Hi all,
Here's another one from the fertile waters of eBay.
1929 Ludwig & Ludwig 6.5x15 mahogany Standard-Sensitive Model
This drum has been, as you Southern gents say: "ridden hard and put up wet"... This puppy has certainly been played. The drum came to me pretty dirty and grimy so this was a full cleaning/restoration. The good news is that the drum has all the original parts and the Sensitive mechanism (top) wires were intact. This is a pretty rare drum in that the Standard-Sensitive, Super-Sensitive, New Era-Sensitive and Power-Sensitive models were only shown in the Fall 1929 Ludwig Drummer flyers and never made it to a Ludwig & Ludwig catalog. This is the only 6.5x15 that I have ever seen, I own a few 5x14s and have yet to see a 6.5x14 Standard-Sensitive Model, (you know where I am guys if you find one).
The mahogany shell was in good shape but needed some attention as some yester-year putzarella tried to take the badge off. Fortunately this bozo was unsuccessful and only managed to gouge out an area inside the shell around the grommet but the grommet was untouched. My good friend Al Schneider (The Drum Doctor) was able to patch up the area inside but the badge was slightly bent out and loose so I glued it back to the shell and was able to salvage that potention fubar situation. I used GooGone first to get rid of any schmutz on the shell and then I discovered a nice touch-up product called Minwax Wood Finish Stain Marker (mahogany). I needed to touch up the area around the badge and a few scratches on the shell, nothing major. This is a great product that goes on easy and wipes off easy. I highly recommend this product when you need to touch up a shell. A few coats of polish and the shell came back to life but still looks its age.
The nickel hardware was dirty but cleaned up and polished up well. The tension rods being steel needed a little more attention. After cleaning and polishing I usually hit the tension rods with a few coats of clear spray to preserve them from re-rusting because we all know...all together now..."Rust does not sleep".
Calf heads top and bottom and James Snappi wires completed this restoration. Another cool, old drum brought back to life.
Enjoy!
Mike Curotto
