ive seen people take a strip of matching wrap and glue to the drum covering the seam and rivets. it made the drums looks a lot better. Ludwig started riveting when they had problems with the wrap shrinking I think. I believe this was only done during the 6 ply period.mike
I knew they used rivets for shrinkage purposes,however, with this being the case, why does my early 1980s Ludwig 8X14 Colosseum snare have rivets on the METAL wrap. I always wondered about that one.
Ludwig is allowed one horrible mistake in their existence I guess. Rivets were a bad one.You played with Cornelius Bros? I'm impressed. They had some great tunes of course. For those unfamiliar - Treat Her Like a Lady (#3 on Billboard)Too Late to Turn back Now (#2)
I remember watching them on SOUL TRAIN.Too Late To Turn Back Now had an awesome laid back drum groove.
I toured 1728 N Damen in around 81-83..they were doing the rivet thing then...
I knew they used rivets for shrinkage purposes,however, with this being the case, why does my early 1980s Ludwig 8X14 Colosseum snare have rivets on the METAL wrap. I always wondered about that one.
do not know. I assume the metal was glued on the wood drum like most. maybe the glue was giving them issues as well. maybe they weren't sure at the time. or heaven forbid, they did it so it would match the drums!
mike
I have been thinking about doing this and finally got around to it. Someone must have been on acid at the Ludwig factory the day they made my special order drums. I had a beautiful 1971 Ludwig Silver Sparkle Hollywood set I got the summer of my 14th birthday. I am pretty sure it was 3 ply African mahogany with rerings. Great sounding kit. Used it all through college and on tour with Cornelius Bros. & Sister Rose all over the place. I added 6' 8' 10' 14' 15' and 16' concert toms to the kit in 74 while a senior in high school, nice 3ply maple granitone interior with rerings. Even nice bearing edges, although no bottom lugs. unfortunately in 1981 the set and the 10' and 14' toms were destroyed in a arson club fire. I replaced the drums with exactly what I lost as I had the other toms at home. Stupidly I ordered another 14' concert tom instead of a regular 14'x14' floor tom, and double headed 10'. I just ordered the regular 22" 16" 12" 13" classic Ludwig drums like my Hollywood kit and the stand to hold the concert toms.To my surprise when the drums arrived at the music store they were the 6 ply maple, rivets in the wraps, the concert toms had clip holders and Hercules tom stands that took the clip mounts. Plus the big 1/2" spurs, which I didnt mind at the time. I was 23 or 24 then and just glad to have some drums and didnt think to much about it. MISTAKE ! Now 34 years later lets see how there doing. These first pics are of the bass drum and toms rivets seam. I made these today. Not as bad on the toms but horrible on the bass drum and floor tom.
WE should start a Ludwig Nightmare story thread ; I'm sure there are tons . I bought a Super Classic new in 1968 and didn't discover until years later that there was an extra hole drilled behind the tom mount . Guess some drunk mis-drilled for the badge which is on the opposite side . Color-wise the drums never matched either ( Oyster Blue ) ; the tom being much bluer than the bass and floor tom . But I was a young kid and was just proud as the proverbial peacock to be the owner of the same drums Ringo and other drum idols were using .
I bought a new Ludwig Classic series set in '99. Thin maple shells. Overall, OK, but the configuration included two floor toms, one of which came to me out-of-round and problematic to tune. Neither the dealer or Ludwig themselves ever gave me any satisfaction on the matter. I eventually donated the set to a church, and they were happy enough to receive it notwithstanding the issue with the floor tom, but I was sure I'd never buy another Ludwig set and that has remained the case.
I recall seeing those riveted jobs when they were new on the floor. I couldn't believe my eyes and have always put that under the heading of "What Were They Thinking."
I still like Ludwig. My 58 Gold,sparkle kit and 68 Champagne kits are superb. I even think there current offerings look pretty darn good. I just think someone was discombobulated when they put the wrap and hardware on my 1981 shells. Just everything on the mounted toms was ass backwards. So if I remove all the hardware and send the shells back think they will rewrap them for me ? Lifetime Warranty. Or do I have a one of a kind kit. I guess it would not be hard to identify them if I had too.
Yes, have them re-wrap under the warranty and let us know how you make out.
Other companies did weird stuff here and there too. Rogers put pieces and parts in the wrong place. Check out a tom I once owned. The tone control was put in at a location that almost never shows up. Similarly note the right-hand tom on this set of double toms with tom control located where the script belongs.
As people have mentioned the rivits period was probably Ludwigs low point. Don't know why they thought that needed to happen. I thought it was because the glue they were using has limitations and customers were sending back sets with bad wrap so the solution was to add the rivits.
I still think those six ply sets sound pretty good though. I would bet that between the tivoli vistalites and the rivits on the semms William F. Ludwig decided to sell to Selmer. I heard that those tivoli sets nearly destroyed Ludwig! Thank god the stuff they make now is really great IMO.
As people have mentioned the rivits period was probably Ludwigs low point. Don't know why they thought that needed to happen. I thought it was because the glue they were using has limitations and customers were sending back sets with bad wrap so the solution was to add the rivits. I still think those six ply sets sound pretty good though. I would bet that between the tivoli vistalites and the rivits on the semms William F. Ludwig decided to sell to Selmer. I heard that those tivoli sets nearly destroyed Ludwig! Thank god the stuff they make now is really great IMO.
Hey Kurt!
I have to agree with you on the 6 ply Ludwigs. I have a 6 ply Ludwig Buddy Rich set and they do sound pretty nice! I bought these from a Ludwig endorser actually. He had them built specifically as a BR set as Buddy was long gone from Ludwig during this period. The only departure is that he requested a 14x14 and a 16X16 in place of the usual twin 16X16's that Buddy played. He felt that tonally the 9X13.. 14x14.. and 16X16 would have more to offer. Turns out that the 14X14 is the GEM out of the three of 'em with this set. I've been playing these as my practice set for a while now, but I have gigged 'em! I'll post up a couple pics of the 6 ply Ludwig BR set. Regarding the "rivet period" for Ludwig:
I chatted with BIII .. ( Bill Ludwig III ) .. about this a few years back. The rivets were because of the GROSS amount of wrap shrinkage that was happening during this time. No glue known to man/earth would hold those blasted seams shut.. so .. enter the rivets. As we all know now... it didn't work, and looks like CRAP! The wrap still shrunk... the seams opened... and took the rivets with 'em. Just horrible. Indeed.
Tommyp
