Hello Ludwig experts! I am picking up an Oyster Black, three piece kit, 22, 13, 16, with a metal snare, kick pedal, hi hat, couple cymbal stands tomorrow. The manufacture year is 1976 per the serial numbers. Blue Olive badges, pointy corners. It's a little dirty, but otherwise all complete, and all purchased at the same time from Sam Ash, I think. Coming from the original owner. The only thing not original is the snare batter head. All heads and everything else are original. I peeked through the two tom vents. Both the floor tom and rack appear to have reinforcement rings. One is painted inside, the other is natural. Didn't look in the kick. I recall seeing somewhere that they had two different shell constructions that year.
It has a single tom mount on the kick. Is there anything I should consider with this kit? It has all it's parts and could be played as is. I'd probably want to clean it. I am not sure if I should play it, or if it's all fairly ordinary and replaceable.. For sure, I would not want to play the heads for fear that I'd ruin them.
I have several other kits to play. Not really a vintage person, it was just a cool kit and local, so I figured I'd get it. If any of you can tell me a little history about the model, I'd be appreciative.
Rock on!!
No pics yet. Have material to learn for tonight. But I looked over everything whenb I got it home yeaterday. Have the three drums, Supraphonic snare, Atlas Hi Hat, 4 Atlas straight, flat base stands, Speed King pedal, LP Cowbell, A set of mallets, a set of metal brushes, Atlas non flat base snare stand, and a really uncomfortable but very cool looking throne. Everything works, minimal wear, and only minor pitting in some spots. Wraps all look great. Plus I got Zildjian hats a sizzle ride, regular ride, and two crashes... Though the model isn't really rare or anything, I'm genuinely fascinated that someone kept everything together, and original since 1976. Part of me really wants to play it. Part of me wants to put the whole thing in a time capsule. Was a few hundred dollars..
A few hundred dollars!! Are you serious? Sounds like you got quite a deal as the kit is in good order and playable. If I were you I would play it - you gotta find out how it sounds - may be the sweetest kit you have ever heard! Probably a good idea to switch the heads first, though. It will sound better but also preserve the originals in case you ever did want to sell.
Let us know, if you decide to play them, what you think.
Correction on the cymbals. An 18 and 20" Zildjian, 14" Zildjian New Beat hats, and an 18" Paiste Super Made in Switzerland sizzle crash or ride, or something.
Good suggestion! It has Ludwig Weather Master batters on both sides of the toms. What would you guys suggest I replace them with? The kick has original heads too. I generally like EMAD batters, personally. Any guidance here is good too. I have a custom Classic Maple kit (new one), that came with the modern version of the tom heads, which sound excellent. Got coated batter on kick and hated it. It's an 18" though.
Thank you!
Osarky0 - you will probably get as many opinions as there are drum heads - but I will give my 2 cents worth. I have a set of Ludwig Legacies - so basically the same shell type as what you have with that kit. I tried a lot of different heads but found the perfect ones - for the toms - were the Ludwig Weather Master ones that came with the kit.
When I first got the kit, I didn't really understand how that type of shell would / should sound so I wasn't convinced I had the best heads on with the Ludwig ones that came with it. A lot of experimenting later - and understanding the drums better, I tried the Ludwig heads again (Heavy - coated) for the batters, clear for the resos)- tuning them very low and voila! - gorgeous sound.
Regarding the bass drum - I am still searching myself. Right now I have an Aquarian Super Kick I batter and a Remo FibreSkyn reso. If you like the EMad, try that. The single ply version may give you more tone than the 2-ply - hard to say.
For the snare - I like the Ludwig medium coated - but the head I really like on my wooden Ludwig snare is the Evans Genera Dry. On my metal snares, the Evans Reverse Dot works very well for me.
Hope this helps!
Well yes, 1976 was a transition year, but I'm pretty sure that when they went to 4/6 plies, th e reinforcement rings were ditched.
Quite an amazing find! My advice: get some heads on them, tune em up, sell the paiste, get a gritty retro blues band, and take them on the road!
Tama Swingstar 3 piece 1993 (refinished wine red)
Ludwig Breakbeats (Azure Sparkle)
1964 Ludwig Supra
Old no-name Luan 12x8 tom/snare (refinished wine red)
Mapex MPX 14"x5.5" snare (refinished in gloss black)
Pearl Vision 14"x14" ft/snare (refinished wine red)
Aquarian heads
14" Sabian HHX Stage Hats
15" Meinl Extra Dry Thin Hats
18" Meinl Vintage Trash Crash
18" Wuhan China
18" Thin Zildjian Crash
18" Thin Zildjian Crash with rivets
19" Meinl Extra Dry Thin Crash
22" Istanbul Mehmet Legend Dark Ride
23" Matt Bettis Dry Ride
Thanks everybody! The serial numbers all suggest 1976ish. I'll get replacement heads and when I do, see if there's anything interesting inside the shells. Will be fun cleaning them up. At some point I'll take pics. I promise.
