Wow cool find,I should hit some pawn shops around here,nice drum,what did it cost you?

Amazingly I walked out the door with it for $35.00. I would call that a Blessing!!!

Great find at that price whether or not it is Brass!

A magnet doesn't stick to Ludalloy (aluminum) or Brass. It is a test of whether the shell is steel vs some non ferrous metal.

9 lbs might be heavy enough to prove that it is a Brass shell, but I'm not sure what the distribution of weights is. There are slight confounding factors with the weight of Brass rims and heavier casings for the lugs from the period. You need to be very careful to specify whether you are weighing the bare shell (no lugs, rims, strainer, etc) and whether you are comparing it to somebody else who has weighed a bare shell or a built up drum.

There are three key attributes you have not documented which help distinguish a Brass shell from that period:

A seam inside where the Brass shell is joined up

The "curl" of the bearing edge flange (vs straight)

Snare beds created by deformation of the shell

None of the attributes you have mentioned (nor the ones above) are 100% accurate (at least to me knowledge). If you demonstrate a greater number of the attributes which suggest Brass then the probability increases...

Your photos haven't got enough of the area where the shell would be pressed in to create the snare beds. It is just above where the snare beds are. Ditto for the curl of the flange at the bearing edge. I can't tell from your photos, but others might be able to if they have eagle eyes.

Light reading: http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=9441

but I much prefer the YouTube videos which Terry (Bonzoleum) has done:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajWv4NoQQac"]60's Ludwig Supraphonic COB or Ludaloy? How To Spot a COB 1958-1961 SUPER LUDWIG Snare Drum - YouTube[/ame]

You lucky dog! I thought I did good when I found a nice Acrolite for $35!

Zen - Aluminum Supra's weigh in about 7 lbs. brass Supers weigh in at 9.

I already congratulated the OP on a killer score in another thread.

John

Thanks John. So that's the "full dressed" weight not the bare shell weight? For a 1963-64 Aluminum Surpra vs the same general time frame Super?

I've tried to pin this weight distribution down before but didn't quite get a clear answer. When I ran the numbers using different combinations of old vs later lugs, original brass vs later (thinner) brass rims vs steel rims (the one in the original post has a drop snare gate should it is very likely to be original) it looked like the weight distributions would still make weighing the full dressed snare definitive. But I never really got to the bottom of it...

As you know, I do like to get the details right. Oh, and I should say it's not that I doubt that one. It is just that I always try and write with a future audience in mind who might happen to find this thread in a search. If you think that way it seems worth the extra effort to give good references and the complete checklist.

just for the record, and because I'd never checked before, my 64 400 with cob hoops weighs 7.4lbs complete (using cheap digital kitchen scales). I have only ever held one Super before and it was a heavy lump compared to an aluminum model.

Great score BTW. I nearly got a good deal on a trans badge cob Super a while back but alas the the ebay seller cancelled the sale, sigh...

Crimped beds show up in the early alloy shells (I have one) so that detail doesn't prove brass content. The seam and (easiest to spot) the curl in the flange are the two indicators that usually prove it's a COB. I can't see the edge well enough in these small pictures to tell one way or another but it sounds like others have identified it as brass...and even if it's aluminum...$35 bucks! Jeez! Time to buy a lottery ticket.

> I've tried to pin this weight distribution down before but didn't quite get a clear answer.

Damn if you're not about to get another one! LOL When I read your question my brain froze. I honestly don't recall if the weights I quoted were taken from full-dressed drums, or just shells. It was an old thread, but the numbers stuck in my head. I honestly can't remember now if the weights represented a complete, or a partial drum. Senior brain freeze... it's like an ice-cream brain freeze only without the ice-cream. :p

John