Vintage Ludwig Slingerland Drum Kit Restorations - four sets

I spent my summer break collecting and restoring several older vintage drum kits.

1971 Ludwig Super Classic in Gold Sparkle finish 3 ply maple/poplar/maple - clear interior snare - 3 ply mahogany/poplar/mahogany - white interior This one was the kit that I had wanted to do for a long time. My first kit was a 64 Ludwig Super Classic in red sparkle. Like so many comic book collections, it disappeared. I loved that kit. I did this one in gold sparkle because Dolenz' Gretsch kit impressed me so much on the Monkees. I spent a lot of time staring at that kit and imagining what it would be like to play a gold sparkle kit. The snare is a 1961 Ludwig Super Classic in blue sparkle. It's has WFL nickle hardware and a red baseball bat. Sweet drum.

1970 Ludwig Standard in Blue Strata finish 3 ply maple/poplar/maple - speckled interior This is one my wife purchased for me. It is 100% correct (except the heads). Ludwig only made this kit for about three years. They started production in late 68 and by mid 71, they were done. These kits are very rare in this condition. The lugs and wrap on this kit are very close to showroom condition. All the stands are correct and are original to the set. I picked up a matching 12 inch tom and the correct double tom holder so that I could play it as a Big Beat if the mood struck me. This is one of my favorites.

1971 Slingerland Buddy Rich Outfit No. 80N in Mahogany Lacquer finish 3 ply maple/poplar/mahogany - clear interior krupa snare - chrome over brass This one was picked up in Texas and driven back here. I couldn't believe how thin the shells were. This was the most difficult set to restore. The hardware and stands were a challenge to locate. The bass spurs were next to impossible to find at a reasonable price. They are the ones used in the late 50's to the early 60's. They were out of production for about ten years when Slingerland decided to put them on this one kit for a very short period of time. That made it very tough to get 'em. It was a lot of fun, though. The only thing not correct is the bass cymbal arms. I've since picked those up.

69.70.71.72 Ludwig Mutant Jazzer in Rainbow Love finish 3 ply maple/poplar/maple - clear interior This one is the kit that wasn't supposed to be. I had a 12 inch tom laying around left over from the gold sparkle kit. I picked up the red sparkle snare. Then I got the 20 inch bass from a trade. It was in relatively good shape with a bad wrap. I located some hardware from the early 50's for it. I decided to wrap it in blue sparkle. Then I located the 14 floor tom for next to nothing. It was a blue mist that faded to a teal green. When I put the drums together, they just worked. They sound great together. I skinned the toms with genuine calf skin heads. I'm still searching for good sounding heads for the snare and bass. I don't like the Fiberskyn heads on them. They sound too much like plastic. All in all, a really fun kit.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• vintage
• drum
• kit
• ludwig
• slingerland
• restoration
• super
• classic
• buddy
• rich
• gene
• krupa
• pioneer
• snare
• standard