Well...I took the drum apart to figure out if I can "repair" the lugs in any way. Unfortunately due to the design and construction of the lugs, there is no real way to repair them. I have to tell you though.... I can see why Ludwig got rid of these things as soon as possible. The lugs are extremely cheaply made and the shell is a flimsy molded plastic of some kind. You can't put any real tension on the drum or one of two things happen.......either the lugs will crack under tension or the shell will collapse. The shell is nowhere near as strong as an acrylic Vistalite shell. A vistalite shell is very rigid. This shell is like a flexi-flyer thing....very flexible. So you can't even get a real snare drum sound out of it! I guess I bought an expensive display ONLY piece. DOH

What good is just displaying a drum? The idea is to play them too! :p

So very disappointed right now CryBaby

Sorry about your luck, hopefully you can get your money back.

That was an inaccurate and misleading description in the listing in my book.

LudwigDude -- If you used PayPal you'll almost certainly get your omney back. And if not, I hope the seller simply apologizes and accepts the return with no hassles. Aghh! I hate when this happens!!

Best of luck.

L-D,Sorry to hear this.Those ludwig plastic lugs are so bad,thats why ludwig stop using them in 6 months...Way to many problems with them cracking....Mikey

Thanks guys, sorry to vent on here but its just so disappointing when you buy something described as mint and you get something far from it. I did use paypal, but I'm waiting to hear back from the seller first before filing a claim. Mikey, you weren't kidding when you daid these lugs were "fragile" to say the least. I've built model car kits in my youth that were made out of stronger plastic than those! Laughing H

I would consider mounting regular bow-tie lugs on the drum and saving the originals just for show just so it would be playable, but I've found that when you try to tune the drum up the shell starts to collapse on itself too. Now I know why these are so rare! They are so useless as a drum! I'd take my old 6-lugger Stewart MIJ snare that I learned to play on back before trying to use this thing in the real world. Mind Blowi

Its a shame that it wasn't made out of better materials as the idea seems sound enough......I remember someone stating in my previous thread about these drums that they had one and traded it in on an acrolite almost immediately while parents threatened to sue.....now I understand why. Unfortunately one of Ludwigs great blunders dumped on the student drummers of yore....

I'm not too clear on the actual drum you purchased. You've described it as a Ludwig "combo" snare and there are several references to plastic lugs. Do you have a pic of what you bought that you might be willing to share?

The only Ludwig "combo" snare I've got is a Ludwig "Jazz Combo" and it sounds nothing like what you're describing.

Thanks!

Sure OldSchool....it looks like this:

The seller has agreed to a full refund. He claims he didn't realize it wasn't mint. He "didn't have time to take a close took at it"..........and thats why it had a coat of paste car wax all over the inside too huh? Hmmmm

Well....the seller has offered me a partial refund and I get to keep the drum....I figure its worth the price difference for what usable parts are left to the drum and also the fact that it came as a student kit...you know, case and stand as well?

So, maybe I'll take all tension off of the heads and use it as a shelf display piece......its just too bad that it will never be able to be played. :(