Ludwig black beauty - genuine?

gcon45

Junior Member
I’m looking at buying a Ludwig black beauty second hand and was wondering if there was any way of certifying its authenticity?

I have the serial number but can only seem to find info on vintage drums serial numbers.

Any ideas?
 
Thanks for the reply.
This should be a genuine LB417.
Here are the photos that I have been sent:
34265797-D4EE-416D-8C78-696ADC2EE28F.jpeg
8ECA477A-A003-404A-8128-FF0B6C6428BB.jpeg
6FD4D4EC-7FC8-4DD8-BFF4-B75C8FF8477A.jpeg
 
Looks legit, and if that's the original throw-off, it was made in the last 3 years.
 
I had concerns with a BB years ago. I believe I was told at that time to take a lug off and make a small scratch to look for brass. Do I remember that a magnet test would identify brass or copper?. Anyway...looks like a BB to me as well.
 
Congrats ! My wishlist snare ! I would also remove the rubber gaskets and the plastic washers.
 
I had concerns with a BB years ago. I believe I was told at that time to take a lug off and make a small scratch to look for brass. Do I remember that a magnet test would identify brass or copper?. Anyway...looks like a BB to me as well.
Neither brass nor copper are magnetic, so that test wouldn't prove anything unless for some reason the shell was made of steel. And to my knowledge, BBs have only been made of brass and bronze, and I don't think I'd personally be able to tell by just one little scratch.

Comparing my normal BB to the Bronze Beauty we have at 2112, and which I used for a video demo on our channel, they sounded 99% the same to me. I thought the bronze sounded better than my BB until I played my BB, at which point I thought my drum sounded better!

To the OP: Looks like a real BB to me!
 
Young man..young man. Thank God for varied tastes. I would make a mean! one world ruler.
With a coated Hydraulic batter head too I hope! :LOL:
Gentlemen. If my child wasn't in bed I´d get the goddam thing out and give you both a sample and it'd take your heads off. You've got the warm and beautiful thumping open midrange of only 8 lugs with just a tad more attack, and a little less of the wildness taken away with the hoops. As soon as people get their little Ludwig purist heads outta their behinds and appreciate the real magic die-casts do to this drum the better.

SIRS, I BID YOU GOOD DAY. ;)
 
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I really like die cast hoops and I've tried them on my BB before, but I was never able to get a sound that quite worked to my ear. I'm not quite sure why, because I've tried die casts on other black brass snares and loved the sound, but the BB just sounded a little too closed off and switching to flanged hoops immediately opened up the tone significantly.
 
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