Any guess on the age of this Supra

[ReGaL Music]

I picked up this Ludwig Supra last week on CL for $40. (Just to brag about the find.)

I put new heads, snares and replaced a broken throw off lever. I got the replacement lever from my local music shop's old parts bin. I believe it is from a P83 as it is a little shorter than what comes with the P85. The rest of the strainer (which came with the drum) is a P85.

The drum did not have a badge and there were no dates stamped inside the shell. (There is a silver Ludwig round sticker.) Although there was no badge, there was a a grommet that was silver/aluminum in color. There was a trace of the badge that appeared to be bronze in color (which had me thinking keystone badge).

As you can see from one of the pictures the muffler has a round knob, not the ball bat lever if that helps with the dating.

Any thoughts has to if this drum his 60s, 70s, 80s?

[backbeatkeeper]

Without a badge, it's anybody's guess, but I would lean towards late 80's to now. Is there any markings on the inside of the drum? If you got it on CL for $40.00, more than likely the person who had it didn't know what they had, but without a badge, it looks generic to most people, unless you look at the throwoff.

[kellyj]

If the scripting on the butt plate is the old script, i.e., not underlined then it is a pre-B&O badge supra. The new B&O badge in the ealy 70's had the new style Inscription "Ludwig" that had a solid dark underline and a very definte forward slant to the font. Prior to that the script "Ludwig" was not underlined and had a different font. The script styling appears both on the badge and the butt plate. Check the butt plate and send a pic of it if you can. The Monroe supras went back to the old font style on the badges but kept the newer font style on the snare butt plate....

Kelly

[ReGaL Music]

Kelly, the butt plate as a Ludwig logo that looks similar to this. It's engraved into the butt plate so none of it is black and the letters do seem to have a bit of a forward slant. Does that indicate 1970s? Thanks for your help.

[kellyj]

That logo is representative of the B&O badege of the 70's. You mentioned the trace of the badge being bronze in color. That would possible and likely indicate a Monroe NC vintage Supra which had bronze badges and dated from the early 1980's-present. Still a nice "Bonham" style drum with a gorgeous sound. Enjoy!!!
k