Hi,

Straight from the Fall Edition of the 1929 Ludwig Drummer flyer via my good friend Bill Wanser and his partner Scott Colner of Olympic Drums & Percussion of Portland, Oregon.

The year was 1929 and Ludwig & Ludwig was in the midst of some major changes: 1. They were sold (or in the process of being acquired) to the music giant C. G. Conn & Co... 2. L & L and Leedy Drums (also acquired by Conn) were literally being manufactured across from each other in the same building... 3. The Great Depression had just started... and 4. (timing?) L & L had just come out with 4 brand new snare drum models; Super-Sensitive, New Era-Sensitive, Super-Power and the Standard-Sensitive, the snare drum that I am sharing with you in this article.

For those of you who are not familiar with these models here is a quick description. An easy thing to remember is that all four models have one thing in common - the Sensitive mechanism which is the mechanism that is under the batter head:

Super-Sensitive: Super (parallel) mechanism on the bottom, Sensitive mechanism under the batter head. Available sizes were 5 x 14, 6.5 x 14, *5 x 15, 6.5 x 15.

New Era-Sensitive: Both Sensitive mechanisms inside the shell (one under the batter head and one inside on top of the slunk head). Available only in 5 x 14.

Super-Power: This is a 12 x 15 Street Drum model. Standard Professional throw off (bottom), Sensitive mechanism under the batter head. Available only in 12 x 15.

Standard-Sensitive: Standard Professional throw off (bottom), Sensitive mechanism under the batter head. Available sizes were 5 x 14, 6.5 x 14, **5 x 15, 6.5 x 15.

*the 5 x 15 size was left out of the flyer but they do exist.

**the 5 x 15 size was left out of the flyer but obviously exists.

You will see many more Super-Sensitive models than the other three Sensitive models. The main reason for this is that the Super-Sensitive model was in production from 1929-1939 (+/-) while the other three Sensitive models were only produced between 1929-30 and never made it to a Ludwig & Ludwig catalog. My own opinion regarding the rarity of the other three Sensitive models is that the Super-Power is the rarest (I’ve only seen 1 or 2), next is the Standard-Sensitive (I’ve seen 10 +/-) and the New Era-Sensitive (I’ve seen 15-20 +/-). I am not the final word on this but I think that I am pretty close in my evaluation as to the rarity of these models.

1929 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 5 x 15 NOB STANDARD-SENSITIVE MODEL

The SHELL:

The nob, 2-piece, heavy brass shell was in very good condition with no extra holes or modifications. The nickel plating was in very good shape but I wanted to clean and polish it. I usually do this by hand but after trying this there was still a layer of patina that I could not get clean so I took the shell to Les at Avenue plating and he “colored” up the shell for me. Coloring is the term platers use when they polish up metal that has a patina/tarnish on it.

The HARDWARE:

The hardware was also in very good condition but I chose to clean and polish anyway, same situation as was the shell so Les and his brother Brian colored up the nickel hardware for me. I was happy that the hardware was 100% present and accounted for; this is the reason why I like to buy from Olympic Drums and other vintage drum dealers like Olympic Drums & Percussion. The Professional throw off and Sensitive mechanism work fine, nice and smooth. The top rim has the 1929 engraved “Standard Sensitive”, the 1930 version was a stamped “Standard- Sensitive”. This is geek-a-tron minutiae but still an observation -- at times you will see a dash “—“ after Super, New Era, Super and Standard Sensitive. There is no dash on this rim.

The drum came with of-the-era top and bottom calf heads, original Sensitive snares and original 1929 Ludwig Snappi-Snares.

As always I welcome your comments and observations.

Now let’s see some of your Standard-Sensitive snare drums.

Enjoy!

Mike Curotto