Not having much luck getting pics to load to a gallery here.
http://www.drumchat.com/picture.php?...pictureid=9387
Please forgive my off topic post but ...
It seems that Ludwig has single headed concert toms available again in diameters ranging from 6" thru to 18". I've seen advertisements of being able to assemble the old Octa and Quadra Plus outfits of the '70s via custom order. Perhaps they'll even start offering these outfits again as standard configurations ...
Not that I want another concert tom kit but maybe I'll finally be able to get those 6" and 8" single headed concert toms that I've been wanting for so long to go with my Classic Maple Kit.
What do you guys think of this recent development?
Last edited by dangermoney; 04-17-2015 at 04:24 PM.
Any of you ludwig lugheads have this type of BD mounted rack tom? Just curious as it seems to me that crackin of the BD would be a major concern due to the mount being screwed directly into the wood and middle of the shell unlike a big hole with a mounting pole in it? Does it flex alot? Would you put anything bigger than a 10" tom on it?
[IMG][/IMG]
Ludwig Classic Maple 22x16,10x8,12x9,16x16
7" Moon Gel Practice Pad
Sabian HHX Legacy
Decide whether this is love for the craft or simply an ego thing
http://www.redskymary.com/ NOT MY BAND, JUST A GREAT LOCAL BAND WHO SHOULD BE SOOO MUCH BIGGER IMO
I had two Ludwig kits with that type of tom mount on them, one of them was a 1964 kit and the other was 1975. Even on the '64 kit there were no signs whatsoever of stress to the shell. I had a 12" tom mounted on both kits, and I've seen up to 13" toms affixed. If I remember correctly, there were flat washers on the inside that helped spread the stress across a wider area. I think people tend to underestimate how much stress a drum shell can accommodate. They are much stronger than we think.
GeeDeeEmm
Tama Swingstar 3 piece 1993 (refinished wine red)
Ludwig Breakbeats (Azure Sparkle)
1964 Ludwig Supra
Old no-name Luan 12x8 tom/snare (refinished wine red)
Mapex MPX 14"x5.5" snare (refinished in gloss black)
Pearl Vision 14"x14" ft/snare (refinished wine red)
Aquarian heads
14" Sabian HHX Stage Hats
15" Meinl Extra Dry Thin Hats
18" Meinl Vintage Trash Crash
18" Wuhan China
18" Thin Zildjian Crash
18" Thin Zildjian Crash with rivets
19" Meinl Extra Dry Thin Crash
22" Istanbul Mehmet Legend Dark Ride
23" Matt Bettis Dry Ride
That is normal as mentioned. That's a Ludwig Rail Consolette (or hotdog rail) mounted to the shell. Yes there are 2 large flatwashers to help support it inside the shell. No worries and nice champagne sparkle kit.
Last edited by Olimpass; 04-19-2015 at 05:30 PM.
Cool thanks, Just shopping around for my forever kit and the ludwig legacy is in the thick of it so was just wondering about this mount. Love the color but also have a few others in mind should I go the luddy direction. Still need to sell one of my 2 kits as well.
Ludwig Classic Maple 22x16,10x8,12x9,16x16
7" Moon Gel Practice Pad
Sabian HHX Legacy
Decide whether this is love for the craft or simply an ego thing
http://www.redskymary.com/ NOT MY BAND, JUST A GREAT LOCAL BAND WHO SHOULD BE SOOO MUCH BIGGER IMO
Here is my complete Silver Sparkle Ludwig drum set. I have not performed on this configuration in 27 years. It was my touring set with "Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose". To old and lazy to haul it all around. I once did 32 one nighters in a row with it.
Last edited by VIbes; 05-09-2015 at 04:06 PM.
Ludwig Classic Maple vintage 1980 Silver Sparkle
Ludwig Classic Maple vintage 1960 Gold Sparkle
Ludwig Classic Maple vintage 1968 Champagne Sparkle
Premier Resonators vintage 70's Polychromatic Red
Slingerland 60's Vintage. Vintage Sky Blue Pearl
Slingerland 1972 "Avante" Red
Camco Chanute vintage. 1973 Silver Sparkle
Gretsch Catalina Jazz. Blue Pearl
Sonor Safari. Black Galaxy
Rogers Londoner V vintage. 1977 Silver Mist
Rogers Script Badge 9/72 1972 Black Nitro
Beverley of England 4 piece vintage. Red
Stewart 1966 Black Diamond Pearl MIJ
Vintage Paiste 2002
Vintage Avedis Zildjian
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