I cleaned it with a lemon! I always clean my cymbals by cutting a lemon in half and then rubbing it on the metal. It leaves my cymbals clean and shiny, so I thought I'd try it on the aluminum.

It worked! With just plain lemon juice this drum looks like it was polished with some metal cleaner. All it took was a good rub with a lemon! The rest of the parts I did by hand. There are no visible faults on this drum. As clean and pristine as the day it left the factory.

Mike/Harold - There are a set of initials in red pencil on the inside of my shell. Do either of your drums show these red initials? Just curious if someone at Ludwig had signed off on them.

Sound-file to come....

John

.....Mike/Harold - There are a set of initials in red pencil on the inside of my shell. Do either of your drums show these red initials? Just curious if someone at Ludwig had signed off on them.

Sound-file to come....

John[/QUOTE]

Yeah John!! Yes Sir there's like a small "P" in red "crayon", just a 1/2 inch aside the grommet....

P of prototype?? P of Peel?? I dunnoooooo!!LoLoLoLoLoLoLoLoLoLoLoLoLoLoLoLo

You got another beautiful drum there.

I was fortunate enough to find an all aluminum one & nearly perfect shape.

Dang John,

That is one great job and cool drum! Would be fun if you could borrow a new Acro to sit in for the full spectrum. I'll send you my LM404 Black Galaxy if need be.

Thanks for the detailed pictures.

Creighton

mackrocks - That's a beauty! Does yours have a red crayon/pencil initial inside the shell?

Creighton - I have my 60's keystone badge Acro that I'm going to use for the side by side comparison. I don't imagine there can be that much difference in the sound of the 60's version as opposed to the newer 404's. I'm curious myself to hear if there is a difference between the prototype and the later spun-shell Acro's.

John

John,

I wonder if the powder coated shell on a 404 is similar in sound to your textured shell. Be cool if a $75 common drum is close enough to leave the pricey one at home.

Thanks!

Creighton

A huge part of the fun of owning a rare-bird is getting to play it. I don't play out these days, so there is no danger in damaging a valuable drum that way. I don't buy anything for the purpose of 'salting it away' in a case somewhere. If I can't play it, I won't buy it. That includes my early 20's Black Beauty. All of my drums are tuned and ready to be played at any time the mood strikes me. Speaking as a drummer, it's like I died and went to Heaven. I have some of the most wonderful drums to choose from and purely for my own pleasure. Doesn't get much better than that.

I don't recall who it is, but one of our members has a tag-line that I agree with 100%: "It's a drum, hit it!"

John

That would be Odball.

Damn John,she came out beautifully.Nice job as usual.I have a 65 acro,and it's just a pleasure to play.Glad you got that one.

Steve B