Hi,
Here’s a quirky one that just entered the collection. I “BIN’d” this snare drum from the fertile waters of EBay. There are a number of strange but explainable anomalies that this drum presents.
So let’s have a little vintage snare drum forensic fun.
1930-35 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 6.5 x 14 WMP/CLASSIC GOLD SUPER-LUDWIG MODEL
The SHELL:
The WMP wrap shows its age, is in good condition but had years of accumulated schmutz so it definitely needed my normal cleaning and polishing regimen. The normalcy ends here. This 6.5 x 14 solid maple shell is drilled for ten 2” c-c tube lugs that was the standard factory drilling on Ludwig 5’' shells vs. the normal factory drilling that was 3.5” c-c that would have been on a 6.5 shell like this one. The white enamel Ludwig badge was first seen in 1935, Ludwig’s 25th anniversary year. The clear interior on this drum pre-dates 1935 though as white interiors were first seen in 1932-on. So we have a 1930-32 shell (drilled for 10 lugs) with a 1935 badge (8 Imperial lug-era). The reinforcement rings are almost double the normal depth and needed to be notched out at the factory in order to accommodate the attachment screws/nuts for both sides of the bottom Super mechanism. There are a number of “alignment” pencil marks on the interior. The interior looks raw and is not varnished or clear coated... a question (although moot at this point) to the lazy Ludwig factory worker of yesteryear: “was it that much trouble for you to have cleaned off the excess glue from the reinforcement ring attachments?” And as a final bonus, I discovered an undisclosed extra hole where the bottom part of the lever side Super mechanism linkage is attached. In every other situation I would have called the seller on this as I hate undisclosed extra holes but given the fact that this drum is so weird, I have made an exception (maybe a rationalization) here. I honestly think that this is a factory mistake, a “Monday morning at the office” type of mistake if you will. I see no reason why an owner of this drum would have drilled a wrong hole after the drum was already assembled and shipped. The mistaken hole is so close to the bottom mechanism and looks like the other two holes that I think it was deemed “close enough” to slide by on the assembly line. I only noticed it as I was dis-assembling the hardware from the shell.
The HARDWARE:
The Ludwig Classic Gold finish is the 1932- brass plating with tinted lacquer. There was a lot of restoration needed here. It doesn’t look like Imperial lugs (same 2” c-c as 5” shell tube lugs) were ever on this drum as the Classic Gold finish on the tube lugs matches and is consistent with the rest of the hardware and there is no tell tale outline/indentations on the shell that an Imperial lug would have left. Here’s a strange one; the Super mechanism linkage is the shorter linkage that was used on 5” shells and is drilled/attached in the area as if this was a 5” shell. The Super mechanism on this drum is the 1924 (patent)-34 Super mechanism that pre-dates the 1935 “trigger” version of the Super mechanism. And let’s not forget that there is no tone control on this drum. Tone controls first appeared in 1932-33 so shell-wise we are consistent but badge-wise, not so.
Some final thoughts:
I have dated this drum 1930-34 for a few reasons thanks to vintage drum historian and master engraver John Aldridge: 1. “Super-Ludwig” was engraved on the bottom rims through 1929 and the stamped “Super-Ludwig” is seen from 1930-34. From 1935-on there was no “Super-Ludwig” marking on the bottom rims. 2. Imperial lugs were not seen until 1935 (Ludwig’s 25th anniversary year).
Drum historian Harry Cangany has an interesting take: “there is another possibility, that is a twist on the parts theory. That drum has Deluxe finishing which really was on the way out as chrome was coming in in 1929-30. It could be the buyer wanted the goldish parts--hoops, strainer, lugs and only those for a 5 inch drum were available at that time. The ‘wrong sized’ parts were used because they were on the way out and wouldn't be available again, used because they were in stock and don't worry about it, or this was one of the last Chicago built drums and they used what they had for just that reason, and waited for restocking when production was up and running in Elkhart. We can tell the time period so I would stick to the 1929-30. The Elkhart factory was ready in August, 1930. Of course, I will also add that ‘it's another drum mystery’ and fun to speculate.”
Vintage drum collector Mark Cooper has this to say: “Another possible scenario.....This drum could have been made from a 1930s shell that was not badged (and an un-painted one at that, which in my experience, usually dates from around 1928-30). Perhaps the pearl finished shell (with no badge installed) was plucked from the shelf in 1942-43, and fitted with older hardware, because they may have run out of Imperials due to war restrictions. Most likely, there would have been lots of left over tube lugs and other Super parts meant for an older 5x14 drum. They could have installed the badge at that time too and it would have been their current 40s white badge.......Possible?”
Noted vintage drum collector Bill Wanser chimes in with: “There are indeed many anomalies with this drum. The clear interior would suggest a shell produced earlier than 1930. Although it is not clear when Ludwig started painting the interiors white, there are examples from which we can conclude may be as early as 1932 but certainly by 1935 it seems all shells were painted white. It has also been suggested that the white paint was to cover the glue and/or other imperfections with the interior of the shells, (this suggestion came from Bill Ludwig II). Also of note is that this drum does not seem to have anything applied to the interior of the shell. The interiors of the shells prior to paint would seem to at least have a clear lacquer or shellacked interior. The stamped Super Ludwig rather than the engraved version would suggest 1930- on. The plating on the hardware appears to be the ‘Classic Gold’ (brass/gold color) rather than the copper “DeLuxe” color. This would indicate 1932 or later since 1932 is when the brass colored ‘Classic Gold’ was introduced, according to the catalogs. Another interesting observation (needs to be confirmed when the drum is ‘in hand’) is that the re-rings seem to be larger than normal???? This drum does not have a muffler or tone control. Around 1932-33 Ludwig started adding the tone control to drums.
The 5” throw-off on a 6 ½” drum is very unusual – never seen that before. The white enamel badge on a tube lug drum is also very unusual. However, I have seen brass badges on Imperial lug drums date stamped 1935 with clear interior shells (not painted but date stamped) so why not a tube lug drum with a white enamel badge from 1935 with a clear shell (not painted)? I also have seen (have in my possession) a Super Ludwig with white interior, muffler, 10 tube lug, no date stamp, chrome hardware and brass oval badge.
The *6 ½”x15” shell size was discontinued in 1935. However I have had (and now Mike Curotto has) an Imperial lug Super Ludwig in the 6 ½”x15” size that was a ‘special order’ drum. The story that was passed on to me about that drum was that the original owner discussed with Bill Ludwig Sr. that he was looking for a drum with a particular sound to fit the music he played. Bill Ludwig agreed to build him a larger shelled drum and the 6 ½”x15” was the size he used.
Bottom line: My guess is that this is a similar situation to the above. This was a special order drum and parts were used that were available at the time. They had a *6 ½” x 15” shell (that did not get painted) the hardware in ‘Classic Gold’ finish for a 5” ten tube lug drum and a white enamel badge….. order filled. Or someone put this drum together from parts they had available.”
*NB: The original auction text stated that this drum was a 15” shell. Before I started this article I had passed that information on to Bill but as I stated in the SHELL paragraph above the drum is 14” diameter.
My thoughts: Maybe the situation with this drum was similar to how a family can go to a “Pottery Barn” store and create their own coffee cups, mugs and plates, or a “Build a Bear” store where the kids can create their own Teddy Bears... maybe Ludwig & Ludwig had a Xmas party and as an added treat for the families they had a “build your own snare drum” area...?
Well, there you have it, another mystery snare drum to be pondered and cogitated on. As always feel free to weigh in with your ideas, opinions and experiences.
Enjoy!
Mike Curotto
