I've only seen sliver silk and blue silk in person (I used to own a silver silk kit).

The Ludwig silk wrap is very pretty, but it is also very fragile. It will picks up dings and marks easily and on the silver and gold silks, the glue was known to bleed through and stain the wrap.

Prettaayy drums!

Makes me wonder...

In communist czechoslovakia, modern music was prohibited. First rock'n'rollers in the late 50s started to call their music "big beat" or "bigbít" so it escaped Big Brother's eye. The term has later been used for all kinds of rock music from merseybeat to hard rock and heavy metal. Even today, it is sometimes used for bluesy, ol' fashioned rock, or in a mocking manner, for cheesy, dumb, wannabe hard rock. Even back in 60s, some claimed that it is rather stupid term, as it is only local and it kinda indicates czechoslovak beat's superiority over western beat, wich was, of course, nonsense. The term stayed, however, and various interpretations of it stick with czech music 'till today. In recent years, birth of new genre of british electronic music, called "big beat", adds to complete and international confusion of what the term means.

So now, what did the Ludwig marketing mean by naming their drums "Big Beat"?

Ludwig, Thanks.

There are a few nicks here and there on these 35 year old drums and they do show up. Nothing a red sharpie can't improve. So far so good, there is no bleed from the glue. The shells and lacquer are exceptionally nice on this kit!

Golnar,

Nice history of the European, Czech rock terminology and lore. Appreciate it...

Ludwig experts out there please correct me if necessary. The term "Big Beat" was introduced in 1971 with the introduction of the heavy duty "Atlas" stands then coupled with this configuration of 22,16,13,12. It was a change from the "Hollywood" name used in the '60's up to 1975. The Hollywood kit was the same shell pack but was advertised with the lighter duty flat -based stands and the name Hollywood was dropped after 1975.

-kellyj

That kit looks awesome! At $250 that was a really nice score on a cool color kit. Please do post some pics of it when it's all spiffed up. Congrats, enjoy them!

NICE KIT!!

I always thought big beats were the 2 up 1 down style.

Thats what i have in BS but mine are 24 12 14 16

You are correct, as I remember it. In the '73 and '75 catalogs the "Big Beat" set had the option of a 24" BD instead of the 22".

Now... as far as the "red silk" wrap: I think overall it was about as common as the blue and silver, and I've seen it more than the gold silk. But really, when compared to the more traditional wraps, the silks were all rare. Although Ludwig would work with their retailers and customers, the silks were designed for their "Mach" line of drums.

What I've NEVER seen is the bronze silk. THAT's the real rare one, IMO...

Bill

Bill

The Ludwig Silk wraps (industry term: calendered vinyl, and seen onmy Japanese drums such as Pearl and Tama) were actually not very popular at all, and I've seen mostly blue and gold, followed by silver, and red a distant last place.

I love these finishes, but in ordinary photos, you lose the iridescent look of the wrap, unless you do multiple-angle lighting. However, the shimmer IS very cool. I had a Premier kit in an almost identical finish called Polychromatic Red. Cool stuff! Kinda Christmas-y.

jrfrond,

Thanks for the info. It is a gorgeous wrap. The photo I submitted at the start of this thread does not do it justice as it has a very nice iridescent shimmer. It had to compete though with other more popular wraps of the day I suppose...

I have an early '80's Pearl kit in the silver version of this wrap. "Silver Shimmer" I believe its called.

-kellyj