My '71 Ludwig "Big Beat" / "Hollywood" kit

[checker758]

Thanks to the many knowledgable, generous and kind folks around here, over the last month I've been able to bring a kit I bought as basically junk 25 years ago back to life. Thanks to everyone who offered advice, information, words of encouragment, etc. I'm still not completely done - whether or not this ends up as a "Big Beat" or "Hollywood" kit is yet to be determined, mainly by the availability of the hardware - but I'm close enough that I'd like to share some photos. Your comments and suggestions are welcome!

Scott

[checker758]

A few more...

[checker758]

One last photo - the Acrolite I just picked up.

Some of what was done to get the kit to this point, besides lots of cleaning up (they had weird gunk, stains, and duct tape all over them):

Replaced missing lugs, tension rods, hoop and bottom head on the floor tom.
Replaced missing front hoop (plus painted and added inlay to it), lugs, t-rods & claws, front head and tom post adjustment t-screw on BD.
Sand and repaint batter side BD hoop.
Added '70s Acrolite snare.
Added Speed King pedal.
Although they're not specific to this '71 set, I also needed to acquire cymbals, cymbal stands, hi-hat stand, a Buck Rogers snare stand, and various washers, screws, nuts, bolts and rubber bits to get this kit back into working order. I'm still not done, but it's definitely in playable condition now. I only wish I'd thought to take "before" photos before I started to show how far it's come so far...

Scott

[Steve-o]

They look AWESOME! Great job.
Damn, those things are screaming to be played.
I'll send you some pics of my '70. Looks alot like yours minus the 13". I think yours has a little more sparkle left in them.
What did you use to clean the wrap?

[mcjnic]

You have done a really nice job on that kit. Looks great!
You can get those little rubber booty foot thingys on ebay for cheap. That will give your stands and legs a finished look. Dang. I love a Big Beat kit. Ever since I saw Mickey playing that twin tom set up on The Monkees I was hooked. Seriously. Gretsch made his back then. As embarrassing as it is, that's also what got me hooked on Gold Sparkle all those years ago. Wow. I think I've shared too much.

[Ludwig-dude]

You have done a really nice job on that kit. Looks great!
You can get those little rubber booty foot thingys on ebay for cheap. That will give your stands and legs a finished look. Dang. I love a Big Beat kit. Ever since I saw Mickey playing that twin tom set up on The Monkees I was hooked. Seriously. Gretsch made his back then. As embarrassing as it is, that's also what got me hooked on Gold Sparkle all those years ago. Wow. I think I've shared too much.

"The local rock group down the street is trying hard to learn this song........"

LOL!

[checker758]

They look AWESOME! Great job.
Damn, those things are screaming to be played.
I'll send you some pics of my '70. Looks alot like yours minus the 13". I think yours has a little more sparkle left in them.
What did you use to clean the wrap?

Please post, I'd like to see your pics.

Based on recommendations I read on this forum, for the initial cleanup I used a car wash cleaner - I don't even remember exactly what brand it was, just something I had laying around that had carnuba wax as an ingredient. I didn't want to get too sloppy/drippy and have water getting into the wood edges, so I used not-quite soaking wet terry cloth and put a few drops of the concentrated cleaner on it at a time (as opposed to a bucket of water with the cleaner mixed into it), then rinsed off the cleaner with a clean damp rag. I had to go over some areas more than once, but this got most of the surface dirt off and shined them up a bit. I didn't disassemble them all the way down to naked shells - I left the lugs on - and this cleaning also helped get a lot of the gunk/dried grease off the lugs.

There was still some tar/glue/unidentified gunk of some spots of the wrap after the initial cleaning. I first attempted to get this off with Goo Gone, a citrus-based cleaner that I figued would be safe on the wrap. It helped, and probably would have done a fine job if I'd taken a little more time with it, but I grew impatient, so I moved up to a more powerful petroleum-based solvent, Goof Off. I was a little worried that it might damage the wrap, so I tried it on an inconspicuous spot first, and since there didn't seem to be any ill effect, I used it as a spot cleaner on the areas that needed it, and it did the trick.

Then - once again based on a recommendation on this forum - I used some Meguiar's polish I had laying around. Rub it in, let it dry, and polish it off, and it helped even out the finish and make some of the scratches (and there are plenty of them) less noticeable.

All of this work didn't get any of the yellowing out of the wrap, as you can really see in the close up of the new inlay of the front BD hoop next to the wrap on the BD. But it looks a LOT better than when I started. There are still a few problem areas where there are deep scratches that are kind of darkened, and also a few of areas where it looks like some kind of chemical reaction took place that ate into the surface of the wrap, making some rough, darker yellow patches that don't polish out - it seems like some some sort of adhesive or chemical may have been involved. I may post some picks of the problem areas later to see if anyone has any suggestions.

On the chrome parts, at first I tried Nevr-Dull (it comes as wads of cotton impregnated with some petroleum based cleaner) because I had some on hand already. It works good and cleaned off most of the tarnish and I imagine also adds some protection. But I saw Blue Magic polish recommended here, and decided to try that on some chrome as well. It really does a great job, and leaves the chrome with a better shine than the Neve-Dull, so I went over all the lugs and rims with it, and was very pleased with the results.

Anyway, I'm VERY pleased with the way this all turned out. Thanks again to everyone who contributed advice, supplied parts, etc.!

Scott

[drumbum3131]

You should be pleased with that set...after all it looks amazing. Jump For Joy

[streetdrummer]

Is the Gold Sparkle(orange) as rare as it seems? I have all but the 16" floor for a Big Beat set and have had no luck at all finding one.
Well I did run across one that had rivets down the entire seam, but that did not "seem" the right drum to select. Any help would be appreciated.....

Streetdrummer

Scott,
Try to contact this gentleman and let him know the inlay you need should look "aged'. It looks too new at the moment. He can probably cut you some from "aged" wrap he has in stock.

Lawton Quality Restorations...Jim Lawton
Phone: (570) 988-0655 ~ Address: 706 Catawissa Ave Sunbury, PA 17801

He is the gentleman who cut the inlay for my slings and matched them perfectly. Check them out in the gallery......

[mcjnic]

Two very general things about gold sparkle Luddys:
one - it does seem that they are not as prevalent as silver or blue or red or WMP or bruised oysters or sissy booze pink.
two - when someone gets a gold sparkle, they tend to hold on to it.

That's what I've noticed. It has a lot to do with why I wrapped my own. I wanted the kit and couldn't find it. So I pulled the silver off and applied the gold. It works for me. I kept it as a four piece instead of a five. I do have the 12 wrapped in gold sparkle...just in case I go through with getting a second bass (gold sparkle) with a twin tom mount. I'm beginning my search.

[checker758]

I posted this question in the "What's it worth?" category, but I might as well ask here too: anyone have a rough ballpark guesstimate what this set minus the cymbals and hardware might be worth on the open market? I'm thinking about maybe trading down (or is it up? :) ) to a smaller set.

Scott

[O-Lugs]

I agree. Gold sparkle is a gorgeous wrap and, if well-kept, it seems to suffer little fading. I think it's my favorite sparkle color.

[O-Lugs]

I posted this question in the "What's it worth?" category, but I might as well ask here too: anyone have a rough ballpark guesstimate what this set minus the cymbals and hardware might be worth on the open market? I'm thinking about maybe trading down (or is it up? :) ) to a smaller set.

Scott

It's in good shape, so probably 900-1300. It's "worth" more than that, in my opinion, but the market is kind of stalled and those sizes and finish are fairly common in the collecting world.