That is the single most under-rated snare drum in the world. For how it sounds and what it can do, they should be charging a lot more for them. Best kept 'well-known secret' among drummers.

Congrats on scoring the best sounding work-horse snare drum around.

John

under-rated things are treasures hidden out in the open.

i need to get new snares for it now.

any advice?

Best - grab a set of 60's ludwig wires on Fleabay. The ones with the plastic ends.

Next best- Puresound wires.

Enjoy your new toy, bud.

John

Yes - they are very nice. I have a mid-80s + (Powder Coated shell - Rounded corner B/O with seven digit S/N). My Acrolite holds it's own and then some next to most of my snare drums. Amazing drum at any price but I can hardly believe I see these drums going for under $75 regularly on eBay - keep em comin - I like it!

Mine has the stock snare wires here.

Enjoy your drum - there's a lot of Acrolite fans out there - and good reason for that I'm sure.

would the snare bed allow for 16 or 20 strand?

You don't need all that. See the snares in Kona's post? Those are the ones I'm talking about, with the plastic ends on them. The wires are a thinner gauge than modern wires and they make the drum sound more responsive/articulate I think. I just like the sound of them better than modern wires. It's what came with the drum originally!

John

very cool

thank you

also the original head appears to be thinner than ambassador.

Ludwig gets a lot of bad-mouthing (and rightfully so,) for cutting corners here and there to save a few bucks on production costs. Riveted seams is one glaring example. But... they really know their stuff when it comes to their snare drums.

You can mess around with 500 different heads on a Ludwig metal shell drum, but the second you throw on a set of Ludwig plastic heads... all of a sudden, the drum sounds like it is supposed to. Same goes for the snare wires.

Because it's an 8-lugger, an acrolite sounds like a raw, open-throated supra. Tons wetter sounding than any supra. The snares they put on the drums were perfect for them. They help to make an acro sound like an acro. Ludwig may have made some mistakes along the way, but not with anything to do with the metal-shelled snare drum line. Can't go too far wrong throwing a set of vintage Ludwig wires on there. If you don't like it/isn't your cup of tea... then go for the gazillion wire snares. Your drum... your call.

John