ID for 1980's marching snare

[kevarilla]

Hi everyone! Does anyone know what kind of shell material my newly acquired Ludwig marching snare might be made of?

It's a 10-lug, 10x14 snare with classic-style long lugs. Judging by the serial number (309xxxx) and the post-1980 keystone badge as well as the amount of wear on the drum, I'm guessing it's from the mid-1980's, but I could be wrong. It's been neglected for a long time, but I picked it up to put it all back together enough to make it playable, so I was really curious about the shell material or even the series name. Unfortunately for me, there's not a lot of info out about post-1980 Ludwigs, it seems.

Any have any possible info about my drum?

-Kevin

[wflkurt]

It should be a maple shell. I think they made six ply shells up to the early 90's and then they swithed the number of plies. If the badge is a large keystone that says Chicago on it, then it is some of the last chicago made drums. Most of the newer keystone badges say Monroe NC as that is where current Ludwigs are made. Schooldrums get pretty beat on so the condition is no surprise to me. What is the color? Just curious. There may even be a date stamp in there. Good luck.
-Kurt

[kevarilla]

Dude, thanks for the info... so glad to hear that it's maple!! The badge does note that it was from Chicago, so thats cool.

It has a white wrap which will be cleaned today. Hopefully I'll have time to scrub/polish the hardware as well. And I'm going out to pick up some new tension rods and heads for it this afternoon.

[wflkurt]

I'm going to guess that your drum is from around 1984-5. I don't think keystone chicago badges in the 80's were used very long. They changed it to the Monroe NC badge on there pretty quickly. You should be able to count 6-plies of maple in there as well. Should be a cool drum. Loud at that!Cool

[O-Lugs]

How does this drum look in comparison to yours?...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sweet-LUDWIG-12-x14-Split-Shell-Maple-Snare-Drum-NR_W0QQitemZ220125697544QQihZ012QQcategoryZ64434QQ rdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[kevarilla]

That on'es pretty close, except mine is not the split-shell design, and it's only 10" deep. Plus, I noticed the lugs on mine are longer; they go closer to the bearing edge than those on many other Ludwigs like this one...