the parts bin but was able to be salvaged at the last minute...more on this as you read on.

1929-30 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 5x14 WMP SUPER-SENSITIVE MODEL

The Shell:

As the photos show, the WMP was bubbled in a few areas, fortunately at the back of the drum and away from the badge. I'm not sure what caused this but most likely it was caused by trying to fit an ill-fitting batter head or the glue in those areas just weakened via bad weather/exposure or simply just not enough glue in the area when it left the factory. Enter Al Schneider (The Original Drum Doctor) to the rescue. Al was able to employ the very risky "hot iron and dry cloth technique" to the shell. I trust Al with this type of repair but I always like to "remind" him that he is working on a very expensive and rare snare drum; nothing like adding a little more pressure to the situation. I am very happy with the outcome as the only other way to repair the areas would have been to completely remove the WMP wrap/badge/grommet and hope that the wrap comes off in one piece and that you could realign the wrap to match the hole patterns. The WMP pearl cleaned up and polished up nicely after the repair to the WMP wrap. There was a small divot in the panel left of the badge but a dollop of white pearl nail polish cleaned it up decently. The white interior was pretty dirty and cleaned up as best as could be expected. The L&L oval badge is clean with a tight grommet.

The Hardware:

Chrome plating was invented in 1929 and became another L&L cataloged option in 1930 along with the existing cataloged nickel plated, Artgold and gold plated finishes. The chrome hardware on this snare drum was pretty dirty and grimy but Simple Green and Cape Cod Polishing Cloths do the trick every time. Both the Super and Sensitive mechanisms work fine. The "Super Sensitive" on the bottom rim is the 1930 stamped version as compared to the 1929 engraved version. I've talked to John Aldridge and Bill Wanser about this and we agree that the earliest versions (1929) were engraved and the later versions (1930) were stamped. We are only talking a year difference here (aside from the Super-Sensitive 1929-36) as the New Era-Sensitive, Standard-Sensitive and Super-Power models (1929-30) were only around for a very short period of time, were only mentioned in the Fall 1929 Ludwig Drummer Magazine, never made it to an L&L catalog and therefore are extremely rare.

Of-the-era Ludwig calf heads plus the original Super (gut) and Sensitive wires completed this restoration.

Enjoy!

Mike Curotto