never say never on the steel though. saw my first steel Monroe badge supra recently and also a 60's keystone badge as well. very,very uncommon to say the least though.

mike

I'd KILL to get a drum like that for $100 - BB or not, brass, aluminium, steel, wood or kryptonite, makes no difference :) Great score.

Alex

I spoke to the salesman and asked what the interior of the shell was and he said it was the same color as the outside. Would someone put a black nickel plating over the outside and inside? I sure hope it is a black beauty. But, I will know by Friday when it arrives.

If the previous owner went to the trouble to strip the shell to have it nickel plated (I wouldn't know how to go about that – auto body shop?), then I'm sure they'd just plate the whole damn thing. No reason to stop and have weird non-plated spots on the bearing edges or something.

What did Guitar Center say about the drum, exactly? Did they say that the previous owner TOLD them that he had it nickel plated? Or do they think that they didn't make BB's in the 70's or something?

The guy who traded the drum in did not know much about the drum apparently. The guitar center sales guy made the comment that he had an old ludwig drum that was a black supraphonic that was not a black beauty. I told him that it was probably one of those black acrolites but he said he was sure that it was not. He made it sound like he knew that it was not a black beauty. I assumed that he very well could be wrong, thus the purchase.

No, chances are it's a Black Beauty. Why would someone go to the

trouble and expense of having a Ludalloy shell stripped of its chrome,

prepped and black-nickel plated? We're not talking about an

inexpensive or simple process. Also, nickel electroplate adheres far

better to brass or steel. (see article on nickel electroplating).

The poor-condition of the finish on the shell seems consistent with the

condition of the rims and lugs. It may be a run-of-the-mill Supra with

a crappy rattle-can translucent finish but I'm thinking its factory

nickel plating.

Verminator, great score if its a regular 402, phenomenal if its a BB .

Enjoy.

MW

Here is another picture.

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/picture.php?albumid=32&pictureid=124[/IMG]

My 1978 Black Beauty has spots where the Black Nickle shows similar wear of the black. Hmmmm

I can't wait to hear what it turns out to be.... either way... great score!

Not to be contentious, but there are PLENTY of Supras from this time period that are pitted so badly that the chrome is almost non-existent. I owned one and looked into having it stripped to bare aluminum before giving up and selling it. I still got $260 for it, despite the pitting and extra holes.

The reason I said "chances are it's a pitted supra" is because that's easier to believe than the alternative: That the owner of the drum (who apparently knows what a black beauty is, and that this isn't one of them) sells the drum to guitar center (who stock and sell black beautys, and likely have one in store to compare this drum to) for less than, we can safely assume, $80, who then market the drum with the info that this is not a black beauty. There's just a lot of talk about black beautys (which is a notoriously expensive drum) for the salesman not to check up on it and potentially miss out on hundreds of dollars. If the previous owner or the GC employee had never heard of a black beauty, I'd be more likely to believe it.

Of course, it's also possible that the previous owner is confused about what a black beauty actually is, and that maybe the GC employee just took their word for it and wanted to unload an ugly old drum quickly. Or maybe the previous owner found it at a garage sale, googled black beauty, found a pic of one from the 1920's, and came to the conclusion that this looks really different. And maybe the GC employee did the same thing, and they both screwed themselves with their own ignorance. If so, that's F#CKING AWESOME, and I wish I was this guy.

But I totally agree with you about the looks. It definitely looks like an old, beat up Black Beauty. I really really hope it is!

I am not sure why you think this is anything but a Black Beauty? That looks very much like a few BB's that I have cleaned up for other drummers. They had areas that were worn away like yours. The silver'ish where it is worn that you are seeing can be seen in that second eBay ad that is posted here.

It could be that the GC dude just got it wrong and that he had never seen a well worn BB.