strainer thats it

I'm from New York City, we have a saying when something like this happens: "You stepped in $hit!"

That snare drum is worth -thousands- as-is. I'm going to stick my head out the window and see if there is a Blue Moon! You'd have an easier time finding a chicken with teeth than another one of those!

Congrats buddy... somebody 'up-there' just LOVES YOU!

Sell it and buy your son his 'dream kit.' There should be more than enough left over for you and the old-lady to have a nice dinner and night on the town.

What a score! Sell it on ebay. Watch them fight it out for the drum. I'll have some popcorn ready, that auction will be fun to watch. Please keep us posted. Who knows, if I hit the Lotto between now and then, I may buy it myself! :p

John

The light is to keep the calfskin heads warm as too keep them from going out of tune. That was a very common practice back in the day.Place your drum in the For Sale section here on the forum. Here take a look at this link. http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/images/other_stuff/bill_ludwigiii/ludwig_1923_3.jpg

Home run!! No I mean GRAND SLAM!!!!! Run out and buy some lotto tickets, you are one lucky dude. Let us know how it turns out.

Now that I know its a pretty desirable snare. I kinda wanna keep it. My son is just dying to get his hands on it. Slap some new heads on it and take it for a spin. Lol I'm watching one on eBay right now. But that one.is in rougher shape than the one I found. Plus the one on eBay is missing some parts.

Take the bulb out and put it in a lamp to see if it works. If it does, put it back into the drum. These were sold with the drilling as an option to install. I think it`s all original. Do not throw away those snare wires, they cannot be found anymore.

It is worth so much more if you leave it as is and do nothing to it. (Heads, Bulb, wires ect. are not available anymore)

There are members here that can tell you more about it. Some of these guys do these for a living. They will see this thread and may comment.

That`s not Copper or brass....it`s Gold.

The black chrome is called gunmetal finish. Ludwig used a lacquer tinted with Pyrite or something and called it Delux and used Gold plating, yours looks to be the gold plate to me.

I agree, do not attempt to clean it or disassemble it. I would not even try to figure out if the light works. just leave it as it is and be happy you found the drummers holy grail. how most drums get ruined is by giving them to the young and inexperienced to do as they please. you will find my advice is offered to save this drum. it should go to a good home. to satisfy your young drummer get him a nice kit with some of the proceeds of the sale. everyone on here just hates to see a museum piece get messed up by inexperienced owners and kids. with all of the info you received you must admit we are mostly all for saving it as is. put the heads back on leave it alone. it will be worth much more as is. do not drop it. whoever ends up with this drum will know what to do with it. and it will be an antique in a few years being 100 years old. a very rare find. I hope you decide to keep it as is. and my help saved this drum. and you get what it,s worth for your patience. best regards, Willy

Vintagemore2000 posted a link that had some good info. I will leave it as is.