Hi,

Here's another one that I just finished cleaning/restoring:

1936 (Anniversary) Ludwig & Ludwig 5x14 Abalone Pearl Standard Model

First of all many thanks to my (our) friend and fellow collector Bun E. Carlos for selling me this drum.

This drum is 75 yrs. old this month (3604) so it's kind of cool to be cleaning/restoring this drum at this time.

Abalone Pearl was a short-lived finish and was in the L&L catalog for only 2 years, 1936-1938.

The shell/finish was in great shape and only needed a basic cleaning/polishing. There are traces of colors left but can you imagine what this finish looked like new? An interesting fact is that the badge is the 1920s-early 1930s oval brass badge. I've read where L&L was in the habit of using up all of their supply of parts so it is logical to assume that this badge was probably at the bottom of the badge bin or at least mixed in with the white oval badges that are normally seen on these drums (1950s WFL butt plates on 1960s Ludwig snare drums comes to mind). John Aldridge also confirmed this by informing me that he has seen a few 1935- drums with brass oval badges. It was also comforting to see that the grommet was untouched.

The nickel hardware was in good shape with the usual rust areas on the tension rod threads, steel parts of the Professional strainer and butt plate bridge. Everything cleaned up and polished up nicely.

Calf heads top and bottom and the original James Snappi wires rounded out this restoration.

Enjoy.

Mike Curotto