A Black Beauty?
Lately I've been hunting around for some information on Black Beauties and to see if I could find some information on a Black Chrome model in particular. I dug up an old thread by Vars_Molta who was asking if he had a Black Beauty (BB). My comments were that it was a "Black Chrome" model, which I also own. However, looking through the old Ludwig catalogs for the era shows that there was no "Black Chrome" model. My assumption , ever since I bought the drum, was that this was a 402 SupraPhonic with a black chrome finish and not a brass shell BB. Here are some of my reasons why:
I purchased the drum in May of 1981 from CMI for $200. If I recall right the BB's were going for around $400 (...street prices, but that may have been the engraved model???), some of you old timers may be able to support that figure. Also this finish was prone to a particular flaw that lead me to believe it was a "steel" based product. All of the "Black Chrome" drums I've seen on the internet exhibit the same flaw as the drum that I possess. I thought that brass was not likely to exhibit those kinds of problems, but I just saw a brass shell that was pretty "road weary" on the finish so it made me re-think that assumption.
The flaws on my snare look like there is rust under the black chrome process. My equipment is well maintained - I didn't rub it down after every session but I was very careful how it got moved and made sure it was always wrapped before being placed in a case for instance. Again these are the flaws that I've seen on these models on the internet as well as mine, and oddly enough the majority are near the upper portion of the shell just below where the drumhead hoop sits so I don't think they are user induced.
The receipt for my purchase back in 1981 states the model number as "417" which is the correct model number for that a BB.... So I got that going for me ;-) I did some digging here in the Vintage forum and found that some of the responses to the "is it a BB" question said to look for a "B" or a "BZ" stamped on the shell. I couldn't locate any such stamp. So I decided to do the trusty magnet test and end my questioning once and for all. So I grabbed one off the refrigerator, the business/vendor small advertising variety and it was lightly attracted to the shell, wouldn't go near a lug and really was attracted to the rim. I tried that same magnet on my 483 and as expected it wouldn't stick to the maple, then I tried my 552KY (hammered BZ w/ die cast) and it wasn't attracted to the shell as expected. I decided to get serious about this and find some scientific magnets (alright maybe they weren't scientific grade but they were small and round) from Home Depot and repeat the test. They magnets were not at all attracted to the shell but loved the lugs, tension rods, and rims.
So now I'm back to square one wondering just what the heck drum do I have??? I'll post pics so that you can view an offer an opinion. Especially love to hear from BB owners if there are similar flaws in their finishes.
