brian gorsegner
Junior Member
I will start by confessing I am not very knowledgeable about drums / Ludwigs. Any help would be great!
On my lunch break yesterday I saw some hard shell drum cases with a sign reading "bulk trash, please take!"... In need of new hard cases, and assuming it was JUST the cases, I popped the trunk and went over to grab em. Upon lifting the first one, it was obvious there were drums inside. I knew either way I was going to take them, so I figured I wouldn't start opening them up in the middle of the street, so I loaded them up and went home to eat my lunch. When I got there, I grabbed the snare case and opened it up... It was a Yamaha snare. Looks to be in good shape (will research this more in a bit)... Ate my lunch, back to work...
As I pulled up to work, I noticed small bugs climbing all over the cases... I quickly removed the drums from my car, and began stripping them out of the cases so I could throw the cases in the dumpster at work, or hose them down. I removed the rack tom, and to my surprise, it was not a Yamaha, but a Ludwig, and a seemingly old Ludwig at that. I took out the Kick drum and floor tom and they all matched. The Ludwig badge serial number on the rack tom read "566106", which I believe indicates it's a 1968. All of the metal hardware was in tact too! I looked around online and came to the conclusion the kit was a 1968 Black Diamond Pearl... 13" rack, 16" floor, 22" bass drum...
After work, I stripped off all the heads and cleaned everything top to bottom. I noticed the interior of all the shells were painted white... Now I can't tell if this is what they looked like from the manufacturer, or if they were painted over? From what I've read, 1968 did have white interiors for the FIRST half of the year? No date on these is stamped, and that seemed to be an indication of how they came from the factory. If they were re painted, how greatly could that effect the sound? I also have no idea what to look for as far as original exterior wrap goes, or if these have been re wrapped.
If you can answer any of these questions, or shed any further light based on these photographs I'd greatly appreciate it. Either way, glad I was able to rescue these from the impending doom of the local garbage man and I plan on restoring the kit the best I can!
On my lunch break yesterday I saw some hard shell drum cases with a sign reading "bulk trash, please take!"... In need of new hard cases, and assuming it was JUST the cases, I popped the trunk and went over to grab em. Upon lifting the first one, it was obvious there were drums inside. I knew either way I was going to take them, so I figured I wouldn't start opening them up in the middle of the street, so I loaded them up and went home to eat my lunch. When I got there, I grabbed the snare case and opened it up... It was a Yamaha snare. Looks to be in good shape (will research this more in a bit)... Ate my lunch, back to work...
As I pulled up to work, I noticed small bugs climbing all over the cases... I quickly removed the drums from my car, and began stripping them out of the cases so I could throw the cases in the dumpster at work, or hose them down. I removed the rack tom, and to my surprise, it was not a Yamaha, but a Ludwig, and a seemingly old Ludwig at that. I took out the Kick drum and floor tom and they all matched. The Ludwig badge serial number on the rack tom read "566106", which I believe indicates it's a 1968. All of the metal hardware was in tact too! I looked around online and came to the conclusion the kit was a 1968 Black Diamond Pearl... 13" rack, 16" floor, 22" bass drum...
After work, I stripped off all the heads and cleaned everything top to bottom. I noticed the interior of all the shells were painted white... Now I can't tell if this is what they looked like from the manufacturer, or if they were painted over? From what I've read, 1968 did have white interiors for the FIRST half of the year? No date on these is stamped, and that seemed to be an indication of how they came from the factory. If they were re painted, how greatly could that effect the sound? I also have no idea what to look for as far as original exterior wrap goes, or if these have been re wrapped.
If you can answer any of these questions, or shed any further light based on these photographs I'd greatly appreciate it. Either way, glad I was able to rescue these from the impending doom of the local garbage man and I plan on restoring the kit the best I can!